Last updated 2026-07-09
TL;DR
Recording a phone call in the US is legal if at least one party consents, under federal law (18 U.S.C. § 2511). But 13 states require every party to consent before you hit record. Your carrier, whether that's US Cellular or anyone else, does not grant you recording rights. The state where your callee picks up usually controls which standard applies.
What does federal law actually say about recording phone calls?
Federal call recording law lives in two statutes. The Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 (18 U.S.C. § 2511) controls whether the act of recording is a crime. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 (47 U.S.C. § 227) controls how you contact people. The ECPA is the one that decides if your recording is legal.
The statute permits recording when "one of the parties to the communication has given prior consent" to the interception. [1] The person doing the recording counts as a consenting party. So you can record your own calls without telling the other person, at least under federal law. That's the one-party consent rule.
The TCPA is a different animal. It governs the call, not the recording. But TCPA cases routinely turn call recordings into evidence, and the FCC treats deceptive calling practices harshly. Record a call you made in violation of the TCPA and you've handed plaintiffs a paper trail. [2]
The federal floor is one-party consent. States can go further. Thirteen have, and one of them may be on the other end of your call.
For a broader look at how these federal and state rules interact, see our guide to telephone call recording laws.
Which states require all-party (two-party) consent to record a call?
"Two-party consent" is a misnomer. The accurate term is "all-party consent," meaning every person on the call has to agree before recording starts. As of mid-2025, these states require all-party consent for phone recordings: [3]
| State | Key Statute | Civil Penalty Exposure |
|---|---|---|
| California | Penal Code § 632 | $5,000 per violation |
| Connecticut | CGS § 52-570d | Actual damages or $10,000 |
| Delaware | 11 Del. C. § 1335 | Criminal + civil |
| Florida | Fla. Stat. § 934.03 | Felony + $100/day |
| Illinois | 720 ILCS 5/14-2 | Criminal misdemeanor |
| Maryland | Md. Code Cts. § 10-402 | Felony + civil |
| Massachusetts | Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 272 § 99 | Criminal + civil |
| Michigan | MCL 750.539c | Felony |
| Montana | MCA § 45-8-213 | Misdemeanor |
| Nevada | NRS 200.620 | Gross misdemeanor |
| New Hampshire | RSA 570-A:2 | Class B felony |
| Oregon | ORS 165.540 | Criminal + civil |
| Pennsylvania | 18 Pa. C.S. § 5703 | Felony + civil |
| Washington | RCW 9.73.030 | Felony + $10,000/violation |
That's 14. Oregon gets dropped from older lists, but its statute does require all-party consent for phone calls absent an exemption, so count it. [3]
The rule of thumb for multi-state outbound teams is simple. Apply the strictest standard that touches either party on the call. If you sit in a one-party state and dial someone in California, California's all-party rule likely governs. Courts have generally held that the law of the state where the recorded party sits controls, though this conflict-of-laws question isn't settled everywhere. [4]
For state-by-state detail, see our articles on Pennsylvania call recording laws, Maryland call recording laws, New York call recording law, and Georgia call recording law.
Does your carrier (US Cellular, Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile) affect your recording rights?
No. Your carrier has nothing to do with your legal right to record a call. US Cellular, like every major US carrier, is a transmission provider. It passes your voice signal from point A to point B. The carrier's terms of service govern what the carrier can do with your call data, not what you can do with it.
US Cellular's privacy policy notes that the company may record calls to its own customer service lines for quality purposes, which is standard across the industry. [5] That's the company recording calls to its own agents. It's a one-party consent situation where US Cellular is a party to the call.
If you're asking whether US Cellular automatically records your outbound sales calls: it doesn't. Recording for sales and compliance takes a separate system. That means a cloud PBX with built-in recording (RingCentral, Dialpad, Aircall), a standalone recording service, or recording enabled inside your CRM-dialer stack.
The carrier does matter in a different way. Under the TRACED Act (2019) and FCC rules, carriers can block or label calls that look like illegal robocalling. [6] Trip those filters and your call never reaches the destination, no matter how clean your consent records are.
Does US Cellular have a robocall blocker?
Yes. US Cellular offers a call-blocking and labeling service called Scam Likely protection, included at no charge for postpaid subscribers. It runs on industry-wide STIR/SHAKEN call authentication and a network-level algorithm that flags or blocks calls matching known robocall fingerprints. [7]
STIR/SHAKEN is the FCC-mandated framework that makes carriers digitally sign calls with an attestation level (A, B, or C). The level tells receiving networks how confident the originating carrier is that the caller is who it claims to be. Full attestation (A-level) requires that the carrier both knows the customer and has verified the customer is authorized to use the number shown as caller ID. [8]
Run outbound calls and they land on a US Cellular subscriber's phone as "Scam Likely," and that label came from the network before the phone ever rang. The label doesn't mean your calls are illegal. It means your calling patterns (volume, call duration, answer rates, caller ID consistency) tripped a probabilistic filter. The fix is usually STIR/SHAKEN compliance at your originating carrier, clean caller ID registration, and calling within behavioral norms that don't look like a mass robocall campaign.
US Cellular also participates in the FCC's Robocall Mitigation Database, which requires carriers to certify their robocall mitigation programs. [8] You can look up any carrier's status there.
Is US Cellular robocalling customers?
US Cellular, like every major carrier, sends automated informational texts and calls to its own subscribers: service notifications, account alerts, promotional messages. Under the TCPA, a carrier calling or texting its own customers with account information generally operates under an existing business relationship, and those messages are usually permitted without express written consent, provided the customer hasn't opted out.
US Cellular has still drawn consumer complaints about unwanted automated calls and texts. The FTC and FCC both take complaints at donotcall.gov and the FCC Consumer Complaint Center. [9] If you're a consumer getting calls or texts from US Cellular you never asked for, you can opt out, and the carrier has to honor that request promptly under both TCPA requirements and its own service agreement.
For outbound teams, the sharper question isn't whether US Cellular is robocalling. It's whether US Cellular's network is blocking or labeling your calls. Those robocall filters apply to inbound calls landing on its subscribers' phones no matter who placed them.
How does consent work when recording outbound sales calls?
Consent to record and consent to call are two separate things. TCPA consent covers your right to place the call, especially with an autodialer or prerecorded voice. [2] Recording consent covers your right to capture what's said. Miss one and having the other won't save you.
In all-party consent states, the most defensible practice is a verbal disclosure at the top of the call: "This call may be recorded for quality and compliance purposes." If the other party keeps talking after that, most courts treat it as implied consent. California is stricter and wants an affirmative acknowledgment, more than continued participation.
In one-party consent states you can legally record without saying a word. Many sales compliance programs disclose anyway. Two reasons. It often calms the tone of a call when people know it's recorded. And it kills any state-law ambiguity if the callee moved recently or uses a carrier that routes calls through servers in a different state.
The practical playbook for multi-state outbound teams: 1. Add a verbal recording disclosure to every call script. 2. Log the disclosure in your call system with a timestamp. 3. Never edit or delete recordings in a way that could look like destroying evidence. 4. Review recordings periodically to verify script compliance.
For whether recording is a legal problem in your state, see is it against the law to record phone calls.
What are the TCPA rules that apply to calls made over cellular networks?
The TCPA protects cell phones the hardest. Section 227(b)(1)(A) prohibits using an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS) or a prerecorded voice to call any cellular number without prior express consent. [2] It applies no matter whose network you or the called party use: US Cellular, T-Mobile, Verizon, anyone.
The FCC has defined what counts as an ATDS several times, and courts have fought over it for years. The Supreme Court narrowed the definition in Facebook v. Duguid (141 S. Ct. 1163, 2021), holding that an ATDS must have the capacity to store or produce numbers using a random or sequential number generator. [10] Systems that only dial from a static list without random or sequential generation may fall outside the federal ATDS definition, though some states apply broader definitions of their own.
Key TCPA thresholds to know:
- Prior express consent is required for informational calls to cell phones using an ATDS or prerecorded voice.
- Prior express written consent is required for marketing or promotional calls to cell phones using an ATDS or prerecorded voice. [2]
- Do Not Call protections apply separately and require checking both the National DNC Registry and any internal DNC lists.
- Maximum statutory damages are $500 per violation, or $1,500 per willful violation. [2]
For a full breakdown of the statute, see our TCPA law guide.
What happens if you record a call without proper consent?
It depends which state's law applies and whether the violation is criminal, civil, or both. The range runs from a fine to a felony.
At the federal level, violating the ECPA wiretapping provisions (18 U.S.C. § 2511) can mean criminal penalties up to five years in prison plus civil liability for actual damages and the greater of $10,000 or $100 per day of violation. [1]
State penalties vary more. California's Penal Code § 632 lets the recorded person sue for $5,000 per violation or actual damages, whichever is greater. [3] Washington allows $10,000 per violation in civil damages under RCW 9.73.030, and the state enforces it aggressively. Florida's recording statute (Fla. Stat. § 934.03) treats violations as a third-degree felony.
Class action exposure is real. Plaintiffs' attorneys love all-party consent violations because each call is a separate violation, the statute sets a fixed damages floor, and companies rarely have airtight disclosure records across thousands of calls. A sales team making 200 calls a day in California without disclosure could theoretically run up $1 million in daily liability if the disclosures were inadequate.
The risk-management answer is boring and cheap. Run a verbal disclosure on every call, log it, and audit recordings quarterly. A disclosure script costs zero. Getting this wrong in a two-party consent state can end a small team.
Tools like the free TCPA compliance checker at LeadCompliant can verify whether numbers you're dialing sit on DNC lists, but your recording disclosure process is something you build into your call script and CRM workflow.
How does STIR/SHAKEN affect outbound calling on cellular networks?
STIR/SHAKEN (Secure Telephone Identity Revisited / Signature-based Handling of Asserted information using toKENs) is the FCC-mandated caller ID authentication framework. The FCC required all voice service providers to implement it in their IP networks by June 30, 2021, with extensions granted to some smaller carriers. [8]
Here's what it means for you. The originating carrier signs your call with an attestation level. A-level (full) means the carrier knows you, verified you own or are authorized to use the number you're displaying, and can confirm the call started on its network. B-level (partial) means the carrier authenticated the call but can't fully verify the relationship between you and the number. C-level (gateway) is the lowest, applied when the call enters the US from an unverified source.
Receiving carriers and call analytics services use those levels to decide whether to flag or block a call. A call reaching a US Cellular subscriber with C-level attestation from an unknown originating carrier is far more likely to get labeled scam or blocked outright than a call with A-level attestation from a registered business.
If you're running outbound sales calls:
- Make sure your VoIP or dialing provider is registered in the FCC's Robocall Mitigation Database. [8]
- Use a carrier that can give you A-level attestation for your outbound caller ID.
- Register your numbers through the Free Caller Registry (freecallerregistry.com), which can cut down erroneous scam labeling.
For Texas-specific concerns about call labeling and state law, see our guide on Texas call recording laws.
What records should you keep to prove call recording compliance?
Documentation is where most small teams fall down. They add a disclosure to the script, assume it's handled, and never check that the disclosure actually happened on each call. Here's what a defensible record-keeping system looks like.
Call-level logs: Every outbound call needs a record with the called number, timestamp, duration, agent ID, and whether a recording disclosure was delivered. Most modern dialers auto-populate this when the disclosure is part of the script flow.
Audio recordings: Keeping the recordings is protective, which surprises people. Delete them and you can't prove disclosure occurred. Keep recordings at least four years. That covers the TCPA's four-year statute of limitations under 28 U.S.C. § 1658 (federal question claims) and outlasts most state civil limitation periods.
Consent records for TCPA purposes: Calling cell phones with an ATDS means you need documented prior express consent (written, for marketing). That documentation has to tie the consent event to a specific phone number and timestamp. [2]
Opt-out records: Any number that asks off your list goes on your internal DNC list within a reasonable time. FCC rules effectively require honoring those requests within 30 days. [9]
Script version control: Keep dated copies of every version of your call script so you can show exactly what disclosure language was in use on any given date.
For teams operating across states with different consent rules, see our Arizona call recording laws and Indiana call recording laws articles, which show how one-party-consent states still carry nuances worth knowing.
What's the difference between call recording consent and TCPA consent?
They're separate legal requirements, and a lot of compliance programs blur them together. That's a mistake that gets teams sued.
TCPA consent governs whether you can place the call at all. Outbound marketing to cell phones using an autodialer or prerecorded message requires prior express written consent. [2] The FTC's Telemarketing Sales Rule adds its own consent requirements for certain sales calls. The FCC defines written consent: a signed agreement that clearly authorizes calls from a specific company, names the phone number being authorized, and discloses that consent isn't a condition of purchase.
Call recording consent governs whether you can record what happens during the call. That comes from federal wiretapping law and state recording statutes. You can have valid TCPA consent to make a call and still violate a state's recording law by failing to disclose that you're recording.
The reverse is also true. You can have flawless recording disclosures on every call and still face TCPA liability if you placed those calls without proper ATDS consent, or dialed numbers on the National DNC Registry with no valid exemption. [9]
Run both compliance tracks at once. One protects you from TCPA suits about the call. The other protects you from wiretapping claims about the recording. They need different documentation and different script elements, but both can live in the same call workflow.
See also our Georgia recording consent law group audio call guide for how group and conference calls add another layer.
How should outbound teams practically set up a call recording compliance program?
Here's an honest, opinionated take on what actually works for a small team.
First, pick your recording standard before you build anything. Call into California, Maryland, Washington, Pennsylvania, or Florida with any frequency, and you should run all-party consent procedures everywhere. Tracking which calls need what disclosure by state is operationally messy and creates audit risk. All-party disclosure on every call costs two seconds of script time. It erases the state-law variable entirely.
Second, build the disclosure into the phone system, more than the agent script. If your VoIP or dialer can play an automatic recorded message at the start of every call saying "This call is being recorded," use it. Agents skip steps. Automated disclosures are consistent by design and drop a log entry you can pull in discovery.
Third, store recordings with metadata that ties each file to the call record in your CRM. The file name or storage tag should carry the called number and date. If you ever need to prove disclosure on one specific call, you want it in minutes, not days.
Fourth, audit. Pull 50 random recordings a quarter. Verify the disclosure language is present, the agent isn't promising things outside the approved script, and the opt-out handling at the end of calls works. A quarterly audit is a reasonable investment for the exposure it removes.
Fifth, train new agents on why disclosure matters, more than what to say. Agents who understand the legal stakes skip fewer steps than agents who memorized a script they don't believe in.
LeadCompliant's free TCPA compliance kit includes a consent documentation template and a call script checklist you can adapt for your team. Grab it before you finalize your script.
For recorded call law specifics in your state, the recorded phone call laws overview is a good starting reference.
Frequently asked questions
Does US Cellular record my calls?
US Cellular records calls to its own customer service lines for quality purposes, as disclosed in its privacy policy. It does not record your outbound calls to third parties. If you want call recording for sales or compliance, you need a separate system: a cloud dialer, VoIP platform, or call recording service. Your carrier is a transmission provider, not a recording platform.
Is it legal to record a phone call without telling the other person?
Under federal law (18 U.S.C. § 2511), yes, if you are a party to the call. This is one-party consent. But 13 or 14 states require every party to consent before recording. If your callee is in California, Florida, Washington, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Illinois, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, or Oregon, you need to disclose the recording. The safest practice: disclose on every call.
Does US Cellular have a robocall blocker?
Yes. US Cellular offers Scam Likely call protection built into its postpaid service at no extra charge. It uses STIR/SHAKEN authentication and network-level algorithms to flag or block probable robocalls before they reach the subscriber. If your outbound calls are being labeled Scam Likely on US Cellular networks, the fix is STIR/SHAKEN compliance at your originating carrier and proper caller ID registration.
Is US Cellular robocalling customers?
US Cellular sends automated service and account notifications to its own subscribers, which is legal under the TCPA when the customer has an existing relationship with the carrier. If you're receiving unwanted automated calls or texts from US Cellular you didn't request, you can opt out by contacting the carrier or filing a complaint at donotcall.gov and the FCC Consumer Complaint Center.
What consent do I need before recording a sales call on a cell phone?
You need recording consent under the applicable state wiretapping law (verbal disclosure is the minimum; affirmative acknowledgment is better in California). Separately, if you used an autodialer or prerecorded message to make the call, you also need prior express written TCPA consent. These are two different legal requirements with two different documentation standards. Both must be met independently.
How long should I keep call recordings?
Keep them at least four years. The TCPA's federal statute of limitations is four years under 28 U.S.C. § 1658. Many state wiretapping statutes have shorter limitations periods, but TCPA exposure runs the longest. Recordings are also your best evidence that disclosures were made, so deleting them early removes your own defense. Some carriers and compliance programs retain recordings for seven years.
Can I record a call if I'm in a one-party consent state but the person I call is in a two-party consent state?
The general rule is that the law of the state where the recorded party is located governs. If you're in Texas (one-party) and call someone in California (all-party), California's law most likely applies to that call. Courts have not uniformly settled this conflict-of-laws question, but most rulings favor applying the stricter standard. Apply all-party consent rules when calling into two-party consent states to be safe.
What is STIR/SHAKEN and why does it affect my outbound calls?
STIR/SHAKEN is the FCC-mandated caller ID authentication framework carriers implemented by mid-2021. It assigns your outbound call an attestation level (A, B, or C) based on how well your carrier can verify your identity and your right to use the displayed number. Low attestation scores increase the chance US Cellular and other carriers will label your call Scam Likely or block it before it rings.
Does the TCPA apply to calls on cellular networks differently than landlines?
Yes. The TCPA's prohibition on autodialers and prerecorded messages is much stricter for cellular numbers. Calling a cell phone with an ATDS or prerecorded voice requires prior express consent for informational calls and prior express written consent for marketing calls. Landline rules under the Telemarketing Sales Rule are separate and less stringent for automated calls, though the National DNC Registry applies to both.
What happens if I violate a state call recording law?
Consequences range from civil damages to criminal felony charges depending on the state. California allows $5,000 per violation in civil damages. Washington State allows $10,000 per violation. Florida treats violations as a third-degree felony. Federal wiretapping violations carry up to five years in prison and civil damages of $10,000 or $100 per day. Class action exposure multiplies these figures across every call without a proper disclosure.
Do I need to disclose recording on every call or just the first one?
Disclose at the start of every call, including callbacks and follow-up calls. Each call is a separate communication event under state recording statutes. Consent given during a previous call does not carry forward to new calls. Some CRM systems let you flag a contact as having previously consented, but relying on that to skip disclosures is legally risky. The two-second verbal disclosure costs nothing.
Is my business liable if an employee records calls without disclosure?
Yes, in most circumstances. Employers are generally liable for employee violations of state wiretapping laws when those violations occur in the scope of employment. Having a written policy prohibiting non-disclosure recording is a mitigating factor but not a complete defense. Your call system should enforce disclosure at the technology layer, more than through training and policy.
Do FCC rules on robocalls apply to businesses calling their own customers?
Yes, with caveats. The TCPA applies to calls using an ATDS or prerecorded voice to cell phones regardless of the existing relationship. An established business relationship is not a defense for cell phone calls under the TCPA. It matters for Do Not Call purposes under some exemptions, but not for the autodialer consent requirement. Always get proper written consent before marketing to cell phones with automated systems.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Justice, Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, 18 U.S.C. § 2511: Federal wiretapping law permits recording when one party to the communication has given prior consent to the interception
- National Conference of State Legislatures, State Electronic Surveillance Laws: Thirteen to fourteen states require all-party consent for recording phone calls, including California, Florida, Washington, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Illinois, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Delaware, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, and Oregon
- California Legislative Information, Penal Code § 632: California Penal Code § 632 prohibits recording confidential communications without all-party consent and allows $5,000 civil damages per violation
- UScellular, Privacy Policy: US Cellular may record calls to its own customer service lines for quality assurance purposes
- FTC, National Do Not Call Registry: Consumers can file complaints about unwanted calls and register numbers on the National DNC Registry; telemarketers must honor opt-out requests within 30 days
- U.S. Supreme Court, Facebook, Inc. v. Duguid, 141 S. Ct. 1163 (2021): The Supreme Court held in 2021 that an ATDS under the TCPA must have the capacity to store or produce numbers using a random or sequential number generator, narrowing the definition
- Washington State Legislature, RCW 9.73.030: Washington State requires all-party consent to record private communications and allows $10,000 in civil damages per violation; violations are a class C felony
- Florida Legislature, Fla. Stat. § 934.03: Florida's Security of Communications Act treats recording without all-party consent as a third-degree felony
- Congress.gov, 18 U.S.C. § 2520, Civil Actions for Electronic Surveillance Violations: Federal civil damages for wiretapping violations include the greater of $10,000 or $100 per day of violation, plus actual damages and punitive damages