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Phone Number Portability and its Impact on Telemarketers
You may have recently been excited to hear that you no longer have
to update your phone number each time you decide to take advantage
of a new wireless phone offer. This new found freedom will, without
a doubt, be of great convenience to consumers and will generate
a large amount of competition and new business within the cellular
industry. However, it may also create a difficult situation for
telemarketers.
Legislation already exists that prohibits telemarketers from contacting
consumers on wireless phones with the help of an auto-dialer. But,
even more fundamental to most marketing programs, as consumers shed
multiple phone numbers and utilize one number for multiple phones,
how will telemarketers deal with the potentiality of a sales pitch
that is actually costing the consumer money in the form of wireless
minutes?
In 1991 congress passed the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)
which prohibited any marketer, solicitor, or salesperson from contacting
a wireless account number through the use of an auto-dialer. Actually,
the provisions prohibits any auto-dialer from generating a call
the will result in a charge to the consumer. The TCPA was also responsible
for developing common industry practices such as limiting calls
to after 8 a.m. and before 9 p.m., maintaining a do not call list,
and ending the common practice of sending unsolicited faxes. Although
simply shifting one cellular number to another phone company may
not propose an immediate problem, the implications of number portability
are fairly worrisome. The practice insinuates the ability of consumers
to forego separate numbers for their cell phones and home phones.
Potentially, families could have one contact number that rings through
on either their cell phone or their land line. This would make it
impossible for telemarketers to discern when they were contacting
a wireless phone or a home phone. Only the popularity of single
number calling plans will determine the scope of the issue. However,
the notion of having just one number seems awfully convenient.
And, convenience is why people get wireless phones. They want to
be accessible to friends and family members. As expressed by the
popularity of the National DNC list, it is popular opinion that
sales calls are decidedly inconvenient. We all know how valuable
those "anytime" minutes are, and some of us know how extreme
overage charges can become. Ninety percent of all telemarketing
takes place during normal working hours. A substantial number of
calls during those "anytime" hours could easily become
a nuisance. Try to imagine yourself twenty or thirty years ago rec
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