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?

Re:Do Not Call List

[ericspinder]

I still get sales calls on phone sometimes, they say that they are "surveys" and once an extermination service called just "because someone in the area needed their service". Those kind of calls are allowed by the DNC list. Trust me you will see more and more of them and with cell phone number avaiable, they might be hitting them hard. Right now telemarketers have a good list of people who will take the time to listen, but cell phones are a fresh market. Heck there are many teenagers and young adult who only use cell phones, they will want to tap that market. If the value of this fresh market is judged by the telemarketers to be greater than the costs (fines), we'll be seeing bunches of calls on our once private numbers, at least until it levels out.

I still use the same old line that I used before the DNC list "I do not ever, ever respond in any way to unsolisited telephone calls of any type. Please take me off your list and I hope that you have a nice day ".

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

[TheBeardIsRed]

it is, read more here: How To Make A Telemarketer Cry (or, Suing Bozos for Fun & Profit) - http://www.panix.com/~eck/telemarket.html

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

[rwiedower]

And here's the official FCC link to the TCPA which details that it is illegal to call not only a cell phone, but also hospitals or any service where someone is charged for the call. Read. Learn. Fight back.

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. :)

Maybe I'm Naive but.....

[MacGod]

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.

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.

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?)

Great!

[stinkyfingers]

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?

Terrible!!!!!

[Mz6]

With the abundance of web pages that allow users to simply type in a cell-phone number and a text message, I feel this might be a huge mistake publishing all of these numbers. How long would it take for a spam bot to cultivate through the database, pick-up all the numbers and spam them? My guess is that it shouldn't take more than a day to do.

"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!

Re:Terrible!!!!!

[The_K4]

I have sprint and have only gotten 1 spam sms message to my phone in 5 years i've had a cell. I reported it to SPRINT PCS and the tech said that with the exact time of the message and the number it was sent to they could get the IP address of the sender's computer. If you get spam on your phone report it!

may not be as bad as it sounds

[winsk]

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.

Re:The solution?

[NanoGator]

"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....

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 :)

Re:Before banning a directory...

[pknoll]

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.

Verizon sucks

[-tji]

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.

Re:illegal???

[JuggleGeek]

I believe it's on a state-by-state basis.

No, it's not. Telemarketing to cell phones is already illegal and has been for some time.

The FCC has information on their website.

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.

Roaming

[grahamsz]

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.