The Federal Communications Commission wants Americans to know exactly which phone companies do a good job of stopping illegal robocalls and which ones fall short. On September 2, the agency released a public notice seeking comment on a proposed robocall mitigation scorecard that would rate wireless, wireline and VoIP providers. The idea is simple. Give consumers clear information. Push carriers to do better.
Combating illegal robocalls remains the FCC’s top consumer protection priority. Chairman Brendan Carr made that clear in his statement accompanying the notice. “Combatting the scourge of illegal robocalls remains the FCC’s top consumer protection priority,” he said. “And since I became Chairman, we have been tackling the problem at every point of the call path.”
The proposal comes the same day the FCC announced it was cutting off 14 companies from U.S. phone networks for violating robocall rules. Those providers, including Apps Communications and Skycom Healthcare, will be blocked from connecting calls. Federal Communications Commission.
Such enforcement actions have become routine. Yet the volume of unwanted calls persists. Consumer complaints continue to pour in. The new scorecard represents an attempt to add transparency and competitive pressure to the mix. Carriers that block calls effectively could see their reputations rise. Those that don’t might lose customers. At least that’s the theory.
The Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau outlined ambitious goals for the scorecard. It should be easy to understand. Accurate. Useful for consumers choosing a provider. The bureau described it as a tool that would assess both efforts and actual results in protecting people from illegal robocalls. “In practice, that means moving beyond a simple administrative checklist and toward a composite set of metrics that reflects both operational practices and measurable outcomes, including how often legitimate calls are blocked,” the notice states. Federal Communications Commission public notice (PDF).
Metrics would fall into two broad categories. Conduct-based ones look at what providers do. Do they offer customers call labeling or blocking tools? How well do they implement network-level blocking? Do they respond promptly to traceback requests from the Industry Traceback Group? And do they attest to using the STIR/SHAKEN caller ID authentication framework where required?
Outcome-based metrics focus on results. Call blocking statistics. Volume of customer complaints about robocalls. Data from enforcement actions. The notice suggests possible scoring methods. A numeric scale from one to 10. Traditional letter grades. Or simple risk categories. Low risk. Medium risk. High risk. The bureau wants feedback on all of it. Comments are due by September 22. Reply comments by October 2. The docket is CG 26-239.
This isn’t the first time regulators have tried to grade carriers on robocall performance. Consumer groups have done their own evaluations. A 2025 report from the U.S. PIRG Education Fund gave half of the largest phone companies D or F grades for basic free scam protections. Only a few earned top marks. Charter, Comcast and Nextlink stood out positively. Verizon received particularly low scores. U.S. PIRG Education Fund report (PDF).
Progress on technical standards like STIR/SHAKEN has been uneven too. A later PIRG analysis found that only 44 percent of the more than 9,000 voice service providers had fully implemented the required anti-robocall software across their networks as of late 2025. That’s down from the previous year. The number of providers with no implementation at all had risen. U.S. PIRG Education Fund analysis.
Yet carriers have blocked billions of calls. The FCC has highlighted partnerships with third-party analytics firms that flag suspicious traffic. Apps from T-Mobile’s Scam Shield to AT&T’s ActiveArmor give customers additional controls. But many consumers still feel overwhelmed. They don’t know which carrier offers the strongest defenses. The scorecard could change that.
Exactly how the FCC gathers data will matter. The notice floats several sources. Filings in the Robocall Mitigation Database. Records from the FCC’s own Consumer Complaint Center. Enforcement history. Traceback data. Even information from the Federal Trade Commission. Third-party analytics providers might contribute too. But each source has limitations. The bureau acknowledges as much and asks how to present those caveats clearly so no carrier is unfairly penalized.
Questions abound. Should the scorecard cover every voice provider with retail customers? Or focus on the largest ones first? How should smaller regional carriers be treated? What about the risk of false positives where legitimate calls get blocked? The notice specifically seeks input on balancing aggressive blocking against the chance of disrupting important communications.
Industry reaction has been muted so far. No major carrier issued detailed statements within the first 24 hours. But the proposal lands amid ongoing pressure. The TRACED Act, passed in 2019, forced many of the authentication and mitigation requirements now in place. Enforcement has intensified under Chairman Carr. Dozens of providers have been removed from the mitigation database and cut off from the network.
Advocates for stronger action see promise in the scorecard. It could create market incentives where regulation alone has fallen short. Consumers armed with grades might switch providers more readily. Carriers could compete on spam protection the way they once competed on speed or price. But success depends on execution. A poorly designed rating system might confuse more than it clarifies. Or spark disputes over methodology.
The timing feels deliberate. Robocall volumes hit a six-year high in 2025 according to some measurements. AI-generated voices and sophisticated spoofing have made scams harder to spot. Gateway providers that handle international traffic remain a weak point despite new rules. The scorecard won’t solve every problem. It won’t catch every bad actor. Yet it adds another layer of accountability.
Consumers have grown weary of the constant interruptions. They report calls pretending to be from the IRS, banks, or government agencies. Many have stopped answering unknown numbers altogether. That erosion of trust hurts legitimate businesses too. The FCC hopes its new tool will restore some confidence. By making performance visible. By letting the market reward those who protect their customers best.
Whether the scorecard becomes a powerful consumer guide or just another government dashboard remains to be seen. The comment process will shape its final form. Data sources will be debated. Scoring methods tested. But the direction is clear. The FCC intends to shine a brighter light on how well carriers defend their networks. And in an industry where reputation matters, that spotlight could prove uncomfortable for some. And motivating for others.
One thing is certain. The robocall problem isn’t going away on its own. This latest FCC initiative reflects years of incremental progress mixed with persistent frustration. Now comes an experiment in transparency. If it works, consumers might finally have an easier way to judge who keeps the spam at bay. If it doesn’t, the agency will likely keep searching for new approaches. The calls, after all, keep coming.
FCC’s Robocall Scorecard Aims to Name, Shame and Spur Carriers to Finally Stem Spam Flood first appeared on Web and IT News.