Feds: Wireless phones off-limits to telemarketers
Sonya Dingman, Kansas University senior from Fort Madison, Iowa, left, uses her cell phone as she walks on campus. According to federal regulations, telemarketers do not have access to cell phone numbers, although some cell phone owners are adding their numbers to the government's do
Once, the cellular phone was a safe haven from telemarketers – a way to stay in touch with the world without being hassled by salesmen.
It still is, despite rumors.
An e-mail making the rounds telling readers they have days before telemarketers get their hands on a cell phone directory is false, federal officials say.
“There was an e-mail circulating, scaring people unnecessarily,” said Rosemary Kimball, a spokeswoman for the Federal Communications Commission in Washington D.C.
Some companies are planning to create a nationwide directory of cellular phone numbers, she said, and users will have to “opt in” to be included.
But even if consumers add their cell numbers to the directory, she said, telemarketers still can’t call.
“The rules preclude them from calling cell phones, even if they have a directory,” Kimball said.
She said the FCC had been fielding calls about the e-mail since late in 2004.
A spokesman for the Federal Trade Commission – which runs the federal “do not call” list – said the rumor had sparked a surge in cellular phone registries for the list. But he confirmed the FCC’s account that cellular phones are off-limits to telemarketers.
Off the hook
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 prohibits the use of autodialers – the preferred tool of telemarketers – to call cellular phones.
According to the FCC Web site, the law protects:
¢ Any emergency telephone line.
¢ The telephone line of any guest or patient room at a hospital, health care facility, home for the elderly or similar establishment.
¢ A paging service, cellular telephone service, or other radio common carrier service, or any service for which the person being called would be charged for the call.
¢ Any other service for which the person being called would be charged for the call.
– Source: FCC.gov
“Customers still have the discretion” to add their numbers to the list, FTC spokesman Mitch Katz said.
The federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act, passed in 1991, prohibits the use of autodialers – the preferred tool of telemarketers – to call cellular phones or “any other service for which the person being called would be charged for the call.”
“I’ve personally never known a telemarketer to sit there and dial,” instead of using an autodialer, said Erin McGee, a spokeswoman for the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Assn. “So I think that should take care of that.”
If you still want to end up on the national “do not call” list, go online to www.donotcall.gov, or call (888) 382-1222.