An automated calling system dials and delivers calls without a person placing each one, using a recording, an AI voice or a dialer feeding live agents. Federal rules turn on the content: prerecorded and AI marketing calls to mobile and home lines need prior express written consent. Check your campaign below.
Free automated calling rules check
Tell it what you are sending, who gets it and how. It returns the consent level, the calling hours and the opt-out duties, each with its source, then estimates what the campaign costs. It starts on the case most people ask about: an AI voice selling to existing customers on mobile phones.
Automated calling rules check
Only for customers who signed written consent. Being a customer is not enough.
Also check the Do Not Call Registry and your own do-not-call list. Written consent does not undo a later request to stop.
Rates start from: Retell's default example of $0.11 a minute plus $0.015 telephony, and its $0.005 batch call fee, read November 2026.The 28 percent answer rate is from Baylor's cold calling test. Your own list will differ.
| Method | Total | Per answered call |
|---|---|---|
| Prerecorded | $7.67 | $0.05 |
| AI voice | $37.50 | $0.27 |
| Live agent | $98.00 | $0.70 |
| Answer rate | Total | Per answered call |
|---|---|---|
| 10% | $15.00 | $0.30 |
| 20% | $27.50 | $0.28 |
| 28% | $37.50 | $0.27 |
| 40% | $52.50 | $0.26 |
Runs in your browser. Nothing you enter is stored or sent. This is general information about US federal rules, read in November 2026, and not legal advice. State laws can be stricter. Nonprofit and HIPAA health care calls have separate rules this tool does not cover.
Key takeaways
- The FCC ruled in February 2024 that AI-generated voices are artificial voices under the TCPA. AI marketing calls need prior express written consent.
- Being your customer is not written consent. The FCC removed that exemption for prerecorded telemarketing to home lines, and the mobile rule never had one.
- A new FCC rule takes effect November 25, 2026. It lets callers name one or more exclusive opt-out methods. The 10 business day deadline stays.
- The FTC lists a civil penalty of $53,088 per violation for calling someone who asked not to be called.
| Type | What it does | Good for | Example price | Marketing consent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voice broadcast | Plays one recording to a list | Alerts, reminders | 3.8 to 7.5 cents per 30 second credit (DialMyCalls) | Prior express written |
| AI voice agent | Holds a two-way conversation | Reminders, qualifying people who opted in | $0.07 to $0.31 a minute (Retell) | Prior express written |
| Dialer with live agents | Dials a list and connects answered calls to a person | Sales teams | $0.014 a minute for the call alone (Twilio), plus agent pay | None for a live voice, unless it is an autodialer. Do Not Call applies |
| IVR or phone menu | Answers inbound calls with a menu | Routing callers | Varies | Not an outbound call |
| Inbound AI receptionist | Answers inbound calls with a conversation | Missed calls, after hours | $39 a month with 120 minutes (callflo.ai Starter, annual) | Not an outbound call |
How automated phone calls for business work
Automated phone calls for business work in three steps: a list goes in, the system dials on a schedule, and a recording, an AI voice or an agent handles whoever answers. Results come back as a log of answered, voicemail and failed calls, plus any key presses. The technology is cheap and simple. The list and the consent behind it are the hard parts.
Phone automation also covers inbound calls, which is a different job with different rules. The consent rules here apply to whoever initiates the call. If a caller reaches a menu or an AI receptionist, they started it. For that side, read IVR vs AI phone agent, and for replacing human seats, the AI call center agent cost comparison.
What consent does an automated call need?
The consent an automated call needs depends on its content and the line it reaches. For prerecorded or AI voices, marketing calls to mobile and home lines need prior express written consent. Non-marketing calls to mobile numbers need prior express consent. True emergencies need none. A live voice is judged differently.
| Call | Mobile | Home landline | Ordinary business landline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marketing or sales | Prior express written consent | Prior express written consent | Not named in the rule. FTC exempts most business calls |
| Reminder or notice, no selling | Prior express consent | None up to 3 calls in 30 days, then prior express consent | Not named in the rule |
| Debt collection | Prior express consent | None up to 3 calls in 30 days, then prior express consent | Not named in the rule |
| True emergency | None | None | None |
Prior express written consent, exactly
Under 47 CFR 64.1200(f)(9), prior express written consent is a written agreement bearing the signature of the person called. Generic permission to contact someone does not meet it. To qualify, it needs all of the following.
- It clearly authorizes the seller to deliver advertisements or telemarketing messages using an autodialer or an artificial or prerecorded voice.
- It states the phone number those messages may go to.
- A clear and conspicuous disclosure says that signing authorizes those calls.
- The same disclosure says the person is not required to sign as a condition of buying anything.
- The signature can be electronic or digital, if valid under applicable law.
A business card, a form that only says "contact me", or a number in your customer file does not meet that list. The FCC said in 2012 that telemarketing calls to home lines need prior written consent even with an established business relationship. Non-marketing calls are lighter: the same order leaves it to the caller whether consent is oral or written.
The FCC's February 2024 AI voice ruling
The FCC's Declaratory Ruling FCC 24-17, adopted February 2 and released February 8, 2024, confirmed that restrictions on "artificial or prerecorded voice" cover current AI technologies that generate human voices. So an AI voice needs prior express consent unless an emergency or exemption applies, and written consent if the call is marketing. It must also identify the caller. The ruling did not create a new category. It placed AI voices inside the existing rule.
One caveat for readers with lawyers. In June 2025, the Supreme Court held in McLaughlin Chiropractic v. McKessonthat the Hobbs Act does not bind district courts in civil enforcement proceedings to an agency's interpretation of a statute. In a private lawsuit, a court can read the TCPA for itself. Do not plan a campaign around that. Plan around the FCC's reading, and treat this as a reason to get advice on anything close to the line.
Is a dialer with live agents an autodialer?
A dialer is an autodialer only if it meets the narrow test in Facebook v. Duguid: it must be able to store or produce numbers using a random or sequential number generator. Many list dialers argue they fall outside that. Do Not Call rules, hours, identification and the 3 percent abandonment limit still apply to telemarketing calls to consumers, so a live agent does not make the rest go away. For what those agents should say, see these cold call examples.
Calling hours and opt-out rules
Marketing calls to consumers must stay between 8am and 9pm at the called person's location. Prerecorded and AI marketing messages must offer an automated opt-out within two seconds of identifying the caller. Stop requests must be honored within 10 business days. States can be stricter: Florida stops commercial telephone solicitation at 8pm and limits it to three calls in 24 hours.
What does an automated calling system cost?
An automated calling system costs what you pay per answered minute plus any per-dial fees, and platform fees on top. The formula in the tool is answered calls times minutes times the rate, plus dials times the fee. At the starting rates, 500 dials with 28 percent answered and two minutes each comes to about 37.50 dollars for an AI voice, against about 98 dollars of talk time for live agents.
The default 28 percent comes from Baylor's test of 6,264 cold calls, so treat it as a starting point, not a forecast. Calls to your own customers should do better. The live agent rate of 21 dollars an hour is our assumption and it counts talk time only, which flatters it, since agents also wait between calls. The cheap option can also be the most expensive one: on a cold list, the AI and recorded rows are not really available at any price.
Where callflo.ai fits, and where it does not
callflo.ai is mainly the inbound half of phone automation. It answers your line around the clock, takes the caller's details, and sends a summary and a follow-up text. Starter is 39 dollars a month on annual billing or 49 dollars monthly, with 120 minutes and 98 cents for each extra minute. On an inbound call the caller chose to reach you, so the consent tables above do not govern the call itself. Texts have rules of their own.
Outbound is narrower. Outbound calling and text campaigns are VIP only, at 697 dollars a month on annual billing or 997 dollars monthly with 1,000 minutes, and our team plans and runs them for you. Those calls use an AI voice, so everything above applies, and the consent has to be yours to give us. We are the wrong choice if your plan is a purchased list. For a simple recorded reminder, a voice broadcast service may be cheaper. The fit is old leads and customers who signed prior express written consent.
Hear the inbound side answer a call
Call callflo.ai's own AI agent and ask it anything about your business. When you are ready, pick a plan: no setup fee, no contract, and you do not pay unless you are satisfied.
Starter is $39 a month on annual billing. Live on your line about 5 minutes after you sign up.