U.S. Mobile Phones Won’t Be Turned Over To Telemarketers
The folks at the CTIA, the mobile industry’s lobbying group here in the U.S., are letting us know something important. It’s nice to occasionally give the CTIA credit for something positive they’re doing.
Apparently, there are some rumors going around that our mobile phones here in the U.S. are about to be turned over to telemarketers! Considering that we pay for incoming calls and it doesn’t cost the telemarketer any more money to call a mobile phone, this is obviously a scary prospect for many people! People are being urged to register your cell phone in the national Do Not Call registry.
However, the CTIA says this is bunk. While you can–and should–register your mobile phone against the Do Not Call registry, there are no plans to make it legal to call people’s mobile phones from automated dialers–a tool the vast majority of telemarkers use to make their calls. Furthermore, the various telemarketer associations claim their members have no intention to start mobile phones.
One question I do have about this, though. What happens when a call from a landline is forwarded to a mobile phone? Many years ago when I was traveling, I forwarded my landline to my mobile phone. While I was traveling, I got a call from a telemarketer–presumably forwarded from my landline since the call was about changing my long distance service. I told the person that they were calling a cell phone and that I could not have a different long distance carrier. They hung up, of course. 
Are telemarketers able to detect a call has been forwarded and simply hang up the call? Do the various regulations account for this? Should someone who forwards their landline to their mobile phone–even temporarily–expect to receive telemarketing calls? Is that legal? What do you think?
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Tags: ctia, do not call registry, telemarketing Fnord
Comment by spg
well i get tons of calls on my cell phone from automated dialers. it seems to always be particularly bad when a activation is recent(and the number has just been rotated) i never give my cell numbers to anyone other than friends and family. the thing is that nearly all the telemarketing call come in without caller ID(or from 800 numbers that lead no place when called back).
what i propose are two things. 1. all marketing companies(and marketing departments) should be assign phone number with a unique type of caller ID that identifies them as marketers. they should be bound by law not to block or change this caller ID. 2. there should be establish an easy way to report an illegal marketing call. this should involve entering a special dial sequence within say 30 seconds of hanging up or rejecting a call. this should establish a trace back to the originator of the call. if it would be too much for law enforcement to go after all the rogue telemarketers than they should simply make the list of reported phones along with callback number and address public. i am sure enough upset people would take to themselves to complain to these companies; and that it would no longer be worth their aggravation. of course if they deliver the proper caller ID obey the rules of the ‘no call list’ and ‘no cell phones’ they would be exempt from going on this public list.
Comment by PhoneBoy
@spg I rarely get telemarketing calls to my mobile phone anymore. Lately, most of the telemarketing calls I’ve gotten have had caller ID also. They are frequently listed as Toll Free Number, but I know to ignore those. Heck, just last night I got two calls from Hillary Clinton’s campaign–even said so on the Caller ID.
I think that’s the big issue with these laws on telemarketing (and junk faxing)–enforcement. Particularly when I can initiate the calls thru VoIP overseas. Can the long arm of the law reach that far? Like the ideas you propose.