Just when you thought that you had licked the problem of annoying telemarketing calls, wait till you start someone trying to sell you MCI long distance service or a mortgage on a mobile phone. The national directory of cell phone numbers is about to be published next week. If you don’t ask to have your cell phone number specifically excluded, telemarketers will automatically have access to your cell phone number.In other words, you will be up the shit creek. You can opt out of all this fun, register your cell number on the National Do Not Call list as soon as possible. You can do this by going on-line to or by calling 888-382-1222 from the cell phone you wish to register. And tell everyone to do the same!
And we will go through the same for our VoIP phones as well? Or we will not have this right because VoIP is an information service and so can not be regulated? 🙂
I’ve just started looking around about this and it sounds like Verizon intends to _not_ provide its customers’ numbers to the directory.
Kudos to them if they stick to their guns. Keeps me motivated to stick with them as my provider, that’s for sure.
Om, I’m surprised you got taken on this one; while there are several wireless providers that are participating, they have pledged that the information will only be available for directory assistance, and will not be sold.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/cell411.asp
Yes, Verizon’s choice not to participate in wireless subscriber 411 would allow a measure more of protection to their customers, and registering your cell number would indeed be less protection, but FCC regulations already in place block the majoroty of telemarketing calls to cell phones.
Now, if they [the FCC] could only do something about the SMS Spam and the telemarketing calls I get to the land line to my office….