Cellular Numbers To Be Listed

Wireless Carriers Try to Get the 411
411. Online directories. The plain old phone book.

By Griff Witte, Washington Post Staff Writer


There are lots of ways to find out someone's number if that person's
phone happens to be tied to a traditional land line. But if you need
to reach someone on a cell phone and you've misplaced the digits,
you're out of luck.

Starting next year, that may change.

In an initiative that is testing the balance between convenience and
privacy, the nation's major wireless (news - web sites) carriers are
teaming up to put together a directory of wireless phone numbers that
would allow customers to call 411 and connect to mobile phones, not
just phones that plug into a wall.

For the carriers, it's a chance to make people more comfortable
"cutting the cord" -- using wireless phones as their primary phones,
content in the knowledge that people who need to reach them can. It's
also an opportunity for the cellular companies to tap into what could
be a multibillion-dollar listing business.

But at the same time, the carriers risk alienating their customers,
many of whom worry that a central database of cell-phone numbers has
the potential to spoil their one oasis from spam, junk mail and
telemarketers.

"It's the last bastion of privacy, the cell phone," said Frank Kenney,
a 57-year-old D.C. resident who uses his wireless phone only for
emergencies and would like to keep it that way. Kenney said he fears
that a database would allow people he doesn't know to bother him on
his cell phone. "I'd resent that, just like I resent it with the
regular phones," he said.

Kenney is not the only one who's concerned. Several members of
Congress have recently raised questions about exactly how consumers
would be protected if a wireless directory assistance program were
initiated. "I don't want my phone number put on a list somewhere for
the world to see," said Rep. Joseph R. Pitts (R-Pa.), who is gathering
support for hearings on the matter. "Privacy of cell phones is
extremely important."

The trade group spearheading the effort, the Cellular
Telecommunications and Internet Association, maintains that no
directory assistance program will be launched without multiple
safeguards to ensure that the nation's 150 million wireless customers
aren't deluged with unwanted calls.

"The industry has been protective of consumers' privacy. And we do
that because it's good for business," said Travis Larson, spokesman
for the CTIA. "If customers get calls they don't want, they'll
probably turn off their phones."

In a letter to Pitts and four other members of Congress in August,
CTIA president and chief executive Thomas E. Wheeler wrote that
concerns that telemarketers will abuse the wireless-number database
are "groundless."

"The privacy and integrity of the master database is of great
importance to wireless carriers," he wrote.

It's not hard to understand why. A cell phone that's plagued by
unwanted calls isn't a product that consumers are likely to keep.

"If you started to have unsolicited commercial calls on cell phones,
that disruption would be even more of a constant problem than on your
land line because it's always with you," said Susan Grant, vice
president for public policy at the National Consumers League.

In addition, with cell phones, the recipient of a call shares the
burden of paying along with the caller, she said.

To be sure the wireless 411 program doesn't backfire, the carriers are
contemplating a variety of mechanisms to keep customers in control of
who can reach them. For instance, instead of giving out numbers,
operators might instead connect the call directly. Another way to
protect customers might be to send them a text message when someone is
trying to contact them through directory assistance, at which point
they could decide whether to accept the call, reject it or send it to
voice mail.

Finally, customers will be given the option to not be listed in the
database. The carriers are still deciding if they should assume
customers want to be part of the database unless they indicate
otherwise or if customers should have to actively volunteer to be
listed.

In the former case, customers might find themselves on the list
without knowing they've consented. In the latter, not enough might
sign up to make the service useful.

Another unresolved issue is whether customers who choose to remain
unlisted will have to pay to do so, as is the case with land-line
phones. Larson said that decision will be left up to the individual
carriers.

Wireless directory assistance should be available next year, Larson
said. Before that can happen, however, all the major carriers have to
agree on how the service will work, which hasn't been easy given the
competition in the industry. "There has been some significant friction
and dissension," said Kathleen Pierz, an analyst with the Pierz Group,
a research and consulting firm that specializes in directory
assistance.

But she said wireless 411 could be a windfall for all the carriers, if
they do it right. A survey conducted by the San Francisco-based Zelos
Group Inc. consulting firm showed that allowing customers to access
cell-phone numbers through 411 could bring the wireless industry $3
billion a year through user fees and the additional minutes that
callers would spend on the network.

That's true despite the fact that consumer interest in the service is
tepid at best. For a separate report, Zelos surveyed more than 1,200
mobile phone users, and approximately half said keeping their numbers
unlisted was their top choice. Fewer than 10 percent said they wanted
to see their cell numbers listed in the same way as their business or
residential numbers. A larger percentage approved of listing if they
could control who had access to the numbers.

The survey showed one major bright spot for the industry: "If you do
this right, there's high interest among younger users," said Mark
Plakias, a Zelos Group senior analyst.

Juanita Cooksey, 18, of Woodbridge is a case in point. She welcomes
wireless 411 and would use it to get in touch with friends when she
knows their home numbers but not their mobile numbers. "We need that,"
she said.

Cooksey said the extra convenience the service would bring outweighs
any irritation from getting an unwanted call every now and then: "If
it's somebody I don't know, I'd just say, 'You've got the wrong
number.' "

---

› See More: Cellular Numbers To Be Listed

No f-ing way do I want mine listed! Tell me how to get a class action
injunction

No f-ing way do I want mine listed! Tell me how to get a class action
injunction