Very OT -- Cell Phone Tele-Marketing in the US

[Honu-Hugger]

A friend was kind enough to pass this along today:

Doug,
JUST A REMINDER...In a few weeks, cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies and you will start to receive sale calls.YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR THESE CALLS... To prevent this, call the following number from your cell phone: 888/382-1222. It is the National DO NOT CALL list. It will only take a minute of your time. It blocks your number for five (5) years. PASS THIS ON TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS...

or go to http://donotcall.gov and register on the internet

Ira

I thought it might be important enough to post here for our US members; please delete the thread if it is inappropriate.

 

[XAos]

http://ftp.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/truthaboutcellphones.html

You may be one of many consumers who have received e-mails saying you're about to be assaulted by unwanted telemarketing calls to your cell phone. Rest assured that placing telemarketing calls to cell phones is -- and always has been -- illegal in most cases.

...

Even if a wireless 411 directory is established, most telemarketing calls to cell phones would still be illegal. For example, it is unlawful for any person to make any call (other than a call made for emergency purposes or made with express prior consent) using any automatic telephone dialing system or any artificial or prerecorded voice to any telephone number assigned to a paging service, mobile telephone service, or any service for which the called party is charged for the call. This prohibition applies regardless of whether the number is listed on the Federal Government's National Do-Not-Call Registry.

 

[Roman]

How can you be charged for calls that you receive, not make yourself? Does not make sense...

Roman

 

[kiev4a]

That's the way the U.S. cell phone system always has worked. And you are right--it doesn't make sense to anyone but the accountants at the cell phone companies.

 

[egpj]

That is very true.. My cell phone in Colombia is not charged for incoming calls. While my cell number in the states is charged for all calls, incoming as well. If someone were to start a service here (in the states) where the calls incoming were not charged against you they would clean up! Another thing that rubs me is that my cell service in Colombia runs me 100.00 US for 1600 minutes while my service in the states I get 600 minutes for 100.00 after taxes. BIG DIFFERENCE! I could change plans but then they want to sign another contract for two or three years. When my current phone dies I will switch to another company.

 

[Goodyear]

Wow.

Sounds like the cell services in the US are really really shocking!

 

[back alley]

same in canada.
charged for outgoing and incoming calls.

i prefer email.

and skype.com for long distance calls, no charge at all.

joe

 

[Roman]

Wow, never heard of that, that's a really weird system, paying if somebody calls you.
Here in Austria (and I guess all the rest of Europe) you only pay for outgoing calls - I pay 9 Eurocents (about 11 US cents) per minute if I call from my cellular (called a 'handy' in German). Here already more people own cellulars than they have 'real' telephones, I guess about 80 to 90 % of the population has one, every 8 or 10 yr.-old wants one for their birthday...

I only have to pay for incoming calls if somebody calls me when I'm abroad - e.g. when I'm in Spain wih my Austrian 'handy', and somebody from home calls me, they pay the same as if they called me in Austria, and I pay the 'roaming fees' the Spanish cellular company charges my own Austrian one.

Roman

 

[JoeFriday]

newer cell phone calling plans don't charge you for incoming calls.. my US Cellular provider is making that a standard feature.. I only get charged for outgoing calls now

another feature that is becoming standard for cell plans is nationwide calling.. say goodbye to long distance charges (within the country) as well as roaming fees

and even landlines are switching over to a flat-rate monthly fee, rather than a per-minute basis

things sure have changed since Ma Bell was in charge.. remember how you used to get charged a monthly rental fee for those crappy rotary phones??

 

[Nikon Bob]

Had a cell phone and never really used it much so ditched it. Just another reason to not have one.

Bob

 

[Socke]

Talking 'bout cell-phones and marketing, at photo.net I just got an animated flash ad for Jamba Ringtones :-(

Everybody who knows Jambas way of maketing knows how disgusting this is :-(

Probably they have certain phone dating services as advertisers, next.

 

[bmattock]

Um, guys? Did you read the second reply - this is a HOAX.

E-mail hoax sparks 'Do Not Call' stampedeBy Stefanie Olsen, CNET News.com
Published on ZDNet News: December 14, 2004, 5:09 PM PT

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9588_22-5491349.html

Man, talk about the phone being for you. (GRIN!)

Best Regards,

Bill Mattocks

 

[Little Prince]

I have only a cell phone. Ditched the land line. With nationwide and free roaming and what not, it's too convenient. Plus, I used to get all that junk tele-marketing stuff on my land line that I don't get at all on the mobile.

 

[Roman]

Well, if it was not for internet access, I'd ditch the land line, too. My internet access is via TV cable (though I have not ordered cable TV - the 4 programs I get via antenna are more than enough, I barely watch TV), and I get telephone in the package with it - but 99% of the time I use the cellular.

Roman

 

[XAos]

It can be tempting however, it can still cause complications with 911. Even when it works, and you have coverage you may get routed to the next county. And pity you if the the next county and yours have a long standing feud about just how to do emergency operations. (It's way more common than you might think. Especially with medium sized towns struggling not to be absorbed by the bigger city next door.)

A more common problem is that here in the US they typically run cellular service pretty close to capacity, which means you might get "all circuits are busy" when the Mets win, let alone a winter storm or God forbid a genuine large scale disaster/tragedy. I dont even have reliable cell coverage at my house - it's simply not an option. For some reason work ALWAYS calls on the cell phone, and I'm invariably standing on top of chairs on the back porch trying to carry on a conversation when that happens. Maybe if I had a 20 ft earpiece and taped the phone to a long pole. A look at the US cellular coverage shows that it's pretty much cities and interstate highways.