If your business calls are being marked as spam, showing up as “Spam Likely”, “Scam Likely” or “Spam Risk” on the phones you call, the label is not coming from your phone system. It is added at the other end, by the called person’s carrier and the call analytics company it works with, based on how your numbers behave and how well your calls are authenticated.
That is useful to know, because it tells you where the fix lives: in registering your numbers, calling from numbers your carrier can vouch for, keeping your calling patterns sensible, and, where it fits, branded caller ID. Here is how each piece works.
Who puts the label on your call?
The large US carriers each score incoming calls with an analytics partner. USTelecom, the industry association that runs the robocall traceback group, publishes the pairings and where to ask for a review:
| Carrier | Analytics partner | Where to dispute a label |
|---|---|---|
| AT&T | Hiya | att.com/reviewmycalllabel |
| Verizon | TNS | voicespamfeedback.com |
| T-Mobile | First Orion | callreporting.t-mobile.com |
| Spectrum | TNS | reportspam.spectrum.com |
Because each network uses its own engine, the same number can be clean on one carrier and labeled on another. USTelecom keeps the full list of labeling and blocking contacts current.
STIR/SHAKEN and attestation levels A, B and C
STIR/SHAKEN is the caller ID authentication framework the FCC required US voice providers to put in their IP networks by June 30, 2021, under the TRACED Act. The carrier that originates your call signs it, and the carrier that delivers it checks the signature. That signature carries an attestation level, which the FCC describes this way:
| Level | What the originating carrier is saying |
|---|---|
| A (full) | It knows the customer making the call, and that customer is using its own telephone number. |
| B (partial) | It knows the customer, but cannot confirm the number. |
| C (gateway) | It is only the point where the call entered its IP network, for example a call from abroad or from a network that does not support STIR/SHAKEN. |
The FCC has noted that even C attestation gives analytics a useful data point, which is the connection most businesses miss: how your calls are signed feeds into how they are scored. A call with A attestation is not guaranteed a clean label, but a call that can only get B or C is starting behind.
Attestation is also why your provider asks for business details. FCC rules require voice providers to take affirmative, effective measures to stop new and renewing customers from originating illegal calls, including knowing their customers. A carrier cannot vouch for a caller it has not verified.
Attestation is separate from the “verified” mark some phones show on incoming calls. We explain that one in what the [V] on your caller ID means.
Why legitimate business calls get labeled
Your calling pattern looks like a robocaller’s
Analytics engines score numbers on behavior: how many calls a number places, how fast it dials, how often calls are rejected, how new the number is, and what the people receiving the calls report. First Orion describes checking calls against patterns across billions of calls plus direct customer feedback. A small office that suddenly starts a calling campaign from its main line can trip those signals without doing anything wrong.
Your calls leave through a carrier that does not own your numbers
The FCC itself flagged this: when a business places calls through a provider other than the one that assigned its numbers, such as a dialer or call center platform sending your main number, it is hard for those calls to get A attestation. The outbound provider knows you, but it cannot vouch for a number someone else assigned.
Nobody registered the numbers
An outbound number the analytics companies know nothing about is judged only on its traffic. Registering it gives them the business behind it.
Recipients reported the calls
Customer reports count. When the people you call mark your calls as spam in their phone or their carrier’s app, those reports count against the number. Hiya notes that several spam reports on one number can be enough for a carrier to add it to its list.
How to fix calls marked as spam
1. Register your numbers with the Free Caller Registry
The Free Caller Registry is run by First Orion, Hiya and TNS, the three analytics companies in the table above, so one free submission reaches all three. It asks for your business name and address, website, a contact, the purpose of your calls and expected monthly volume, and takes up to 20 numbers individually or more as a file upload.
Set expectations: the registry says registration does not guarantee redress, because each company still analyzes calls independently. Submitting the same number again adds nothing. If a number is already labeled, use the carrier dispute links above as well.
2. Use the dispute process the FCC requires
Under FCC rules, a terminating carrier that blocks calls, or uses caller ID authentication to decide how to deliver them, must publish a single point of contact for blocking error complaints, resolve disputes about caller ID authentication within a reasonable time, and give a status update within 24 hours. If a carrier is blocking your calls outright, that contact is your route in.
3. Send a consistent outbound caller ID you own
Present the same real business numbers on every outbound call, and send them through the carrier that owns them. Avoid cycling through fresh numbers to dodge a label: new numbers have no history, and age is one of the things analytics look at. If you use a separate dialer or contact center tool, ask your provider how those calls are signed and what attestation they get.
Telnamix is the carrier as well as the platform operator for the hosted phone systems we run, so your numbers and your outbound calls sit with the same provider.
4. Pace your calling
Spread outbound calling across the day and across enough lines for the volume, rather than firing hundreds of calls from one number in an hour. Calls people expect get answered rather than rejected or reported, which means fewer of the signals that drive a label in the first place.
5. Add branded caller ID
It puts your business name, logo and the reason for the call on the recipient’s screen. It requires your organization to be vetted and rides on the same STIR/SHAKEN signing, so the person you call sees a verified business rather than a bare number. Our branded caller ID guide covers how it works and which networks show it.
What does not fix it
Changing your caller name (CNAM). The 15-character name shown on many calls comes from caller name databases, not from the spam score. The Free Caller Registry states that registration data is not used to deliver caller ID names either. A correct name and a spam label can appear on the same call.
Waiting. Scores refresh continuously, so a number that keeps calling the same way tends to keep its label.
Want us to look at your numbers?
Send us the numbers that are being labeled and roughly how many calls each one places a day. We will tell you what your calls look like when they land, how they are signed, and what it takes to fix them. If you already know you want your name and logo on the screen, the branded caller ID registration form collects what carrier vetting needs and we take it from there. Otherwise, contact us.