How to Register for the Mississippi Do Not Call List

To get on the Mississippi Do Not Call List, register your number free at donotcall.gov or by calling 1-888-382-1222 from the phone you want to protect. Mississippi now uses the National Do Not Call Registry for all new sign-ups, and most telemarketers have to stop calling within 31 days. Registration covers cell phones, landlines, and VoIP numbers, and it never expires.

How to Register Your Number

You have two ways to sign up, and both are free:

Online at donotcall.gov
By phone at 1-888-382-1222 (TTY: 1-866-290-4236), calling from the number you want to register

Cell phones and home landlines are treated identically.¹ VoIP numbers are eligible too.² Once your number is on the list, it stays there. The FTC only removes it if the line is disconnected and reassigned, or if you ask to be taken off.

One boundary to know before you try: the national registry accepts personal phone numbers only. Business lines and fax numbers cannot be registered.¹

When the Calls Should Stop

Telemarketers get 31 days to scrub your number from their lists. Under federal rules, they must check their calling lists against a version of the registry no more than 31 days old before dialing.² After that window, calls that continue and don’t fit an exemption are reportable.

If You Signed Up Under the Old State List

Mississippi used to run its own list through the Public Service Commission, with phone and mail registration. Anyone who signed up that way is still protected and does not need to re-register.² Adding your number to the national list on top costs nothing and layers on federal protections, so most people do both.

Calls That Are Still Allowed

Being on the list doesn’t stop every call. Mississippi law carves out several categories, and knowing them will save you from filing complaints that go nowhere.

Charitable calls from organizations registered with the Mississippi Secretary of State are exempt, as long as the person dialing isn’t being paid to do it. Political calls and other noncommercial calls are permitted too.³

Companies you’ve done business with can keep calling. Mississippi defines an “established business relationship” as any prior or existing relationship formed by a voluntary two-way communication between you and the business, and the state definition sets no time limit.⁴ Federal rules do cap it: 18 months from your last purchase, payment, or delivery, and three months from an inquiry or application.⁵ Even inside those windows, you can tell the company to stop, and they have to.

Certain licensed professionals are exempt when the call relates to their licensed business: Mississippi-licensed motor vehicle dealers, insurance agents (though calls selling Medicare supplement policies are not exempt), securities brokers and investment advisors registered under state securities law, financial institutions with a physical presence in Mississippi, and licensed funeral homes, cemeteries, and monument dealers.³

The most-abused exemption covers callers who don’t make a major sales pitch, don’t try to close on the phone, or are only setting up an in-person meeting to complete the sale later.³ A caller who claims to be “just scheduling an appointment” while pressuring you to buy has probably crossed the line.

What the Rules Cover

Registration targets commercial telemarketing: businesses trying to sell you something. That includes both live calls and prerecorded robocalls, and it includes text messages. Under federal rules, marketing texts to a cell phone generally require your prior express consent, and you can revoke that consent at any time using any reasonable method, such as replying “STOP.”⁶

The Mississippi Telephone Solicitation Act reaches solicitations to residential, cellular, and business subscribers in the state, and telemarketers operating here must register with the Public Service Commission.⁷

How to Report a Violation

If a month has passed since you registered and you’re still getting non-exempt telemarketing calls, file a complaint with the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office through the No Call Online Portal.² Before you file, write down:

Date and time of the call
The caller ID number, if one appeared
Name of the company or person calling
What they were selling
Whether it was a live person, a recording, or a text
Whether you have any prior business relationship with the caller

A printed complaint form can also be mailed to the Mississippi Public Service Commission.⁸ Submitting the same complaint at donotcall.gov gives the FTC data it uses to build cases against repeat offenders.

What Illegal Calls Can Cost the Caller

Under the Mississippi Telephone Solicitation Act, a telemarketer can be fined up to $5,000 per illegal call, and each call is its own violation.⁹

You also have your own right to sue in state court under the federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act. If a telemarketer calls your registered number using an autodialer or a prerecorded message, you can recover $500 per violation, or $1,500 if a court finds the violation willful. For Do Not Call violations specifically, the TCPA requires more than one illegal call from the same company within a 12-month period before you can sue.¹⁰ Keep a log. Date, time, caller ID, and what was said. That’s what turns a complaint into a case.

1
FTC. National Do Not Call Registry FAQs
2
Mississippi Attorney General’s Office. No Call Online Portal
3
Justia Law. Mississippi Code 77-3-711 – Exempt Categories
4
Justia Law. Mississippi Code 77-3-705 – Definitions
5
Federal Trade Commission. Q&A for Telemarketers and Sellers About DNC Provisions in TSR
6
Federal Communications Commission. Order in the Matter of Rules and Regulations Implementing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991
7
Justia Law. Mississippi Code 77-3-701 – Short Title
8
Mississippi Public Service Commission. No Call Subscriber Complaint Form
9
Mississippi Public Service Commission. PSC Charges Wyoming Telemarketing Firm for No-Call Violations Totaling $2.9 Million in Fines
10
Federal Communications Commission. Telephone Consumer Protection Act 47 USC 227