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AI Dialer

Glossary · Compliance

What is ATDS (automatic telephone dialing system)?

  • Also called: autodialer legal definition, automatic telephone dialing system

Reviewed by Sujan ThapaliyaLast updated

Definition

ATDS is the statutory term in US telemarketing law for an automatic telephone dialing system. Its scope was narrowed by the Supreme Court in 2021, which held that equipment must use a random or sequential number generator to fall within the definition.
The three STIR/SHAKEN attestation levels, which underpin how atds (automatic telephone dialing system) behaves in practice: A asserts both that the carrier knows the customer and that the customer may use the calling number, B asserts the customer only, and C asserts neither. A shared number pool can reach B at best, which is why number ownership keeps recurring in these definitions.
Attestation is the backdrop to most caller-ID and deliverability terms, atds (automatic telephone dialing system) included.

In practice

How atds (automatic telephone dialing system) actually works

The practical effect was to move most modern dialing — which calls numbers from a stored customer list rather than generating them — outside the strictest branch of the rule.

It changed less than it first appeared. The rules on prerecorded and artificial voice calls, on do-not-call, on calling hours and on revocation of consent all operate independently of whether equipment is an ATDS, and state statutes are in several cases stricter than the federal position.

Treating the narrowing as permission to call without consent is the mistake it invites. The exposure moved rather than disappearing.

The narrowing also produced a split between federal and state exposure that catches out national campaigns. Several states legislated their own definitions afterwards, some broader than the federal one, so a campaign that is comfortably outside the federal branch can still be squarely inside a state statute.

Worked example

The narrowed federal definition moved one branch of exposure. Prerecorded-voice rules, do-not-call obligations, revocation handling and several state statutes were untouched, which is why "we are not an ATDS" answers a smaller question than it sounds like.

ATDS (automatic telephone dialing system): common questions

Is a modern dialer an ATDS?
Usually not under the narrowed federal definition, because it dials from a stored list rather than generating numbers randomly or sequentially. That does not exempt it from consent, do-not-call or calling-hour rules.
Did the 2021 ruling make cold calling easier?
It narrowed one branch of federal exposure. Prerecorded-voice rules, do-not-call obligations, revocation handling and state statutes were untouched, and several states have since legislated more strictly.
Do I still need consent to call mobiles?
For prerecorded or artificial voice marketing calls, yes, and to the written standard. For live calls the analysis is more nuanced — which is a question for counsel rather than for a glossary.

Sources

  1. Combating Spoofed Robocalls with Caller ID Authentication — Federal Communications CommissionThe STIR/SHAKEN framework, the attestation levels carriers sign calls with, and the mandate requiring providers to authenticate caller ID.
  2. 47 U.S.C. § 227 — Restrictions on the use of telephone equipment — Cornell Legal Information InstituteThe Telephone Consumer Protection Act itself — the consent requirements, calling-hours limits, and private right of action.
  3. ITU-T Recommendation E.164 — The international public telecommunication numbering plan — International Telecommunication UnionThe international number format, the 15-digit maximum, and how country codes and national numbers compose.

See atds (automatic telephone dialing system) in the product

An auto dialer is any system that places outbound calls without a person keying digits. There are four modes — power, preview, progressive and predictive — and they differ in how many calls run per rep and who hears the phone ring first. All four are in the base product here, switchable per campaign.

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