Consumer News: FCC offers new guides to help block unwanted calls and texts

Consumers can pair instructions for their phone with those for their wireless provider

By Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs

• The FCC has released step-by-step guides to help consumers block and filter unwanted calls and texts.

• The guides cover iPhones, Android phones and services from AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon.

• Many of the tools are free or included in phone plans, though availability depends on the device and service.

The Federal Communications Commission has published five new guides showing consumers how to turn on tools that block or filter unwanted calls and texts.

The guides are designed to help people find protections already available through their phones or wireless service. Two cover Apple and Google devices; the other three cover services offered by AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon.

The FCC recommends choosing the guide for your phone and the guide for your provider. An iPhone customer with T-Mobile service, for example, would use both of those instruction cards, then decide which features to enable.

Many of the features cost nothing extra or are included in a customers plan, the agency said.

All three carriers also offer free ways to report unwanted incoming calls and texts. Consumers should check what is included in their own plan before turning on a feature that may carry a charge.

Practical solutions

The guides give consumers a practical way to reduce interruptions, but the FCC does not promise that filtering will stop every unwanted call or text. Consumers can review the available settings and choose the protections that work best for them.

Combatting the scourge of illegal robocalls remains the FCCs top consumer protection priority, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said. The agency said the guides are part of its broader effort to curb illegal robocalls and robotexts.

In 2025, consumers were inundated with approximately 52.5 billion automated calls. While roughly 57% were flagged as sales pitches or fraudulent, tracking metrics do not break out from general telemarketing. Consequently, exact national statistics on the proportion of unwanted communications tied to remain unavailable.

Recently, Carr released a Public Notice seeking comment on the creation of a new consumer tool, a Robocall Scorecard, aiming to empower consumers to make informed choices when it comes to their voice service provider. These new consumer resources mark the latest step in the Commissions broader effort to attack and stop illegal robocalls at every point in their life cycle.