Telemarketing Conspiracy
Don’t let the emails fool you. There is no deadline to register your cell phone number to the national Do-Not-Call registry.
Every few years, an email comes around saying, “A directory of cell phone numbers will soon be published for all consumers to have access to. This will open the doors for solicitors to call you on your cell phones …”
The rumors started in 2004, when the wireless phone industry considered publishing a wireless 411 phone directory similar to the directories of land lines.
Thus began generations of email warnings that our cell phone numbers would be easy prey for telemarketers, who would call us day and night, using up our precious minutes.
The Federal Communications Commission says not to worry. “Placing telemarketing calls to wireless phones is — and always has been — illegal in most cases,” the Commission website reports.
Even if the 411 directory is established, it will remain illegal for any automatic telephone dialing systems to call a mobile telephone when the cell phone holder would be charged for the call without consent or an existing business relationship. If you bought from a company, you began a business relationship lasting for 18 months, under the law.
Still, adding your cell phone number to the Do-Not-Call registry won’t hurt: 888-382-1222.
See what the FCC says about warning emails at www.fcc.gov/guides/truth-about-wireless-phones-and-national-do-not-call-list.