Telemarketers and cellphones

It's still illegal for companies to cold-call a cellphone number,
right?

Today, I got several cold-call telemarketing calls. Not recognizing
the numbers, I let them go to voicemail. Two never left a message and
two did. Of the two that did, neither one identified the company, and
only one of them said anything that made any sense to me at all.

One of the two that left messages, I was able to call back and tell
them to not call me ever again, but the other one only went to dead
air.

I tried to do a reverse-lookup on the phone numbers, but came up empty
on all four.

--
Jeffrey Kaplan www.gordol.org
The from userid is killfiled Send personal mail to gordol

"You must save the eye that does not see. You must not kill the one
who is already dead. And at the last, you must surrender yourself to
your greatest fear knowing that it will destroy you." (Lady Morella,
B5 "Point Of No Return")

---

› See More: Telemarketers and cellphones

Jeffrey Kaplan wrote:
> It's still illegal for companies to cold-call a cellphone number,
> right?

Assuming that we're talking about the US, there's no Federal law
specific to cell phones. There is one for all phones, made permanent in
2008: <http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2008/04/dncfyi.shtm>

To be covered by the law, you must have registered your number for at
least 31 days. You can register all of your phones here:
<https://www.donotcall.gov/default.aspx>. While there, make sure you
read who's exempted...

hth,
-Craig

Jeffrey Kaplan <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> I tried to do a reverse-lookup on the phone numbers, but came up empty
> on all four.
>
>

Have you googled these numbers? What's the secret? Post the numbers so we
can attack them!

At 03 Sep 2008 18:30:58 -0400 Jeffrey Kaplan wrote:
> It's still illegal for companies to cold-call a cellphone number,
> right?


Good question. In this enlightened age of number portability, how does one
know for sure what's a cellphone and what isn't? My T-Mobile cellular
number is a ported Southwestern Bell landline!

> Today, I got several cold-call telemarketing calls. Not recognizing
> the numbers, I let them go to voicemail. Two never left a message and
> two did. Of the two that did, neither one identified the company, and
> only one of them said anything that made any sense to me at all.
>
> One of the two that left messages, I was able to call back and tell
> them to not call me ever again, but the other one only went to dead
> air.
>
> I tried to do a reverse-lookup on the phone numbers, but came up empty
> on all four.


I suspect that an increasing number of telemarketing calls are illegal, and
originating overseas courtesy of VoIP. (Hey, why should email spammers
have all of the fraudulent fun!) In the past, most telemarketers at least
begrudgingly agreed to add me to their "no call" lists when I requested it.
Many these days are rude, and hang up as soon as I ask what company they
represent, or ask not to be called again. Reverse lookups usually come up
empty, and the numbers often belong to small no-name phone companies or
VoIP wholesalers.

I was getting a bunch of those "your car warranty is about to expire"
robocalls for awhile and played along with the autoresponder to get a live
person and feigned interest to find out who was behind it. Try as I might,
I couldn't get a company name out of the person, even when I pretended that
was all that was holding up the sale- I told them they weren't getting my
credit card numbe until I knew what warranty company I was buying this
warranty from. The salesperson hung up!

Todd Allcock <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> Try as I might,
> I couldn't get a company name out of the person, even when I pretended
> that was all that was holding up the sale- I told them they weren't
> getting my credit card numbe until I knew what warranty company I was
> buying this warranty from. The salesperson hung up!
>

Did we take the time to call the FTC hotline and fill out a report?

Still got their number? What do you find on Google?

At 04 Sep 2008 14:13:22 +0000 Larry wrote:

> > Try as I might,
> > I couldn't get a company name out of the person, even when I pretended
> > that was all that was holding up the sale- I told them they weren't
> > getting my credit card numbe until I knew what warranty company I was
> > buying this warranty from. The salesperson hung up!
> >
>
> Did we take the time to call the FTC hotline and fill out a report?

Nahh, I just filed it on the Do Not Call website as a violator.

> Still got their number? What do you find on Google?

This was a few months ago- I don't have the number. Google brought up
nothing except others complaining about car warranty telemarketing scams.

While my home and cell numbers were on the DNC list, I had, at the time,
obtained a new VoIP number that I forward to the cell (so my family in
Rhode Island can call me in Denver with a local RI number) and the VoIP
call logs showed telemarketers hitting that new number. After adding it to
the DNC list, things have been pretty quiet lately, at least until the
politicians started up!

Previously on alt.cellular.attws, Todd Allcock said:

> > It's still illegal for companies to cold-call a cellphone number,
> > right?
>
> Good question. In this enlightened age of number portability, how does one
> know for sure what's a cellphone and what isn't? My T-Mobile cellular
> number is a ported Southwestern Bell landline!

Because the number should be flagged as such. Go to www.whitepages.com
and do a reverse-lookup on your number, it should say that it's a
cellphone.

> I suspect that an increasing number of telemarketing calls are illegal, and
> originating overseas courtesy of VoIP. (Hey, why should email spammers
> have all of the fraudulent fun!) In the past, most telemarketers at least
> begrudgingly agreed to add me to their "no call" lists when I requested it.
> Many these days are rude, and hang up as soon as I ask what company they
> represent, or ask not to be called again. Reverse lookups usually come up
> empty, and the numbers often belong to small no-name phone companies or
> VoIP wholesalers.

Unfortunately, that seems to fit the pattern.

--
Jeffrey Kaplan www.gordol.org
The from userid is killfiled Send personal mail to gordol

Peter's Top 100 Things I'd Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord, #211.
If my chief engineer displeases me, he will be shot, not imprisoned in
the dungeon or beyond the traps he helped design.

At 04 Sep 2008 11:22:53 -0400 Jeffrey Kaplan wrote:
> Previously on alt.cellular.attws, Todd Allcock said:
>
> > > It's still illegal for companies to cold-call a cellphone number,
> > > right?
> >
> > Good question. In this enlightened age of number portability, how does
one
> > know for sure what's a cellphone and what isn't? My T-Mobile cellular
> > number is a ported Southwestern Bell landline!
>
> Because the number should be flagged as such. Go to www.whitepages.com
> and do a reverse-lookup on your number, it should say that it's a
> cellphone.


As I said, my cellular number is a ported landline. Therefore whitepages
says "The phone number (816) xxx-xxxx is based in Lees Summit, MO and the
registered carrier is Southwestern Bell. However, due to number
portability, some numbers have been transferred to a new service provider
other than the registered carrier..."


Perhaps the best way to beat telemarketers would be to get a throwaway
prepaid cellphone then immediately port that number to a landline! ;-)

Previously on alt.cellular.attws, Todd Allcock said:

> > Because the number should be flagged as such. Go to www.whitepages.com
> > and do a reverse-lookup on your number, it should say that it's a
> > cellphone.
>
> As I said, my cellular number is a ported landline. Therefore whitepages
> says "The phone number (816) xxx-xxxx is based in Lees Summit, MO and the
> registered carrier is Southwestern Bell. However, due to number

Huh. IMO when you ported it, the cellular carrier should have caused
it to be flagged as a cellular. I did a reverse lookup on mine, and
it's so flagged. Not ported, so far as I know, though.

--
Jeffrey Kaplan www.gordol.org
The from userid is killfiled Send personal mail to gordol

"Disobedience, in the eyes of any one who has read history, is man's
original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been
made, through disobedience and through rebellion." - Oscar Wilde

In message <[email protected]> Todd Allcock
<[email protected]> wrote:

>Good question. In this enlightened age of number portability, how does one
>know for sure what's a cellphone and what isn't? My T-Mobile cellular
>number is a ported Southwestern Bell landline!

Luckily, as I understand the law, that is a problem for the caller, not
the recipient.

Todd Allcock <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> While my home and cell numbers were on the DNC list, I had, at the
> time, obtained a new VoIP number that I forward to the cell (so my
> family in Rhode Island can call me in Denver with a local RI number)
> and the VoIP call logs showed telemarketers hitting that new number.
> After adding it to the DNC list, things have been pretty quiet lately,
> at least until the politicians started up!
>
>

I have two Skype In numbers, one in Charleston (SC) and one in London, UK,
where a good many of my friends live. The Charleston number is in a large
block of numbers tagged as modem lines. The dialup numbers for AOL and
NetZero are in my number prefix, for instance. So, this block seems to be
totally immune from the random dialers and I've never been called even once
on it.

The London number, which is about as many numerals as the US National Debt
and I have to carry it around in my wallet because I could never remember
it, is one numeral away from The Hook and Nail, a popular (it seems) pub!
I meet many very interesting housewives trying to see if their hubby is at
the pub in the afternoons EDT, shocked that dialing the pub connected them
to South Carolina USA....(c; I wouldn't change that number for the world!

Both numbers forward to my sellphone if I'm not running Skype, 24/7. I've
configured a special ringtone for caller 0001234567, the Skype-wide caller
ID number. If my forwarded call or any Skyper calls, it rings it.