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FCC Reassigned Numbers Database Overview:
- Who: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) updated the subscriber prices for the Reassigned Numbers Database and clarified callers’ legal liability when using agents.
- Why: The FCC hopes to encourage more callers to subscribe to the database to reduce the number of unwanted calls made to consumers.
- Where: The FCC changes apply nationwide.
In an effort to reduce the number of unwanted phone calls consumers receive, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) updated the subscriber prices for the Reassigned Numbers Database (RND) to make it more accessible to callers.
The RND tracks the millions of phone numbers that are reassigned each year from one consumer to another. With companies and other entities unaware of the reassignment, not only does the new consumer receive several unwanted phone calls, but the prior number holder may also miss calls they expect, “like notifications from a doctor’s office, financial institution or school,” the FCC said.
Callers can use the database to check whether a phone number has been reassigned before making an unsolicited call, which can land the caller in liability hot water under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
The database pricing update offers users more pricing options, lower prices for most subscribers, discounts for higher volume and discounts for agents subscribing to the highest tiers. Existing subscriptions will not be affected, per an RND notice.
Callers Using Agents Still Eligible for Safe Harbor, FCC Clarifies
The FCC also acknowledged that while the TCPA already states that both callers and their agents can use the database, callers’ liability when using agents was left unclear.
Among these latest developments, the FCC clarified that callers are still eligible for safe harbor under the TCPA as long as they “otherwise meet the criteria for the safe harbor” while using agents to query the RND on their behalf. Safe harbor protects callers from liability in the event they unwittingly violate the law due to factors beyond their reasonable control, such as an error in the database.
The FCC warns that callers, not agents, are responsible for providing proof that they or the agent queried the most recent version of the RND. Callers must also “be prepared to prove that it authorized the agent to query the database on its behalf prior to making the calls at issue.”
Do you receive unwanted phone calls to your phone number? What do you think about the FCC’s latest changes? Share your thoughts in the comments section below!
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8 thoughts onFCC Updates Database Prices in Attempt to Reduce Unsolicited Phone Calls
Add me I must get 30 or more unknown calls a day
Please add me
Please add me.
I constantly get phone calls and I am on the no call list. Add me.
Please add me
I constantly get unwanted phone calls. I’ve been on the do not call registry for years. Most of them are recording. She ask can you here me.
I constantly get them and I’ve been on the do not call registry for years
I get many unwanted calls from one particular area code with different numbers every time. I’ve blocked all the numbers that I could, but I still receive calls from that particular area code. I spoke to my wireless service provider about this problem but they only told me to block the numbers or to change my number which I can’t do because my phone number is connected to a lot of my banking and shopping, family and friends online and off, so I cannot just get a new number. This has been going on for quite a while. These people or whatever it is keeps calling my number morning noon and late evening. Sometimes I would get calls from that particular area code back to back to back to back. I don’t know who’s doing this or what but I am tired of it. And sometimes when I answer the calls there would be no one on the other end, so I just hang up. I am on the no call list, so I don’t know who has my number or what and why are they continuously calling my phone number.