In an effort to find solutions to the dilemmas posed by the latest FCC-TCPA ruling, DAKCS Software Systems polled its customers about the use of dialing and messaging technology and the FCC decision.

Based on the data gathered, DAKCS highlighted four ways to help mitigate the risks of using dialing and messaging technology, in addition to providing encouraging feedback from our installation base:

1) Scrubbing and Blocking Cell Phone Numbers

2) Obtaining Prior Express Consent

3) Pay Attention to Reassigned Numbers

4) Understanding Capacity or “Future Capacity”

All four are detailed in a whitepaper, available now for free download to registered subscribers of insideARM: Is Your Glass Half-Full or Half-Empty: Utilizing Technology to Mitigate the Risk of Dialing in the Wake of the Latest FCC-TCPA Ruling [whitepaper download link].

Below is an excerpt from DAKCS’s whitepaper

Reassigned Numbers

In regards to the one call rule, the FCC clarifies that the TCPA requires the consent of the current subscriber or user of the wireless phone number. In other words, it’s a violation of the TCPA to use an auto dialer to call a wireless number that the caller has actual or constructive knowledge no longer belongs to the person who properly gave the prior consent.

Because of the difficulty in knowing whether a wireless number has been reassigned, the 2015 ruling allows one call to determine whether a wireless number has been reassigned. If the one call does not result in actual knowledge that the number has been reassigned, the caller will be deemed to have constructive knowledge of the reassignment. In other words, a second call by auto dialer to a wireless number that has been reassigned will be assumed to be a violation of the TCPA (2015 Ruling Section 72).

As stated by the FCC, “where a caller believes he has consent to make a call and does not discover that a wireless number had been reassigned prior to making or initiating a call to that number for the first time after reassignment, liability should not attach for that first call, but the caller is liable for any calls thereafter.” (2015 Ruling Section 85). The FCC notes that nothing in the TCPA prevents callers from manually dialing wireless numbers or from sending emails to consumers to verify or confirm telephone numbers. The FCC states, “In other words, callers have options other than the use of auto dialers to discover reassignments. If callers choose to use auto dialers, however, they risk TCPA liability” (2015 Ruling Section 84). Solutions like the NeuStar application mitigates risk by verifying the phone number associated with a given consumer. Separating out the bad numbers allows for more focus on the collectible ones. NeuStar receives subscriber data from the actual carriers that provides accurate data on the reassignment of phone numbers. NeuStar will confirm that a specific customer owns a number.