# FCC Complaint Tracker: Robocalls, Phone & TV (`m_ctim/fcc-consumer-complaint-tracker`) Actor

Search FCC consumer complaints about phone, TV, and internet service by state, issue type, and date, straight from the FCC's official open data feed. For telecom carrier compliance teams, robocall researchers, and journalists tracking complaint trends.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/m\_ctim/fcc-consumer-complaint-tracker.md
- **Developed by:** [Timothy Kelvin](https://apify.com/m_ctim) (community)
- **Categories:** Other
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per usage

This Actor is paid per platform usage. The Actor is free to use, and you only pay for the Apify platform usage, which gets cheaper the higher subscription plan you have.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-usage

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## FCC Consumer Complaint Tracker: Telecom & Robocall Data

Search consumer complaints about phone, TV, internet, and radio service, including robocalls and billing disputes, straight from the FCC's official open data feed. Filter by state, issue type, and how far back to look, and get the most recent complaints first.

Here's a real record it returns:

```json
{
  "complaintId": "9126420",
  "ticketCreated": "2026-09-19T04:50:38.000Z",
  "issueType": "Phone",
  "issue": "Billing",
  "method": "Wireless (cell phone/other mobile device)",
  "callerIdNumber": null,
  "advertiserPhoneNumber": null,
  "city": "Mountain view",
  "state": "CA",
  "zip": "94040",
  "location": [-122.08032, 37.37879]
}
```

### Who this is for

- **Telecom carrier compliance teams** monitoring complaint volume and category trends by state.
- **Robocall and spam researchers** tracking unwanted call complaint patterns over time.
- **Journalists and consumer advocates** reporting on telecom service issues by region.

### Input

| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `state` | string | Two-letter US state code, e.g. `"CA"`. Leave blank for all states. |
| `issueType` | string | One of `Phone`, `TV`, `Internet`, `Radio`, `Accessibility`, `Emergency`, `Broadband Story`, `Request for Dispute Assistance`. Leave blank for all types. |
| `daysBack` | integer (default `30`) | How far back to search. |
| `maxResults` | integer (default `50`) | Cap on records returned, most recent first. |

```json
{
  "state": "CA",
  "issueType": "Phone",
  "daysBack": 30,
  "maxResults": 50
}
```

### Output

One record per complaint: a ticket ID, when it was filed, issue type and specific issue category, contact method, the caller ID number and advertiser phone number when the complaint included them, and location (city, state, zip, coordinates).

### How it works

A direct call to the FCC's own open data endpoint (Socrata), no scraping, no key, no proxy. Filters (state, issue type, date range) are applied server side via the endpoint's own query syntax, verified directly against live data rather than assumed from documentation.

Retries with exponential backoff on transient failures, the same defensive fetch pattern used across every actor in this portfolio.

### Pricing note

Billed per **search**, not per complaint returned, one charge whether the search returns 1 complaint or up to the requested max.

### Related products

- [Vehicle Complaint Tracker](https://github.com/timmKal01/vehicle-complaint-tracker): the same raw-consumer-complaint pattern applied to NHTSA vehicle data instead of telecom
- [Consumer Complaint Tracker](https://github.com/timmKal01/consumer-complaint-tracker): CFPB financial-services complaints, for banking and lending instead of telecom

# Actor input Schema

## `state` (type: `string`):

Two-letter US state code, e.g. "CA". Leave blank for all states.

## `issueType` (type: `string`):

Filter by complaint category. Leave blank for all types.

## `daysBack` (type: `integer`):

How many days back from today to search for complaints.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of complaint records to return, most recent first.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "issueType": "",
  "daysBack": 30,
  "maxResults": 50
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

No description

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("m_ctim/fcc-consumer-complaint-tracker").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("m_ctim/fcc-consumer-complaint-tracker").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{}' |
apify call m_ctim/fcc-consumer-complaint-tracker --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,m_ctim/fcc-consumer-complaint-tracker"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/vdvd6DmRbmErAvRpr/builds/CrD9WwygamuCcb7u8/openapi.json