Call Center Calling and Texting Hours by State

Last updated: August 29, 2026. This page is a reference for contractors and for our own call center. It is not legal advice.

We run a call center that calls and texts homeowners who asked for information about a home improvement project, and books those homeowners onto a contractor's calendar. The single most common compliance mistake in that work is simple: an agent dials at 8:05 a.m. or 8:40 p.m. on the agent's clock instead of the homeowner's, in a state that closes earlier than the federal rule anyway.

So this is the reference we use, and it is built for a contractor who is running the phones in-house or checking the vendor who runs them. It lists the federal window first, then every state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, with the source cited next to each rule. If a state has no stricter rule of its own, the page says federal applies and cites the federal rule rather than inventing a state exception. If a rule could not be read in official text, the page says so instead of guessing.

If you want the appointment side of this handled with the hours already enforced in the dialer, that is what our appointment setting work is.

Jump to a state, DC, or Puerto Rico

• Federal: the federal window · texting · what an inbound lead unlocks · states stricter than federal · setting your dial windows
• A to C: Alabama · Alaska · Arizona · Arkansas · California · Colorado · Connecticut
• D to I: Delaware · District of Columbia · Florida · Georgia · Hawaii · Idaho · Illinois · Indiana · Iowa
• K to M: Kansas · Kentucky · Louisiana · Maine · Maryland · Massachusetts · Michigan · Minnesota · Mississippi · Missouri · Montana
• N: Nebraska · Nevada · New Hampshire · New Jersey · New Mexico · New York · North Carolina · North Dakota
• O to R: Ohio · Oklahoma · Oregon · Pennsylvania · Puerto Rico · Rhode Island
• S to T: South Carolina · South Dakota · Tennessee · Texas
• U to W: Utah · Vermont · Virginia · Washington · West Virginia · Wisconsin · Wyoming · other US territories

What is the federal calling and texting window?

Two federal regimes run at the same time, and booking a contractor appointment to sell roofing, windows, or a bathroom sits inside both of them.

The FTC Telemarketing Sales Rule is the tighter of the two for our purposes. Without the person's prior consent, a telemarketer may not place an outbound telemarketing call to a person's residence at any time other than between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. local time at the called person's location. That is 16 CFR 310.4(c). The only exception written into that subsection is the person's prior consent to be called outside those hours. There is no established-business-relationship exception in it, no Sunday exception, and no holiday exception.

The FCC rule uses the same clock: no person may initiate a telephone solicitation to a residential telephone subscriber before 8:00 a.m. or after 9:00 p.m. local time at the called party's location, under 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1). The FCC rule has a definitional carve-out the FTC rule does not: a call made with the person's prior express invitation or permission, or to a person with whom the caller has an established business relationship, is not a "telephone solicitation" at all under 47 CFR 64.1200(f)(15). That is why the FTC window is the one to run the floor on. A call can fall outside the FCC hours rule and still violate the FTC hours rule.

The TCPA statute itself does not contain a calling-hour clock. The hours are in the FCC and FTC regulations. The statute is 47 USC 227.

Wireless numbers get the same treatment. 47 CFR 64.1200(e) applies the hours and do-not-call paragraphs to telephone solicitations and telemarketing calls or text messages made to wireless numbers, to the extent described in the FCC's 2003 order, FCC 03-153. At paragraph 118 of that order the Commission concluded that the time-of-day and do-not-call rules apply to calls made to wireless numbers, because wireless subscribers should get the same protections as wireline subscribers. At paragraph 14, a wireless subscriber who registers on the national list is presumed to be a residential subscriber.

There is no federal Sunday ban and no federal holiday ban. Neither 47 USC 227, nor 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1), nor 16 CFR 310.4(c) names Sunday, Saturday, or any federal holiday as a closed day. Some states do, and those states are marked below. Do not let a vendor tell you a federal Sunday rule exists.

Two more federal points matter to a call center more than the hours do, because they are where the money in a lawsuit is:

• Autodialed or prerecorded telemarketing needs prior express written consent, defined at 47 CFR 64.1200(f)(9). A web lead is not that consent unless the form actually meets the definition, and an established business relationship is not a substitute for it. After the Supreme Court's decision in Facebook v. Duguid, equipment is an autodialer only if it can store or produce numbers using a random or sequential number generator, but a live manual dial is still fully inside the hours, National Do Not Call, company do-not-call, abandoned-call, and caller ID rules.
• A consumer can revoke consent through any reasonable method, and the caller must honor it within a reasonable time not to exceed ten business days, under 47 CFR 64.1200(a)(10) through (a)(12). A caller may not designate an exclusive way to opt out, which means "reply STOP" is not the only valid opt-out you have to accept.

State law can be stricter than all of this, and the TCPA says so at 47 USC 227(f)(1). That is what the rest of this page is.

Do the federal hours cover text messages?

For practical purposes, yes, and you should run texts on the same clock as calls.

The FCC treats a text message as a call. 47 CFR 64.1200(e) expressly applies the hours and do-not-call paragraphs to telemarketing calls or text messages sent to wireless numbers, and paragraph 116 of FCC 03-153 states that the prohibition on autodialed and prerecorded calls covers both voice calls and text calls to wireless numbers, including short message service. The rule text at 47 CFR 64.1200(a)(9) also says that "call" includes a text message, including an SMS message.

The FTC rule is narrower on its face. 16 CFR 310.4(c) restricts "outbound telephone calls" to a "residence" and does not mention text or SMS. So do not describe the FTC rule as a standalone SMS curfew. The FCC rule is the one that names text messages in the hours block.

State statutes are where texting rules are moving fastest. Florida, Missouri, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Virginia all reach texts directly in their own text, and Rhode Island bans text message advertising to a Rhode Island cell number outside narrow exceptions. Those are called out in the state sections.

Does an inbound lead unlock off-hour calls?

No, and this is the assumption that gets call centers in trouble on a lead that looks perfectly clean.

An inbound form submission is an inquiry. Under 47 CFR 64.1200(f)(5) it can create an established business relationship with that seller for three months, and under 16 CFR 310.2(q) the FTC version runs 90 days from the inquiry. What that relationship buys you is narrow: it lifts the National Do Not Call Registry restriction for that seller. It does not lift the FTC hours rule, which has no established-business-relationship exception. It does not extend to affiliates or to every contractor in a network, because consent and the business relationship run to a specific seller, not to a group. It does not authorize an autodialed or prerecorded call or a marketing robotext, which need prior express written consent. And the 18-month purchase window in the same definitions belongs to an actual transaction, not to a form fill.

The fact that the appointment ends in a face-to-face sales presentation does not clear the phone rules either. The FTC's face-to-face exemption at 16 CFR 310.6(b)(3) is partial. Calling hours, do-not-call, abandoned-call limits, caller ID, and the robocall rules all stay on.

The FCC also deleted its one-to-one lead generation consent rule after the Eleventh Circuit vacated it in 2025, so that rule is not in force. Prior express written consent still has to clearly authorize the specific seller who is calling.

Company-specific do-not-call requests are separate from the registry and stricter in effect. Under 47 CFR 64.1200(d) you must honor a do-not-call request within a reasonable time not to exceed ten business days and keep the record for five years, and a seller-specific request kills the business-relationship argument for that seller. If your follow-up system cannot suppress a number across every campaign within that window, the rest of your compliance work does not matter.

Which states are stricter than the federal window?

These are the jurisdictions where the tighter rule is state law, not the federal 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. window. Everything not on this list runs the federal window, and the state section below says so and cites it.

Several states restrict automated dialing on a tighter clock than live calling, so a dialer campaign and a manual campaign do not get the same window: California autodialers run 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. California time under Cal. Pub. Util. Code 2872, Illinois autodialers run 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. under 815 ILCS 305/15(a), Indiana automatic dialing devices run 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. under IC 24-5-14-8, and Maine autodialed solicitation runs weekdays only, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Maine time, one call per number per eight hours, under 10 M.R.S. 1498. Nebraska allows automated solicitation on a Sunday or legal holiday only from 1 p.m. under the Public Service Commission rule at 291 NAC ch. 11.

How do you set calling windows from this list?

Set the dialer on the homeowner's location, not the agent's. That is the only operating rule that fixes most of the exposure, and it is worth checking that whatever CRM and dialer setup you run is enforcing time zone by the record's address or area code, not by the office clock.

From there, four rules cover the exceptions:

1. Default to 8:00 a.m. through 9:00 p.m. in the homeowner's local time, seven days a week, whenever the state section below says federal applies.
2. Do not open at 8:00 a.m. in Kentucky (10 a.m.), Connecticut on a covered sales call (9 a.m.), Michigan (9 a.m.), Minnesota on a cold residential call (9 a.m.), Nevada (9 a.m.), New Mexico (9 a.m.), Puerto Rico (9 a.m.), Rhode Island (9 a.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. Saturday), South Dakota (9 a.m.), or Texas (9 a.m. on a weekday or Saturday, noon on Sunday). For automated dialing, add California, Illinois, Indiana, and Maine at 9 a.m., and Nebraska at 1 p.m. on a Sunday or legal holiday.
3. Do not run past 8:00 p.m. in Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming. Rhode Island is earlier still, at 6:00 p.m. on weekdays and 5:00 p.m. on Saturday. Pennsylvania moves to 7:00 p.m. on October 18, 2026. Mississippi is written in Central Standard Time rather than the homeowner's local time.
4. Close entirely on Sunday in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Dakota, and Utah, and in Pennsylvania from October 18, 2026. Rhode Island defines no Sunday hours. Where the official text names holidays, check the date before you dial: Alabama says holidays, Louisiana says state holidays, Utah says legal holidays and points to Utah Code 63G-1-301, and Rhode Island excludes a state or federal holiday from its weekday window. None of those rules publish a calendar inside the hours provision, so do not run one from memory.

Cap redials where the state caps them. Florida, Maryland, Oklahoma, and Oregon all limit you to three calls to the same person in a 24-hour period on the same subject, and Maine limits autodialed solicitation to one call per number per eight-hour period. That cap is per person and per subject, not per agent, so a three-agent race to the same fresh lead can break it in the first hour. It is one more reason to route speed to lead through one queue instead of letting everyone dial at once.

Alabama

Calls: 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., with no calls on Sundays or holidays. The Alabama Public Service Commission rule covers live and automated solicitation calls to consumers in Alabama, bans sequential dialing, and does not write an inquiry or business-relationship carve-out into the hours provision, so an inbound form does not open a Sunday, a holiday, or an off-hour call. The rule says "holidays" without listing them, so confirm the date rather than assuming a calendar. The rule does not state whose clock the hours run on; treat it as the homeowner's local time.

Texts: no Alabama text-message hour rule was found in this provision, so federal governs texts, and the Alabama window is the practical floor anyway.

Source: Ala. Admin. Code r. 770-X-5-.17, under authority of Code of Ala. 1975, sections 37-1-57, 37-2-3, and 37-2-10.

Alaska

Calls: federal applies, 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. local time at the homeowner, under 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1) and 16 CFR 310.4(c). Alaska's telephone solicitation statute carries no separate calling-hour clock, and the Department of Law's consumer page restates the federal window. Alaska's definition of a telephone solicitation excludes calls made in response to a request or inquiry, business-to-business calls, certain charitable calls, and calls to a purchaser from the last 18 months who has not asked that calls stop.

Texts: federal applies. No Alaska text-message hour rule was found.

Source: AS 45.50.475; Alaska Department of Law consumer protection, telemarketing.

Arizona

Calls: federal applies, 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. local time at the homeowner. Arizona does this by reference rather than with its own clock: A.R.S. 44-1278(B)(6) incorporates compliance with 47 CFR 64.1200 or 16 CFR 310.4, which is where the 8-to-9 window lives. No Sunday or holiday closure is added.

Texts: Arizona separately bars an intentional unsolicited telephone sales call to a mobile or paging device and reaches texts sent to numbers on the National Do Not Call Registry under A.R.S. 44-1282, so scrub before texting an Arizona cell.

Source: A.R.S. 44-1278; A.R.S. 44-1282; 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1); 16 CFR 310.4(c).

Arkansas

Calls: federal applies, 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. local time at the homeowner, under 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1) and 16 CFR 310.4(c). Arkansas has no separate state calling-hour clock, and the Attorney General's telemarketing page restates the federal window.

Texts: federal applies. No Arkansas text-message hour rule was found.

Source: Ark. Code Ann. 4-99-101 et seq.; Arkansas Attorney General, do not call and telemarketing.

California

Calls: for live, manually dialed calls, federal applies, 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. local time at the homeowner, under 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1) and 16 CFR 310.4(c). California's telephone solicitation statute at Bus. and Prof. Code 17592 adds no calling-hour clock of its own.

Automated dialing is different and stricter. No one may operate an automatic dialing and announcing device so that a California telephone receives a call between 9:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m. California time, which makes the automated window 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. on California's clock rather than the homeowner's. That article does not apply to calls to a person with an established relationship or who requested the call, under subsection (f).

Texts: federal applies. No California text-message hour rule was found.

Source: Cal. Pub. Util. Code 2872; Cal. Bus. and Prof. Code 17592.

Colorado

Calls: federal applies, 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. local time at the homeowner, under 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1) and 16 CFR 310.4(c). Colorado's No-Call List provisions cover registration, list scrubbing, and caller identification, but contain no time-of-day subsection.

Texts: federal applies. No Colorado text-message hour rule was found.

Source: C.R.S. 6-1-903, 6-1-904; 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1); 16 CFR 310.4(c).

Connecticut

Calls: 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. local time when the call is a telephonic sales call, which is an hour later at the start and an hour earlier at the end than the federal window. Connecticut applies that window to residential, mobile, and paging numbers alike. No Sunday or holiday closure is written into the subsection.

The definition matters as much as the clock here. Connecticut excludes from a telephonic sales call a call or message made in response to a resident consumer's own request or inquiry, including an inquiry about an item bought in the prior 12 months, a call made with prior express written consent, and a call to an existing customer who has not asked you to stop. A genuine callback on a fresh inbound request is generally outside the definition, so the 9-to-8 window and the written-consent default do not attach to it. Pitch a different product, or work a stale list, and the 9-to-8 window applies again.

Texts: covered. A text message can be a telephonic sales call under the same section, so run Connecticut texts on the 9-to-8 window unless the exclusion clearly applies.

Source: Conn. Gen. Stat. 42-288a, subsection (c).

Delaware

Calls: federal applies, 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. local time at the homeowner, under 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1) and 16 CFR 310.4(c). Delaware's current telemarketing chapter has no time-of-day subsection. It does exempt a sale in which the buyer receives a face-to-face sales presentation, at 6 Del. C. 2505A(1), but that exemption is from the Delaware chapter, not from the federal hours.

Texts: federal applies. No Delaware text-message hour rule was found.

Source: 6 Del. C. ch. 25A; 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1); 16 CFR 310.4(c).

District of Columbia

Calls: 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., the same clock as federal. The District makes it an abusive telemarketing practice to solicit a consumer's residence before 8:00 a.m. or after 9:00 p.m. local time at the consumer called, and separately caps ringing at 15 rings. No Sunday or holiday closure.

Texts: federal applies. No District text-message hour rule was found.

Source: D.C. Code 22-3226.08; 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1); 16 CFR 310.4(c).

Florida

Calls: 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. local time in the called person's time zone, and that limit expressly includes autodialed and recorded calls. Florida also caps frequency: no more than three commercial telephone solicitation calls from any number to a person over a 24-hour period on the same subject, regardless of the number used. No Sunday or holiday closure appears in that section.

Texts: Florida's Telephone Solicitation Act reaches calls, text messages, and voicemail. An unsolicited telephonic sales call that is autodialed or uses a recorded message needs prior express written consent, and the statute excludes from unsolicited calls those made at the consumer's express request or under an existing debt, contract, or prior or existing business relationship. An inbound form generally lands in that exclusion. Do not assume the 8-to-8 clock in the commercial telephone solicitation section automatically governs a manual text, but do apply the consent and opt-out rules to every Florida text.

Source: Fla. Stat. 501.616(6); Fla. Stat. 501.059.

Georgia

Calls: federal applies, 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. local time at the homeowner, under 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1) and 16 CFR 310.4(c). Georgia's telephone solicitation statute, as revised by Senate Bill 73 in 2024, runs a state do-not-call program but contains no time-of-day subsection.

Texts: federal applies. Whether Georgia's later amendments reach texts inside the hours framework could not be confirmed in official text, so treat the federal rule as the floor and do not assume a Georgia text curfew either way.

Source: O.C.G.A. 46-5-27; 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1); 16 CFR 310.4(c).

Hawaii

Calls: 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., the same clock as federal. Hawaii makes it an abusive practice to initiate an outbound telephone call to a consumer's residence other than between 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. local time at the consumer called, and caps ringing at 10 rings. No Sunday or holiday closure.

Texts: federal applies. No Hawaii text-message hour rule was found.

Source: HRS 481P-3; 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1); 16 CFR 310.4(c).

Idaho

Calls: federal applies, 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. local time at the homeowner, under 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1) and 16 CFR 310.4(c). Idaho's telephone solicitation statute has no time-of-day prohibition. A call made at the consumer's own request falls outside Idaho's definition of an unsolicited call, at Idaho Code 48-1002(11)(a).

Texts: federal applies. No Idaho text-message hour rule was found.

Source: Idaho Code 48-1003; 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1); 16 CFR 310.4(c).

Illinois

Calls: 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. for live calls, matching the federal edges. Illinois writes it as a prohibition on soliciting by telephone between 9:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. The statute does not name whose clock, so run it on the homeowner's local time. Illinois also requires a live operator to state name, business, and purpose immediately and to ask at the beginning of the call whether the person consents to continue.

Autodialers are tighter: an autodialer may not be used between 9:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m., which makes the automated window 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Texts: federal applies. No Illinois text-message hour rule was found.

Source: 815 ILCS 413/15(a); 815 ILCS 305/15(a).

Indiana

Calls: for live calls, federal applies, 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. local time at the homeowner, under 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1) and 16 CFR 310.4(c). No separate Indiana clock for manual dialing was found.

Automatic dialing devices are stricter: a commercial automated message may not be delivered before 9:00 a.m. or after 8:00 p.m. The statute does not name a time zone, so use the homeowner's. That restriction does not apply to messages to a person with a current business or personal relationship, at IC 24-5-14-5(a).

Texts: federal applies. No Indiana text-message hour rule was found.

Source: IC 24-5-14-8; IC 24-5-14-5; 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1); 16 CFR 310.4(c).

Iowa

Calls: federal applies, 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. local time at the homeowner, under 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1) and 16 CFR 310.4(c). Iowa runs a state no-call list but its telemarketing section contains no time-of-day subsection.

Texts: federal applies. No Iowa text-message hour rule was found.

Source: Iowa Code 476.103; 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1); 16 CFR 310.4(c).

Kansas

Calls: federal applies, 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. local time at the homeowner, under 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1) and 16 CFR 310.4(c). The current Kansas consumer telephone call statute has no hours subsection. A 2008 bill that would have added an 8:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. Central Time restriction was not enacted, so do not run Kansas on an 8:00 p.m. cutoff.

Kansas excludes from an unsolicited consumer telephone call a call made at the consumer's express request or under an express written agreement, a call about an existing debt or contract, and a call to a consumer with an established business relationship from an application, purchase, or transaction in the prior 18 months, unless the consumer has asked that calls stop.

Texts: federal applies. No Kansas text-message hour rule was found.

Source: K.S.A. 50-670; 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1); 16 CFR 310.4(c).

Kentucky

Calls: 10:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. local time at the called person's location. Kentucky has the latest start in the country, two hours later than the federal rule, and the provision carries no inquiry or business-relationship carve-out on its face, so do not assume a form fill buys you an 8:00 a.m. dial. Kentucky also bars solicitation of anyone under 18 and caps ringing at 30 seconds. No Sunday or holiday closure in that subsection.

Texts: federal applies. No Kentucky text-message hour rule was found, and the 10:00 a.m. start is the practical floor for outbound contact either way.

Source: KRS 367.46955(16).

Louisiana

Calls: 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday only, with no calls on a Sunday or a state holiday. The statute makes it unlawful to use either an automatic dialing device or a live operator to advertise or offer goods or services for personal, family, or household use outside those hours and days. The Public Service Commission's do-not-call general order says the same thing in operating terms, on the local time at the called party's location, and states that those hour and day limits apply whether or not the solicitor qualifies for one of the order's do-not-call exceptions. That last point is the one to note: a form lead does not buy you a Sunday, a state holiday, or an off-hour call in Louisiana.

The statute does not name a time zone, so use the homeowner's local time as the Commission order does. Neither source lists the state holidays inside the hours provision, so check the date.

Texts: federal applies. No Louisiana text-message hour rule was found, and the state's call window is stricter than the federal one anyway.

Source: La. R.S. 45:811; Louisiana PSC General Order R-29617.

Maine

Calls: for live calls, federal applies, 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. local time at the homeowner, under 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1) and 16 CFR 310.4(c). Maine adds no separate manual-dial clock.

Autodialed solicitation is the strictest automated rule in the country: weekdays only, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. according to the time in Maine, and no more than one solicitation call to the same number in any eight-hour period. Maine also comes close to banning autodialed and prerecorded calls to cell and residential numbers outright, with exceptions that include a call responding to a telephone inquiry initiated by the person called and a call made with prior written express consent.

Texts: federal applies. No Maine text-message hour rule was found.

Source: 10 M.R.S. 1498; 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1); 16 CFR 310.4(c).

Maryland

Calls: 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the called party's time zone. Maryland writes it as a ban on telephone solicitation, including autodialed and recorded calls, between 8:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. It also caps frequency at three solicitations to the same called party during a 24-hour period on the same subject.

Maryland requires prior express written consent for autodialed or recorded solicitation, with listed carve-outs that include a single telephone solicitation made in response to an inquiry or request. Note the mismatch: that carve-out is about consent, while the hours in subsection (c) are written as applying to telephone solicitation generally. Do not read an inquiry as lifting the 8:00 p.m. cutoff or the three-call cap. Stay inside 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and three contacts per day.

Texts: no separate Maryland text clock was found. If the message is a telephone solicitation, the 8-to-8 window and the three-per-24-hours cap apply to it.

Source: Md. Code, Com. Law 14-4502, subsection (c)(1).

Massachusetts

Calls: 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. local time at the consumer's location. Massachusetts writes it as a ban on an unsolicited telephonic sales call being received between 8:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m., and the Attorney General's do-not-call regulation at 201 CMR 12.02(2) repeats it. Massachusetts also bans using a recorded-message device for unsolicited sales calls.

There is no Sunday or holiday closure in the Massachusetts statute or regulation. Older third-party compliance charts that show a Massachusetts Sunday ban do not match the official text.

Texts: federal applies. No Massachusetts text-message hour rule was found.

Source: M.G.L. c. 159C, 3; 201 CMR 12.02(2).

Michigan

Calls: 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Michigan's criminal statute makes it a misdemeanor to make an unsolicited commercial telephone call that is received between 9:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m. Use the statute, not the summaries: the operative text is 9:00 p.m. to 9:00 a.m., which is a later opening than the federal 8:00 a.m. The statute does not name a time zone.

Michigan's telemarketing act also has a definition worth knowing for appointment setting: a telephone solicitation does not include a voice communication that requests a face-to-face meeting and does not urge a purchase decision during the call, at MCL 445.111(m). Recorded-message telemarketing is separately banned at MCL 445.111a. The safe operating posture in Michigan is a 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. live call that sets an appointment rather than closing on the phone.

Texts: federal applies. No Michigan text-message hour rule was found.

Source: MCL 750.540e(1)(f); MCL 445.111; MCL 445.111a.

Minnesota

Calls: 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. for cold residential calls. Minnesota bars using an automatic dialing and announcing device and bars making any commercial telephone solicitation before 9:00 a.m. or after 9:00 p.m. The statute does not name a time zone.

The scope is narrow in a way that helps on inbound leads. A commercial telephone solicitation in Minnesota is an unsolicited call to a residential subscriber with no prior business or personal relationship, and the statute does not apply to a subscriber with a current business or personal relationship. A homeowner who just submitted a request is inside that exemption. Cold residential dialing is where the 9-to-9 window binds.

Texts: federal applies. No Minnesota text-message hour rule was found.

Source: Minn. Stat. 325E.30; Minn. Stat. 325E.26, 325E.27.

Mississippi

Calls: 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Central Standard Time, Monday through Saturday, with no telephone solicitations on a Sunday. Mississippi has two provisions that overlap. The Telephone Solicitation Act allows authorized telephone solicitations only between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. Central Standard Time and bars them on Sunday. A separate provision sets 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Central Standard Time, Monday through Saturday, with no Sunday calls. Run the stricter combination: 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Central, Monday through Saturday.

Two cautions. The statute says Central Standard Time rather than the called party's local time, which is unusual and which we do not read past what it says. And the holiday restriction that appears in older Public Service Commission material is not in the current statutes, so do not run a Mississippi holiday calendar that the official text no longer supports.

Texts: federal applies. No Mississippi text-message hour rule was found.

Source: Miss. Code 77-3-723(1); Miss. Code 77-3-603(a).

Missouri

Calls: 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. local time at the called consumer's location, the same clock as federal. Missouri makes it unlawful to telemarket to a consumer's residence outside that window. No Sunday or holiday closure.

Texts: Missouri's definition of a telephone solicitation covers voice, fax, SMS, and MMS, so a marketing text is a solicitation in Missouri even though the hours provision itself does not name SMS. Missouri also excludes from a solicitation a call made at the consumer's prior express invitation, a contact with a consumer the business dealt with in the past 180 days or has a current relationship with, and, specifically useful for the trades, a Missouri-licensed tradesperson setting an appointment for that licensed trade within the state or in contiguous counties.

Source: RSMo 407.1076, subsection (5); RSMo 407.1095.

Montana

Calls: 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. local time at the called person's location, the same clock as federal. Montana writes the window into its own telemarketing statute, and it applies to telemarketing generally rather than only to cold calls. No Sunday or holiday closure.

Texts: federal applies. No Montana text-message hour statute was found.

Source: Mont. Code Ann. 30-14-1412(1)(d).

Nebraska

Calls: for live calls, federal applies, 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. local time at the homeowner, under 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1) and 16 CFR 310.4(c). Nebraska's telemarketing chapter has no live-call hours statute.

Automated dialing is where Nebraska is stricter, and its Sunday and holiday rule opens late rather than closing the day. The statute bars automated telephone solicitation to a residential line before 8:00 a.m. or after 9:00 p.m. at the location of the person called. The Public Service Commission rule tightens that to 8:00 a.m. through 9:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 1:00 p.m. through 9:00 p.m. on Sunday and legal holidays, local time at the party called. The rule does not list the legal holidays, so check the date.

Texts: federal applies. No Nebraska text-message hour rule was found.

Source: Neb. Rev. Stat. 86-248; Neb. Rev. Stat. 86-256; 291 NAC ch. 11, sections 003.01 and 004.02.

Nevada

Calls: 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. to a residence. Nevada makes it a deceptive trade practice to solicit a person by telephone at his or her residence between 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 a.m., which is both a later start and an earlier stop than the federal window. The statute does not say local time; treat it as the residence's local time. No Sunday or holiday closure.

Texts: federal applies. The Nevada window is written around soliciting a person by telephone at a residence and is not independently restated for text messages, so federal consent and hours rules govern Nevada texts.

Source: NRS 598.0918.

New Hampshire

Calls: federal applies, 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. local time at the homeowner. New Hampshire gets there by requiring compliance with the FTC Telemarketing Sales Rule for calls made within the state, at RSA 359-E:8(II), rather than writing its own clock. Anyone using an automatic dialing system must also register with the Attorney General.

Texts: federal applies. The New Hampshire chapter is silent on text messages.

Source: RSA 359-E:8; 16 CFR 310.4(c); 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1).

New Jersey

Calls: 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. local time at the customer's location, the same clock as federal. New Jersey writes it as a ban on unsolicited telemarketing sales calls between 9:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. No Sunday or holiday closure appears in the statute, despite older third-party charts that show one.

The hours attach to unsolicited calls. New Jersey excludes from unsolicited a call made in response to the customer's express written request and a call to an existing customer who has not asked you to stop. A signed or electronically signed form asking to be called can be an express written request; a fresh lead is not automatically an existing customer.

Texts: federal applies. No New Jersey text-message hour rule was found.

Source: N.J.S.A. 56:8-128; N.J.S.A. 56:8-120; New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, Telemarketing Do Not Call statutes.

New Mexico

Calls: 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. New Mexico makes it unlawful to make a telephone solicitation for a purchase that is received before 9:00 a.m. or after 9:00 p.m., which is an hour later at the start than the federal rule. The statute does not say local time; treat it as the homeowner's. No Sunday or holiday closure.

Texts: federal applies. New Mexico defines a telephone solicitation as a voice or telefacsimile communication over a telephone line, which does not reach SMS, so federal rules govern New Mexico texts.

Source: NMSA 1978, 57-12-22(B)(5); NMSA 1978, 57-12-22(D)(4).

New York

Calls: 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the customer's location, unless the customer gave express consent to be called at a different time. New York's telemarketing section and its do-not-call section both use that window. No Sunday or holiday closure.

The wrinkle in New York is who the hours bind. The window applies to telemarketing, not only to unsolicited telemarketing, so a consented callback on an inbound lead still runs inside 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. unless the customer expressly agreed to a different time. New York does exclude from an unsolicited telemarketing sales call a call or text made in response to an express written or verbal request and a call under an established business relationship that has not been terminated, but that exclusion is about the do-not-call obligation, not a license to dial at 10:00 p.m.

Texts: treat marketing texts as inside the 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. customer-location window unless the customer consented to another time.

Source: N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law 399-z; N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law 399-pp; New York Department of State consumer do-not-call guidance, June 2024.

North Carolina

Calls: 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., the same clock as federal. North Carolina bars a telephone solicitation before 8:00 a.m. or after 9:00 p.m. The statute does not say local time; treat it as the subscriber's. The hours apply to telephone solicitations generally rather than only to cold calls, and there is no Sunday or holiday closure.

Texts: covered in substance. North Carolina's definition of a telephone solicitation reaches calls or texts made to solicit a purchase, at G.S. 75-101(9), so run North Carolina texts on the same 8-to-9 window.

Source: N.C. Gen. Stat. 75-102(f).

North Dakota

Calls: 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the telephone subscriber's location, the same clock as federal. North Dakota applies that window both to automatic dialing devices and to telephone solicitations. There is no Sunday or holiday closure in the current chapter, whatever older compliance charts say.

North Dakota excludes from a telephone solicitation a contact made with prior express written request or consent and a contact under an established business relationship built on a purchase, rental, lease, or financial transaction within 24 months.

Texts: covered. Texts sit inside North Dakota's definition of a telephone solicitation, so use the 8-to-9 window.

Source: N.D.C.C. ch. 51-28, sections 51-28-01, 51-28-05, and 51-28-06.

Ohio

Calls: federal applies, 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. local time at the homeowner, under 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1) and 16 CFR 310.4(c). Ohio's telephone solicitation chapter has no calling-hours section, and the Attorney General's business guide directs sellers to comply with the FTC Telemarketing Sales Rule and the TCPA.

One correction worth making, because it circulates in demand letters: Ohio Rev. Code 4719.05 is about prize and premium representations, not calling hours. There is no Ohio 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. statutory window.

Texts: federal applies. No Ohio text-message hour rule was found.

Source: Ohio Rev. Code ch. 4719; 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1); 16 CFR 310.4(c).

Oklahoma

Calls: 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. local time in the called person's time zone, and the limit expressly covers autodialed and recorded calls. Oklahoma also caps frequency at three commercial telephone solicitation calls from any number to a person over a 24-hour period on the same subject matter, regardless of the number used. No Sunday or holiday closure.

Texts: whether Oklahoma's 8-to-8 clock independently governs a purely manual text could not be settled in the official text. Treat autodialed marketing texts as covered, get prior express written consent for them under the federal rule, and keep manual texts inside the 8-to-8 window as a matter of practice.

Source: 15 O.S. 775C.4.

Oregon

Calls: 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., with no more than three separate solicitations to the same party within a 24-hour period, unless the person has an established business relationship built on a previous transaction or series of transactions within the prior 18 months. Oregon's 2025 amendments, chapter 580 of the 2025 laws, tightened this. No Sunday or holiday closure.

Texts: covered directly. Oregon treats text messages as telephone solicitations, and it excludes a call or text that responds directly to a message received from that party. A first-time form fill from a homeowner who has never bought from you is not an established business relationship under the 18-month test, so the 8-to-8 window and the three-per-day cap apply to it, even though a same-thread reply text may be excluded.

Source: ORS 646.561 and 646.563; Enrolled HB 3865, 2025.

Pennsylvania

Calls: Pennsylvania is the one state on this page that needs two windows on the calendar, because the law changes during the life of this page.

Through October 17, 2026: 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. Pennsylvania bars telemarketing after 9:00 p.m. or before 8:00 a.m., the same edges as federal. That subsection is only the clock; it does not add a Sunday rule, and whether a separate holiday restriction applies under it could not be confirmed in that text.

From October 18, 2026: 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Monday through Saturday, with no Sunday calls and no calls on a legal holiday. Act 47 of 2026, Senate Bill 992, signed July 20, 2026, makes it unlawful to initiate or cause a telephone solicitation on a Sunday, after 7:00 p.m., or before 9:00 a.m., and bars a message on a legal holiday. Text messages and ringless voicemail are in scope. The act does not publish the holiday list inside that provision, so check the date.

Texts: after October 18, 2026, run Pennsylvania texts on the 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Monday through Saturday window with no Sunday or legal holiday sends.

Source: 73 P.S. 2245(a)(1); Act 47 of 2026 (Senate Bill 992), effective October 18, 2026.

Puerto Rico

Calls: 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. local time at the location of the person called. Puerto Rico prohibits a telephone solicitation to a residence at any time outside that window, which is an hour later at the start than the federal rule. No Sunday or holiday closure in that provision.

Texts: federal applies. No Puerto Rico text-message hour statute was found.

Source: Ley Núm. 210 de 28 de agosto de 2003, art. 5(5).

Rhode Island

Calls: the tightest window in the country when the chapter applies. Unsolicited telephonic sales calls to a residential, mobile, or paging number are allowed only during defined hours of operation: Monday through Friday, except a state or federal holiday, 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.; and Saturday 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. No Sunday hours are defined at all. Treat the clock as the called party's local time.

Read the scope before you rebuild your dialer around this. Rhode Island's hours attach to a salesperson or telephonic seller, and telephonic seller is a narrow definition aimed at prize, premium, precious-metals, and misidentification-style sales, and it excludes a person soliciting previous purchasers. A plain home improvement appointment call may sit outside the chapter. Do not assume it does, and remember that the federal 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. window applies either way.

Texts: Rhode Island bars transmitting a text message advertisement to a cell phone or pager assigned to a Rhode Island resident, with narrow exceptions for carrier-directed messages with an opt-out, an existing relationship where an opt-out was offered, and an affiliate where the subscriber consented. That is a consent bar rather than a clock, and it is stricter than the federal default.

Source: R.I. Gen. Laws 5-61-3.6; 5-61-2(2); 5-61-3.5.

South Carolina

Calls: 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. local time at the consumer's location unless you have prior written consent, the same clock as federal. No Sunday or holiday closure.

South Carolina's scope is broader than most: the restriction covers a call, text, or media message to a natural person's South Carolina residence or to a wireless number with a South Carolina area code. Outside the do-not-call obligation, the chapter does not reach a solicitation to a consumer who gave prior express invitation or permission, who has an established business relationship from a purchase in the last 18 months or an inquiry or application in the last three months, or who has a personal relationship with the caller. An inbound form inside three months lands in that inquiry relationship.

Texts: covered explicitly, on the same 8-to-9 window.

Source: S.C. Code 37-21-20 and 37-21-30.

South Dakota

Calls: 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the consumer's local time, and no unsolicited consumer telephone communications on a Sunday. There is no holiday restriction in that section.

South Dakota's exceptions are the useful part for inbound work: the restriction applies to unsolicited communications, and the chapter excepts a communication made at the consumer's express request, one about an existing debt or uncompleted contract, and one to a consumer with an existing business relationship. A homeowner who asked to be called is an express request.

Texts: covered. South Dakota's definitions reach calls and texts, so use the 9-to-9 window and skip Sunday.

Source: SDCL 37-30A-3(2) and 37-30A-1.

Tennessee

Calls: 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. local time at the called party's location without prior express permission, the same clock as federal. Tennessee's automatic dialing statute uses the same window. No Sunday ban appears in the statute or the current Public Utility Commission rule, despite third-party pages that claim one.

Texts: covered explicitly. The Tennessee rule restricts a telephone call or text message to a residential subscriber to that 8-to-9 window, and the state maintains a Do Not Call and Do Not Text register, so scrub texts against it.

Source: TPUC Rule 1220-04-11-.05; T.C.A. 47-18-1502.

Texas

Calls: 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. on a weekday or Saturday, and noon to 9:00 p.m. on a Sunday. Texas is the only state with a separate Sunday clock rather than a Sunday ban or no Sunday rule at all. No holiday closure.

The Texas hours do not apply if the call is made in response to the consumer's express request, is primarily in connection with an existing debt or uncompleted contract, or is to a consumer with a prior or existing business relationship. The window binds a consumer telephone call, which Texas defines as an unsolicited call to a residential telephone number to solicit a consumer good or service. A homeowner who submitted a form asking to be called about a project is the express-request exit.

One thing to ignore: the 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Monday through Friday clock in chapter 303 applies to law-enforcement-related charitable solicitation, not to home improvement calls.

Texts: chapter 301 is still written around a consumer telephone call to a residential telephone number, so do not describe it as a Texas SMS curfew. Texas marketing texts answer to the federal consent rules and to the state do-not-call and business-relationship provisions in chapter 304.

Source: Tex. Bus. & Com. Code 301.051.

Utah

Calls: 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. local time, Monday through Saturday, and not on a legal holiday, unless you have prior express consent. Utah writes it as a ban on telephone solicitation to a residential or cellular telephone without prior express consent between 9:00 p.m. and 8:00 a.m., on a Sunday, or on a legal holiday. The clock matches federal; the Sunday and holiday closures do not.

Utah's legal holidays are listed at Utah Code 63G-1-301 rather than inside the telemarketing provision, so check that list against the date instead of assuming a federal holiday calendar.

Texts: federal applies. Utah's provision reaches solicitation to a cellular telephone, so keep Utah outbound contact inside the same window and off Sundays and legal holidays.

Source: Utah Code 13-25a-103; Utah Code 63G-1-301.

Vermont

Calls: federal applies, 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. local time at the homeowner, under 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1) and 16 CFR 310.4(c). Vermont's telephone solicitation statute has no calling-hours subsection and instead incorporates the FTC and FCC do-not-call regimes. Vermont also excludes from a telephone solicitation a call made in response to a request or inquiry by the called customer, which covers an ordinary inbound lead callback.

Texts: federal applies. No Vermont text-message hour rule was found.

Source: 9 V.S.A. 2464a; 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1); 16 CFR 310.4(c).

Virginia

Calls: 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. local time at the contacted person's location unless you have prior consent, the same clock as federal. No Sunday or holiday closure.

Texts: covered. Virginia's 2025 amendment, chapter 626, effective January 1, 2026, applies the Act to telephone solicitations generally, which brings text messages inside the same rules as calls. Run Virginia texts on the 8-to-9 window.

Source: Va. Code 59.1-511; 2025 Va. Acts ch. 626.

Washington

Calls: 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the call recipient's local time. Washington bars a telephone solicitor from placing calls that will be received outside that window, and the commercial telephone solicitation chapter at RCW 19.158 uses the same 8-to-8 clock. No Sunday or holiday closure.

Washington excludes from a telephone solicitation a call made in response to a request or inquiry by the called party, and a call about an item the party bought from that company in the last 12 months.

Texts: whether Washington's 8-to-8 clock independently covers SMS could not be confirmed in that text, so we do not claim it does. Federal rules govern Washington marketing texts, and keeping texts inside 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. is the conservative practice.

Source: RCW 80.36.390; RCW 19.158.

West Virginia

Calls: 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. local time at the called person's location, Monday through Sunday. West Virginia is explicit that Sunday is inside the window rather than closed, which makes it a useful counterexample to the belief that Sunday calling is broadly restricted. No holiday closure in that provision.

Texts: federal applies. No West Virginia text-message hour rule was found.

Source: W. Va. Code 46A-6F-601(a)(4).

Wisconsin

Calls: 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. local time where the consumer resides, without prior consent, the same clock as federal. Wisconsin puts the rule in the administrative code rather than the statutes. No Sunday or holiday closure.

Texts: federal applies. No Wisconsin text-message hour rule was found.

Source: Wis. Admin. Code ATCP 127.16(3).

Wyoming

Calls: 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. local time at the consumer's location for unsolicited telephonic sales calls. Wyoming also bars an unsolicited telephonic sales call to any unpublished cellular telephone number, which is a restriction on the number itself rather than on the hour, and is the part most likely to catch a call center working purchased data. No Sunday or holiday closure.

Texts: federal applies. No Wyoming text-message hour rule was found.

Source: Wyo. Stat. 40-12-302(d) and (e).

Other US territories

Calls and texts: federal applies, 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. local time at the called party, under 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1) and 16 CFR 310.4(c). No separate calling-hour statute was verified for the US Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, or American Samoa, so this page does not assert one. The National Do Not Call Registry does cover the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa, so scrub those numbers on the same 31-day cadence as everything else, under 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(2)(i)(D) and 16 CFR 310.4(b)(3)(iv).

Source: 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1) and (c)(2); 16 CFR 310.4; National Do Not Call Registry for telemarketers.

What this page is for

Two rules cover most of the risk, and neither one requires a lawyer to apply. Run the dialer on the homeowner's clock. Take the tighter of the federal window and the homeowner's state.

The states that will catch you are the early closers and the late openers. An 8:00 p.m. dial feels safe everywhere and it is not safe in Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, or Wyoming. An 8:00 a.m. dial feels safe everywhere and it is not safe in Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota on a cold call, Nevada, New Mexico, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, or Connecticut on a covered sales call. Sunday is closed in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Dakota, and Utah, undefined in Rhode Island's window, closed in Pennsylvania from October 18, 2026, and expressly open in West Virginia.

If you would rather not build and police this yourself, that is the work we do: our team calls and texts the leads a contractor's campaigns produce, inside the homeowner's window, and puts booked appointments on the calendar. Start at get started and we will look at your lead flow and your states.

Rules change, and this page carries the date it was last checked at the top. Verify against the linked source before you build a dialing schedule on it.

Frequently asked questions

What are the federal calling hours for a call center?

Without the person's prior consent, outbound telemarketing calls to a residence are limited to 8:00 a.m. through 9:00 p.m. local time at the called person's location under the FTC Telemarketing Sales Rule, 16 CFR 310.4(c). The FCC rule for telephone solicitations to residential subscribers uses the same clock, 47 CFR 64.1200(c)(1). The clock is the homeowner's, not the call center's.

Do calling-hour rules apply to text messages?

The FCC treats a text message as a call, and 47 CFR 64.1200(e) applies the hours and do-not-call paragraphs to telemarketing calls and text messages sent to wireless numbers. The FTC hours rule at 16 CFR 310.4(c) is written for calls to a residence and does not say SMS. Several states, including Florida, Missouri, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Virginia, cover texts directly in their own statutes.

Which states stop calling before 9:00 p.m.?

Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wyoming all end earlier than the federal 9:00 p.m. cutoff, and Pennsylvania moves to a 7:00 p.m. cutoff on October 18, 2026. Rhode Island is the earliest at 6:00 p.m. on weekdays and 5:00 p.m. on Saturday.

Which states restrict Sunday or holiday calling?

Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Dakota, and Utah restrict Sunday calling in their official text, and Pennsylvania adds a Sunday ban on October 18, 2026. Rhode Island defines no Sunday hours at all and excludes state and federal holidays from its weekday window. Alabama names holidays, Louisiana names state holidays, and Utah names legal holidays, but none of those rules publish a calendar, so confirm the date before you dial.

Does an inbound lead let us call outside the hours?

No. An inbound form is an inquiry that can create a three-month established business relationship with that seller, which unlocks the National Do Not Call Registry, but it does not unlock off-hour calls under the FTC rule, does not reach affiliates, and is not the prior express written consent that autodialed or prerecorded telemarketing requires (16 CFR 310.2(q), 310.4(c); 47 CFR 64.1200(f)(5), (f)(9)). Alabama and Louisiana apply their hours to form leads too.