Ringless Voice Message Services Must Obtain Consumer Permission Before Leaving Voicemail

(November 23, 2022)  Have you found junk voicemails in your cellphone mailbox but don’t recall that the phone rang and wondered how that is allowed? The answer: it is not allowed, according to a ruling issued by the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”).

The FCC rejected a robocaller’s petition asking the Commission to find that delivery of a voicemail message directly to a consumer’s cell phone voicemail without the phone ringing is not barred by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”). All About the Message argued that its ringless voicemail technology is not a “call” and therefore is exempt from regulation because the voicemail goes directly into the consumer’s voicemail, bypassing the cellphone. Not so fast, said the FCC. The ringless voicemail still directs the messages by means of a wireless phone number, making it a call covered by the TCPA.

The FCC said the “key consumer problem” with ringless voicemail is that it is an unwanted message that the consumer has no control over and may crowd potentially wanted messages out of the consumer’s voicemail capacity, which may prevent other callers from leaving important wanted messages. “Even when their voicemail boxes are not full, consumers waste time listening to unwanted messages before deleting them because there is no mechanism for consumers to stop unwanted ringless voicemail calls before they reach the voicemail box,” the FCC wrote in its opinion.

The FCC said its opinion does not prevent All About the Message from using ringless technology voicemail. However, the company must comply with the TCPA by obtaining prior consumer consent because it is a call made using an artificial or prerecorded voice.

In the Matter of Rules and Regulations Implementing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, Petition for Declaratory Ruling of All About the Message, LLC, FCC CG Docket No. 02-278, released November 21, 2022.