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.
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.
Memories become legend, Legend fades to myth, and even myth is forgotten by the time that age comes again.-Robert Jordan
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.
When their numbers dwindled from 50 to 8, the dwarves began to suspect Hungry.
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.
Maybe I'm naieve, but I personally think this would be a good idea. Telemarketers are irriting, no question, but worse still is losing a phone number and being unable to find it. I don't have to refer to the phone-book too often for landlines, but every time I do, it saves me mucho effort or results in me being able to contact someone I otherwise would not be able to.
"Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one " -Albert Einstein
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
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?)
funny- when I first signed up for the Federal DNC list, it asked me to provide up to 5 phone numbers. Didn't anybody else enter their cell numbers at that point?
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
So the bastard next to me in the movie theater can ruin the experience by getting a call from a jackass he *doesn't* know?
"Wireless carriers say they doubt there will be widespread abuse. They point out that most mobile phones come equipped with caller ID, distinctive ring tones, call blocking and other tools to manage unwanted calls. And several carriers say they have made refunds to subscribers who have received unwanted calls. "
What they fail to understand is that, atleast with my carrier (Sprint), text messages pop up all the time. I have no options to block text messages from certain users, or only allow messages from those in my phone book. I think the biggest area won't be the unwanted calls, but rather the unwanted text messages that cost about as much as it does to send spam messages.
By far.. Worst idea EVER!
Hmmm.
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 :)
Doolittle :
Bomb no.20 : To explode of course.
According to this article , the CTIA claims that all the carriers who are going along with the plan are doing so on an opt-in basis for existing customers, and an opt-out basis for new customers, without any additional fees.
"Don't get a cell phone. Not only will you not get annoying calls but you also won't be one of the lucky recipents to get a brain tumor 20 years from now. Oh you know it's coming....... "
You should get rid of your computer. Not only will you not get those annoying spams, but you also won't be one of the lucky recipients to get skin cancer 20 years from now because you didn't switch to LCD soon enough. Oh, you know it's coming....
"Derp de derp."
Until recently, when customers switched carriers, their numbers changed as well, so marketers were reluctant to invest much in compiling databases.
For once I thought that something good was being done for the consumer...my mistake.
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 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!
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!
"with their freedom lost all virtue lose" - Milton
This is already illegal for telemarketers. In 2004, the government's amended telemarketing sales regulations proscribed the sending of their phone number when calling and, if possible, their name.
...and that's why you never, ever sign up for a contract for cellular service.
Of course another great reason is that at the rate technology is improving, in a year or two the contract will become a noose. How about when the new plans include unlimited data transfer for less than you're paying for voice only now?
Try one of the prepaid plans. At AT&T for example it's 25 cents/minute (which is high if you use it a lot so it's not suitable for everyone), but there is no contract, no hidden fees like the fake taxes that were dicussed here recently, and unused minutes roll forward. For very light use, you can have a cell phone for $3.50/month including extras and taxes with AT&T. That $3.50 doesn't force you to use 14 minutes either; if you use less than 14 they still roll forward.
From this site (which I believe is standard across land lines):
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.
As for picture phones, there are a ton of them for verizon, infact i know of one that is great and by LG.... but it begs the question.... who really needs their phone to take pictures... PDA replacement i can see, ability to be used as a modem yes... but PICTURES?
"Slashdot, where telling the truth is overrated but lying is insightful."
Verizon already phone spams their own customers.
About a month ago, I got one of those annoying automated calls offering me "great new services" through Verizon. The recording said "Push 1 for more information".
So, I pushed '1' and waded went through several levels of systems until I could talk to a human. I asked him to set all my privacy preferences to prohibit any further calls or sharing of my personal information, and he was totally lost at how to proceed. He acted as if this was an unprecedented request.. "I don't have any idea how I could do that. We don't have any settings for that in the user accounts."
After spending 30 minutes on the phone with this guy, I was pissed to have wasted so much time and just wanted to hang up. But he agreed to submit some paper form that was supposed to ensure this did not happen again.. He did not inspire a lot of confidence, but I haven't gotten another call.. yet.
I have many friends with cell phones through different companies, and none of the other companies seem to be raising their prices at all because of this bill. T-mobile is a horrible company that doesn't give a shit about the customer, everytime I had a problem with them they simply told me that is the way it is and they wont make any effort to change it. I don't know where they got their business practices but where I come from the customer is ALWAYS right!
I am now switching to Verizon for reasons such as them not giving out the personal information of customer THAT PAY FOR THEIR SERVICE! Until companies start caring about the customers and not their profits...their profits will continue to go down.
I highly reccomend to anyone that is considering moving to T-Mobile or any of their affiliates to think twice and look at Verizon or Nextel instead. Peace...
If carrots got you drunk, rabbits would be fucked up. - Comedian Mitch Hedberg R.I.P. 03/30/68-2/24/05
No, it's not. Telemarketing to cell phones is already illegal and has been for some time.
The FCC has information on their website.
You have to remeber that they are talking about the US. It is new there. And it is a problem, as they are paying for incoming calls. And they seem to not have a general, working do-not-call registry(?).
Strange, but true.
(Have Karma, flame away...)
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.
How can a telemarketer know if you are roaming or not?
Sure i might have free minutes when i'm in colorado, or even the usa. But if i fly home to britain i'll be paying for every second.
Another peeve of mine is that they don't consider the time of day where your phone terminates.. as such when i was living in the UK, i'd get telemarketer calls at 1am since I found it convenient to have a 303 (Denver) number.
It should be illegal to call a phone if it's possible that it rings in a country where it's after 9pm.
All cell phones are already a "Do Not Call" telemarketing item. You don't have to be on any list because its the same as a fax machine. You pay the charges for the call because its your minutes, and so they can be reported and fined with no signup.
~~ Please keep your arms, legs, and outright stupidity inside the ride at all times. Thank You ~~
a scan of the do-not-call registry page reveals this little tidbit:/ njs.gif?dcsuri=/nojavascript"
src="http://g6589dcs.nyc2.aens.net/DCS000003_6D4Q
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.
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?
I'm Rick James with mod points biatch!
As far as I know it, in New Zealand, Australia, Europe and Asia, it's free to receive cellphone calls, generally speaking. Callers can tell by the phone number prefix that it's a cell phone, and they pay when they call.
(Yes, that means you can receive all the calls you like on your cellular phone for something like $10 US per year to stay connected.)
There are schemes like call-diversion that send calls to (e.g.) your home phone line to your cellphone. In these cases the cellphone user pays because they made the decision to send the call over the cellular network.
It's no wonder cellphone penetration is so low in the states when having a cellphone means taking on a huge liability for bozos ringing you up!
Why is the system so different in the US to everywhere else?
I registered my cell phone and house line at the same time. Since I use my cell more then my house line, I figured it was important.
However, there are a lot of ways for telemarketers to get around it. First off, they claim its not a sales call, when it fact it damn sure is. Second, they make it look like it was something I requested.
I got 5 calls total from a local (same state) car dealer. They claim I submitted a request via car.com and couldn't verify anything beyond that. They also claimed all of this was via E-Mail and I was talking to a rep for 2 weeks about a car.
a) They couldn't verify my E-Mail address, opps sorry, its listed as unknown or invaild.
b) Its a car I never would buy to begin with.
c) I called there managment each time telling them to stop calling me before I file a complaint.
Needless to say, not only did I file a complaint with the FTC, I also filed a complaint with the BBB and the local police. They are looking into changes being pressed for harrasment.
This is the only problem I have had so far with cell phones and telemarketers. Eitherway, I would be VERY pissed if they called my phone, if I didn't have an unlimited package through nextel, so for me its not a big deal.
I just hope if they are building a directory of cell phone numbers, they include some sort of feature to allow customers to request there names and numbers NOT be included.
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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.
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