Cell phone Do Not Call list? No need to call.

If the in-boxes of Consumer Reports' staffers are any indication, there's currently another uptick in e-mails warning that America’s cell-phone numbers are about to be posted in a national 411 directory for use by telemarketers. Unless you call 888-382-1212 888-382-1222 to register it on the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) Do Not Call List, the messages say, you'll soon receive a flood of telemarketer calls.

This is false. There is neither a deadline nor even such a directory, at least not yet. The e-mails even get the relevant agency wrong; the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulates cell phones, not the FTC.

It's actually illegal for telemarketers to call your cell phone, though your carrier or its partners have the legal right to text you with upgrade offers or account notices. (For tips on curbing unwanted text messages on your cell phone, see: "Cell-phone spam: How to curb it.") Also, non-commercial organizations such as charities and political campaigns can contact you all they want, on your landline or your cell.

You can register your cell-phone number with the FTC's Do Not Call Registry (https://www.donotcall.gov/), but the agency will as yet do little or nothing with it. The registry is for landline numbers. You used to have to re-register those with the FTC every five years. But now registrations remain in effect until you change your number, thanks to the Do-Not-Call Improvement Act of 2007 that became law in February 2008.

If telemarketers or others harass you on your home or cell phone, you can file a complaint with the FCC by filling out online form 1088. Make a note of the time, and any caller details (caller ID comes in handy in these situations).

—Mike Gikas

[UPDATE March 31, 2009: We corrected an error in the toll-free number for the "Do Not Call" registry. —Ed.]

Comments

[Dawn R. Bence]

This is true. I have had at least 7 telemarketing phone calls a week on my cell phone.
I called Verizon and they told me there was nothing I could about it.
I registered on the "Do not call list" today, 6/13/09. We will see what happens.

[David]

It's not necessarily "illegal" for a telemarketer to call your cell phone. If the consumer gives their cell phone number to a business and it's the only and primary number given to the business, then the consumer has given their implied consent for the business to call that number. For example if the consumer gives their cable TV provider their cell number when they first are setting up service in a new home and don't have a new land-line number yet. If the telemarketer calls and the cell phone customer says they don't want called at that number, then the telemarketer has to oblige and stop calling (same as they do for landlines).

[Paul Eng]

To Brian:

Thanks for catching our simple mistake!

-Paul Eng, Web Sr. Editor (Electronics)

[Brian]

The number the article listed is incorrect. The correct number is (888) 382-1222.

[Chris k]

I just would like to add that in the spam email going around...

"there's currently another uptick in e-mails warning that America’s cell-phone numbers are about to be posted in a national 411 directory for use by telemarketers. Unless you call 888-382-1212 to register it on..."

The number listed in the spam email is the number to call in order to take your-self off of the 'do-not-call' list. I'm surprised no one has made mention of this. If you call that number, which ever phone you called from will take that phones phone-number off of the “do-not-call” list.

Reference: http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2008/04/dncfyi.shtm

It’s all in the details…

[Vic]

Absolute telephone harassment for the two months or more going on. I use call screening on an answering machine on the land line. 3 - 8 hangup calls a day from 7:30 AM to 9:30 PM. Recorded messages about "government stimulus" load reductions ... I don't have any loans; diabetic supplies - I'm not; credit card interest rate reductions, again "government stimulus" pitch - I have no credit card balances. The telephone spammers are once again OUT OF CONTROL.
I'm thinking of having the land line disconnected to stop the harassment. I wish them all a pot full of very bad luck.

[Pam]

I've had my land line and cell phone on the do not call list since the beginning. I have to screen the calls by the recorder & cell caller-ID ever since.
The pre recorded sales calls are horrible. They just won't stop! No matter how many times I complain.
Had land line disconnected last week, it had become a forum for pests and pre-recorded calls.
I don't answer my cell phone unless I recognize the number.
The DNC registry is a joke.

[Jim]

You can report all the calls you want, but NOTHING WILL HAPPEN. This is a law that has no teeth. Over the last couple years I've reported spam calls hundreds of times (usually the same company) using the online FCC complaint form but NOTHING HAPPENS. The spammers keep calling.

You can search all you want too, but you won't find anyone to talk to about it. There's no remedy either. It's just another government bureaucracy that's supposed to make you feel good.

Thanks CR for mentioning that in your article.

[tom e smith]

For the past three weeks and at different times I have received calls for THECALLCENTER IN VA. 1-703-291-9045. Today at 11:49am I received the fourth call. I was prompted to either press #1 or #2 . This was somehting about a car warranty. I spoke to a male by the name of Carlos. I told him that this was the fourth unwanted call and I was going to report it this time. The first of these four calls started three weeks ago I pressed either 1 or 2 on the first two calls. This tells them I have followed all the recalls and it said to hang up. The third call I spoke a male and told him I registered on the do not call list and wanted it stopped. So today I received the fourth call and decided to report these people. I'm not interested as I told them twice on the program and to stop bothering me. This Carlos person went speechless after I told him I was going to report the calls.

[Greg]

Actually, if the company who calls has masked their company name and/or the phone number from which they're calling, you can report that violation directly to US Congressman Aaron Schock of the 18th Congressional District. Just make sure you have the time of day when the call occurred, the phone number that received the call, and whatever information showed on your caller ID screen even if it's nothing. Here's the Congressman's phone number: (309) 671-7027