By
Caroline E. Mayer
Washington Post Staff Writer -
Friday, December 10, 2004; Page E01
The e-mails, often forwarded by friends,
vary in wording, but the underlying message is always ominous:
Soon, all cell phone numbers will be made public to telemarketing
firms. That means, according to one version, that "your
cell phone may start ringing off the hook with telemarketers" and
your precious, limited cell phone minutes will be eaten up
with calls you don't want.
It's not clear where the e-mails originated, but industry
and government officials say they are an urban myth; they
are not true. There is no list of cell phone numbers being
turned over to telemarketers, and telemarketers are barred
from calling cell phone numbers.
Even so, in the past two weeks, more than 3 million numbers
have been added to the government's national do-not-call
list, and government officials suspect that the unexpected
increase is due to the e-mails that are being passed around
like a national game of telephone tag.
"It's driving registration numbers big time," said Lois
Greisman, the Federal Trade Commission official who oversees
the anti-telemarketing registry. The list took effect in
October 2003, and since the initial flood of registrations,
about 200,000 numbers have been added to the list each week,
she said. But two weeks ago, close to 1 million numbers were
posted to the list; another 2 million were added last week,
she said. Today, a total of 69 million phone numbers are
on the registry. Telemarketers risk fines of up to $11,000
for every number they call on the list.
Greisman called the e-mails "very odd," adding, "It
is not malicious because it's giving correct registration
information. But it's causing anxiety, and there shouldn't
be anxiety."
The distress appears to stem from a plan, unveiled
this fall, by several cell phone companies to set up national
directory assistance, a 411 system, for cell phone numbers.
Sprint Corp., Cingular Wireless, AT&T Wireless Services
Inc., Nextel Communications Inc., Alltel Corp. and T-Mobile
USA Inc. have hired Qsent Inc. to develop the directory;
Verizon Wireless, the nation's largest wireless provider
is not participating.
Next spring, each cell phone company will begin asking
its customers if they want their numbers included in the
wireless directory, according to Qsent spokesman Jeff Fishburn.
Inclusion is free, but customers have to choose, or opt
in, to have their number in the directory. The directory
is not expected to be activated until next fall at the
earliest.
"The wireless 411 service will not be made into a
list that will be sold to third parties," Fishburn said. "It
will not be made into a phone book and not be available
online on the Internet. The only way for a consumer to
get a wireless phone number in the future is to call 411
and ask for someone, and then they will be given the option
of the landline or wireless number."
The cost to obtain a wireless number will be the same
as that for a landline, ranging from 50 cents to $1.25,
depending on the customer's telephone company and state. "It's
too expensive for telemarketers," even if they were permitted
to call cell phones, Fishburn said.
Since the first telemarketing rules were adopted in
1991, the Federal Communications Commission has barred
solicitors from using automated dialers to call cell phones,
the predominant way telemarketers make their calls.
"Nothing will change for consumers, whether there
is a directory or not," said FCC spokeswoman Rosemary Kimball.
Telemarketing officials say companies review their
lists twice a month to eliminate any cell phone numbers,
as FCC rules require. Even without such a rule, "we don't
want to call people's cell phones," said Tim Searcy, head
of the American Teleservices Association, which represents
call centers. "We know it eats up their minutes, annoys
them, and the likelihood of them buying anything is very
low. It would be a waste of our time."
Yet the mere prospect was enough to get people to
add their cell number to the national registry -- as well
as pass along the e-mail. Mallory Walker, head of the real
estate lending firm Walker & Dunlop in Bethesda, signed
up immediately after he received the disconcerting e-mail
this week. Then, he forwarded the message to more than
100 other people, friends and employees. "I can't tell
you how many people called me and thanked me," he said.
Some of the e-mails say that consumers have to sign
up by Dec. 15 or forever lose the opportunity. That's wrong,
said the FTC's Greisman. "There is no deadline; there never
has been a deadline to register."
If consumers are concerned, Greisman said they may
register their cell phone numbers, either by signing up
on the Internet, at http://www.donotcall.gov/, or
by calling 888-382-1222. Consumers signing up by phone
need to call from the phone they want to add to the list.
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