PSA...Cell Phone Do Not Call List.

[fgarvb1]

Subject: FW: Natl Do Not Call List/Cell Phones
>
>
>
>
>
> Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2004 07:06:49 -0800 (PST)
>
> Starting Jan 1, 2005, all cell phone numbers will
> be
>
> made public to telemarketing firms. So this means
> as of Jan 1,
>
> your cell phone may start ringing off the hook
> with
>
> telemarketers, but unlike your home phone, most of
> you pay for your
>
> incoming calls. These telemarketers will eat up
> your free
>
> minutes and end up costing you money in the long
> run.
>
> According to the National Do Not Call List, you
> have
>
> until Dec.15th 2004 to get on the national "Do not
> call list"
>
> for cell phones. They said that you need to call
> 1-888-382-1222
>
> from the cell phone that you wish to have put on
> the "do
>
> not call list" to be put on the list. They also
> said you can do
>
> it online at http://www.donotcall.gov/ or
>
> www.donotcall.gov Registering only takes a minute,
> is in effect for
> 5
>
> years and will possibly save you money (definitely
> frustration)!
>
> Make sure you register now!

 

[Cathleen]

Thank you VERY much!! Just registered my cell as I am typing.

 

[fgarvb1]

http://realtytimes.com/rtapages/20041215_donotcallhoax.htm

Damn!

Suckered again!

I hate it when that happens!

 

[tigerjen]

I received an email on this, and also at work we all
received a memo about it! I can't believe that
telemarketers could call up cell phone numbers...sheesh!

 

[Volz]

I received an email on this, and also at work we all
received a memo about it! I can't believe that
telemarketers could call up cell phone numbers...sheesh!

tigerjen, read the link in his second post.


From what I know, telemarketers calling your cell phone is completely voluntary on your part. You have to register your cell phone number for them to call it.

 

[SweetErika]

We actually have been contacted by telemarketers on our cell phone, and we didn't register to be on any list. We were getting 10 calls a day from someone in another country, and it turned out to be a scam to get money from "The Government Grant Association" (no such thing).

Also, never dial 9, 0, # on either your cell or your home phone...it gives the person on the other end access to your line so they can bill you as they please.

 

[Volz]

We actually have been contacted by telemarketers on our cell phone, and we didn't register to be on any list. We were getting 10 calls a day from someone in another country, and it turned out to be a scam to get money from "The Government Grant Association" (no such thing).

Also, never dial 9, 0, # on either your cell or your home phone...it gives the person on the other end access to your line so they can bill you as they please.

Those were not telemarketers. Those were scammers. There's a big difference. I hate telemarketing just like anyone else, but they do have laws they have to abide by and I would say that 99.9% do abide by them.

 

[SweetErika]

Those were not telemarketers. Those were scammers. There's a big difference. I hate telemarketing just like anyone else, but they do have laws they have to abide by and I would say that 99.9% do abide by them.

I know, but we've also had a few telemarketing/sales and survey calls in addition to the scammers.

 

[EJFan]

it is ILLEGAL for telemarketers to call a cellular phone number. there's no reason to register with the do not call list... the email is a total hoax.

 

[watergirl]

hoax.

OK, here's the real scoop: From an article in the Washington Post. Oddly, I got the bogus e-mail from a friend, and went and listed my cell # on the do not call registry. The very next day, I got an unsolicited call on my cell phone from a debt consolidation agency. It was suprising and irritating and I keep meaning to look into that. But here's the article:


Bogus E-Mail Worries Users Of Cell Phones

By Caroline E. Mayer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 10, 2004; Page E01

The e-mails, often forwarded by friends, vary in wording, but the underlying message is always ominous: Soon, all cell phone numbers will be made public to telemarketing firms. That means, according to one version, that "your cell phone may start ringing off the hook with telemarketers" and your precious, limited cell phone minutes will be eaten up with calls you don't want.

It's not clear where the e-mails originated, but industry and government officials say they are an urban myth; they are not true. There is no list of cell phone numbers being turned over to telemarketers, and telemarketers are barred from calling cell phone numbers.

Even so, in the past two weeks, more than 3 million numbers have been added to the government's national do-not-call list, and government officials suspect that the unexpected increase is due to the e-mails that are being passed around like a national game of telephone tag.

"It's driving registration numbers big time," said Lois Greisman, the Federal Trade Commission official who oversees the anti-telemarketing registry. The list took effect in October 2003, and since the initial flood of registrations, about 200,000 numbers have been added to the list each week, she said. But two weeks ago, close to 1 million numbers were posted to the list; another 2 million were added last week, she said. Today, a total of 69 million phone numbers are on the registry. Telemarketers risk fines of up to $11,000 for every number they call on the list.

Greisman called the e-mails "very odd," adding, "It is not malicious because it's giving correct registration information. But it's causing anxiety, and there shouldn't be anxiety."

The distress appears to stem from a plan, unveiled this fall, by several cell phone companies to set up national directory assistance, a 411 system, for cell phone numbers. Sprint Corp., Cingular Wireless, AT&T Wireless Services Inc., Nextel Communications Inc., Alltel Corp. and T-Mobile USA Inc. have hired Qsent Inc. to develop the directory; Verizon Wireless, the nation's largest wireless provider is not participating.

Next spring, each cell phone company will begin asking its customers if they want their numbers included in the wireless directory, according to Qsent spokesman Jeff Fishburn. Inclusion is free, but customers have to choose, or opt in, to have their number in the directory. The directory is not expected to be activated until next fall at the earliest.

"The wireless 411 service will not be made into a list that will be sold to third parties," Fishburn said. "It will not be made into a phone book and not be available online on the Internet. The only way for a consumer to get a wireless phone number in the future is to call 411 and ask for someone, and then they will be given the option of the landline or wireless number."

The cost to obtain a wireless number will be the same as that for a landline, ranging from 50 cents to $1.25, depending on the customer's telephone company and state. "It's too expensive for telemarketers," even if they were permitted to call cell phones, Fishburn said.

Since the first telemarketing rules were adopted in 1991, the Federal Communications Commission has barred solicitors from using automated dialers to call cell phones, the predominant way telemarketers make their calls.

"Nothing will change for consumers, whether there is a directory or not," said FCC spokeswoman Rosemary Kimball.

Telemarketing officials say companies review their lists twice a month to eliminate any cell phone numbers, as FCC rules require. Even without such a rule, "we don't want to call people's cell phones," said Tim Searcy, head of the American Teleservices Association, which represents call centers. "We know it eats up their minutes, annoys them, and the likelihood of them buying anything is very low. It would be a waste of our time."

Yet the mere prospect was enough to get people to add their cell number to the national registry -- as well as pass along the e-mail. Mallory Walker, head of the real estate lending firm Walker & Dunlop in Bethesda, signed up immediately after he received the disconcerting e-mail this week. Then, he forwarded the message to more than 100 other people, friends and employees. "I can't tell you how many people called me and thanked me," he said.

Some of the e-mails say that consumers have to sign up by Dec. 15 or forever lose the opportunity. That's wrong, said the FTC's Greisman. "There is no deadline; there never has been a deadline to register."

If consumers are concerned, Greisman said they may register their cell phone numbers, either by signing up on the Internet, at www.donotcall.gov, or by calling 888-382-1222. Consumers signing up by phone need to call from the phone they want to add to the list.

Correction to This Article
A Dec. 10 Business article about telemarketing to cell phones incorrectly said that each cell phone company participating in a new national directory for wireless phone numbers will begin asking customers next spring whether they want their numbers included. The timing will be up to the companies; some may start asking customer permission next spring, but others may do so later in the year.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53668-2004Dec9.html?sub=AR