Cell Phone Directory Coming Soon

applemasker writes "According to this story on Yahoo News via the L.A. Times, an upcoming cell phone directory which supposedly includes 75% of all cell users is in the works. Some people are already receiving cell phone spam and telemarketing calls. Worse yet, unless you opt-out at the beginning of your contract, some carriers such as T-Mobile can gladly hand over your info (though the article says that T-Mobile is changing the contract now). Some good news though, Verizon Wireless has said that it will not share its customer lists. Still, maybe it's time to submit your cell number to the Do Not Call List if you haven't done so already." We had a related story last year.

Comments

Do Not Call List

[davidmcn]

I just assumed the Do Not Call list was to apply to cell phones too, so when it came time to enroll, every number in my household, cell and not, became a "Do Not Call" number.

Re:Do Not Call List

[baudilus]

The Do Not Call list could not have applied to cell phones because previously, telemarketers were barred from calling any phone where the receiver of the call could be charged for it (i.e. cell phone minutes). I guess that law has changed since inception, or otherwise, the cell phone companies have found a way to make incoming telemarketer calls "free."

Conversely (and perhaps slightly O/T), I've always been suspicious of the Do Not Call list, because if you consider it, on one hand it's like a free list that unscrupulous telemarketers can get and spam, and on the other hand, the "gub-mint" can link you email address to your phone number. (We can't call but we can sure spam that email account!) Of course you can get around it by using a quick free e-mail (like yahoo or hotmail) but who do you know outside of us savvy /.'ers, who probably have "junk" accounts anyway, would go through the trouble of setting one up just for this?

Expensive

[thgreatoz]

I thought telemarketing to a cell phone was illegal, due to the fact that you are charged for both incoming and outgoing calls on a cell phone. As I understood it, it's similar to the anti-junk fax laws, which were put in place because you pay for the ink and paper that is wasted.

Re:Expensive

[Anonymous Custard]

What if they call you on nights or weekends when you happen to have free minutes? I bet the law doesn't consider that, but a telemarketer could make a good argument in court with that defense...

Re:Expensive

[pavon]

The fact that it costs my company money hasn't stopped people from spamming the hell out of me. Why should it stop people from telemarketing to our cell phones?

1) Telemarketing cell phones is definately illegal while the spam laws are worthless.
2) Telemarketers can be easily traced and caught while spammers cannot.

I have gotten two telemarketing calls on my cell phone (both of which were quasi-legitimate purchase "follow-up" calls) and both times when I told them I was on a cell phone they immediately appologized, voluntarily put me on their DNC list and hung up. That is what accountability gets you, and it doesn't exist for email.

Never get calls

[lukewarmfusion]

I almost never get telemarketing calls on my cell. I get a wrong number sometimes.

As soon as I get a telemarketer calling my cell phone, I demand their name, number, organization, address, etc. (as the DNC registry stipulates). Then I will inform them that I will be sending a bill to that address to recover the cost of the minutes that their company just used for me.

Once, I got a telemarketer and as soon as I realized who it was I informed them that it was a cell. She apologized profusely and voluntarily put me on their do-not-call list.

I'm in Indiana, so we have a stricter DNC anyway. :)

even if you don't register

[atari2600]

It is like a firewall - take the call once.
*Phone rings*
Me: who's this? Them: We are calling to see how many children you have..
Me:I have registered this number in the Do not call registry
*click*
There you go :)


What can i say? I am a lonely guy :)

Instant obsolescence?

[darth_MALL]

Admittedly, I know only a bit about cel-phones, but the many people I know and work with tend to change numbers frequently. What's practical about a list like this, if the information is consistantly out-of-date? I realise an electronic DB would be easy enough to keep current, but who's goign to use it (besides spammers?)

old news

[arabagast]

This has been avaiable here in Norway for several years now.. allthough I do imagine there is a certain difference in volume between Norway and the US. Had a funny experience with this btw, one day when I was bored, I looked up my number in one of the online catalogs - and behold, they had gotten hold of even more information about me than I ever gave my cell provider, it was kinda scary I can tell you :)

Re:Maybe I'm Naive but.....

[sixteenraisins]

I understand that for many of us, a mobile phone is as fundamental as a land line phone at home. For many others, a mobile phone is the only phone they have.

However, I'm sure I'm not the only one who views a mobile phone as follows: The phone is for ME to call PEOPLE, not the other way around. The only people I want to receive mobile calls from (indeed, this applies to home line calls as well) are the people to whom I GIVE the number. That's why my home number is unlisted.

I can count on both hands the number of people who have my mobile number, and I like it that way. I would much rather see this directory be opt-in only.

Re:Most cell phone plans have free nights and week

[baudilus]

There is no guarantee that you have "Free Nights and/or Weekends."

The law still applies, as does the one that telemarketers cannot call you on Sunday.

i have the opposite problem

[claykarmel]

I run my business from my PCS phone.

Did you know that you CANNOT get a white pages listing for your cell phone unless you get your cell phone service from your local RBOC?

Try getting a D&B on a number they can't verify with the RBOC!

Re:i have the opposite problem

[Ween]

I currently run my business with my cell phone. What I did was contact my local land line phone provider (sprint) and asked for a business forwarding number. It is about $12 a month, gets you a listing in the white pages and most importantly, gets you a listing in the yellow pages under the heading of your choice. They then give you a unique local number and that number just forwards calls to whatever number you tell them. In my case, it was my cell phone. You give people your local number number and magically your cell phone always rings. I have not once ever gotten a long distance bill, even if the people who called me were far away, not so far away, or just in the extended local long area. Seems to be quite a good deal.

SprintPCS

[wytcld]

With SprintPCS I was getting occassional spam text messages, so I when to their Website and turned that feature off - except then I kept getting spam text messages from ... SprintPCS. I had to call and have them "unprovision" text messaging entirely in order to get any assurance that they could stop themselves from spamming me!

Cell phone spam

[maeltor]

Some people are already receiving cell phone spam and telemarketing calls.

I've gotten cell phone spam on every carrier i've been with for the past 2 years (3 carriers). TMobile was the worst....i got 25 spam messages in one day. I also got billed for it (SMS overuse). They claimed that since I never logged in to change my "cell phone number email address" on TMobile's site, I was getting the messages and didn't try to prevent them. Man did that customer retention supervisor get her ass chewed. After I got done with her, I ended up with a new phone, a changed "email address" and 4 months free :)

FCC and Rulemaking!

[enforcer999]

The FCCis in the process of making rules to protect consumers regarding cell phones and spam. On another related note: The American Teleservices Association filed a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the constitutionality of the National Do Not Call Registry. If the Court takes the case, I do not believe that they will over turn the 10th Circuit's decision.

T-Mobile

[JuggleGeek]

I'm not surprised that T-Mobile has been selling personal information. They also send email spam, via "affiliates". I'm shopping for a new cell phone (camera phone) to replce my old cell phone, and the spam they sent me kept them from consideration. Never do business with spammers.

do-not-call webbots

[mabu]

a scan of the do-not-call registry page reveals this little tidbit:
src="http://g6589dcs.nyc2.aens.net/DCS000003_6D4Q/ njs.gif?dcsuri=/nojavascript"

Nice of AT&T to be monitoring/logging all the traffic to that site.

I won't register because they have no business associating an IP or e-mail with a telephone number in an opt-out list.

Off topic a bit but...

[Proc6]

I just got a new cellphone yesterday and I started thinking... I have 5 phone numbers in my area code just of my own and Im just an average guy. With so many people having a home phone, a cell phone, a work phone, often a fax number or a second line for (heaven forbid) dialup access, that kind of thing... it sure seems like 9 million phone numbers isn't very many for a given area code... Maybe it is, I dont know, but I think theres a few million PEOPLE in my city, let alone the other 1/3 the state that share the same area code, and if most of those have 2-3 phone numbers... seems suprising to fit them all within that 9 million cap?

If you paid for your calls ...

[Mr_Silver]

It's worth pointing out that in the UK (and most of Europe) the caller pays for the call and not the receiver.

After all, if you want a service (eg. to talk to someone) it seems only fair that you should pay for it and not someone else - when I go to get my hair cut, it's not as if the barber pays me for the privilidge of me coming to him.

Because of this, cold calling by companies to mobile phone users is virtually non-existant.