# Telemarketers don't call cell phones. Why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 24, 2002, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketers-dont-call-cell-phones-why/120540 "2002-07-24T10:17:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketers-dont-call-cell-phones-why/120540/1 "2002-07-24T10:17:33Z")
I only have a cell phone and have had the same phone number for 3 years+. I have never gotten any telemarketing calls since I got my cell phone. I use my cell as my primary(only) number for credit cards, bank, anything that needs a phone #. Why don’t I ever get telemarketers on my cell? Are there laws preventing telemarketers frmo calling cell phones? In fact, I don’t think I know anyone who has gotten tm calls on thier cells. Anyone know? ---
**Author:** ![Aro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketers-dont-call-cell-phones-why/120540/2 "2002-07-24T10:29:26Z")
I got a new mobile recently (3 months or so) and I have been tortured with calls from fly insurance companies trying to sell all sorts of cover. Always begins _“You recently bought a new mobile, what model is it? Would you like to …”_ It has gotten so bad I now just refuse to answer any unrecognised number calls. I probably miss a load of calls, but saves me a lot of cursing and name-calling in the process. Just a WAG, but maybe it costs too much for the telesales guys to call mobiles (especially if the person happens to be on holiday abroad) to make it worthwhile as a marketing strategy. Plus the numbers have no set area base, so it is hard to tell where the person you are calling really lives. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 10:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketers-dont-call-cell-phones-why/120540/3 "2002-07-24T10:30:55Z")
1. Some mobile providers charge for incoming calls. A telemarketer who forces you to pay for the privilege wouldn’t stand much of a chance. 2. Mobile calls use battery power, so the telemarketer can’t hold you on the line too much. 3. People with mobiles may well be, well, mobile, so they it’s inconvenient to take long sales calls. Sadly, I’m getting semi-regular text message spam now. ---
**Author:** ![CnoteChris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/278dde/32.png) [@CnoteChris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CnoteChris)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketers-dont-call-cell-phones-why/120540/4 "2002-07-24T11:49:21Z")
I’m about to kill two birds with one stone. Gotta love that when it happens. First, it _is_ against the law for telemarketers to call cell phones, it was mandated back in 1991 and is part of the consumer protection act (As far as I know, when I checked this out a while back, it’s against the law for them to weed numbers from cell phone lists and then call. I honestly don’t know if that ban also applies when you, yourself, supply them the number, like your example above). But this gist is- it’s against the law. Secondly, according to the cool little site that I found, that bundles all this up nice and tidy, a push is now on to do the same with cell phone text messaging. Not only are consumers going after text message telemarketers with lawsuits, conceivably arguing that they pay for the ads, in a round-a-bout way, but so too are wireless carriers, ostensibly for the reason that spam text messages is bad business- people won’t want to pay for the service if they’re only going to get spammed from it. So, hope springs eternal that both consumers and the carriers will nip this in the bud before it begins to spread. Too bad they weren’t this aggressive with other forms of spam and telemarking BS. \*Almost forgot the article- [San Francisco Chronicle - "Fight is on to keep unwanted text ads off cell phones "](http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/01/15/MN219403.DTL) ---
**Author:** ![Cubsfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Cubsfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cubsfan)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketers-dont-call-cell-phones-why/120540/5 "2002-07-24T12:04:57Z")
Text messaging spam? This is the first time I have heard of that. What kinds of products do you get advertised on the phone/pager? If it porno stuff? College degrees from prestigeous non accredited universities? Wierd. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketers-dont-call-cell-phones-why/120540/6 "2002-07-24T12:10:39Z")
I get constant text messages offering me new deals on new handsets. My mobile provider also signed me up for a free webmail account with text message notification–basically that also forwarded the usual round of email spam to my phone until I realised. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketers-dont-call-cell-phones-why/120540/7 "2002-07-24T12:30:15Z")
> [@](#): > > Text messaging spam? I only had one and it was a while back and don’t remember- but I was pissed. ---
**Author:** ![Aro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketers-dont-call-cell-phones-why/120540/8 "2002-07-24T13:09:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Stinkpalm \* > \*\*Text messaging spam? > Wierd. \*\* I get ‘call this number, you have won £150.00’ SMS’s all the time. It says if I don’t call (costing £2.50 /min) I will lose and the money will go to someone else. I never have, perhaps I’m losing out. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketers-dont-call-cell-phones-why/120540/9 "2002-07-24T14:00:14Z")
To follow up on **CnoteChris’s** post… The relevant law, [47 USC 227](http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/47/227.html) (b)(1)(A)(iii): > [@](#): > > It shall be unlawful for any person within the United States to make any call (other than a call made for emergency purposes or made with the prior express consent of the called party) using any automatic telephone dialing system or an artificial or prerecorded voice to any telephone number assigned to a paging service, cellular telephone service, specialized mobile radio service, or other radio common carrier service, or any service for which the called party is charged for the call. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketers-dont-call-cell-phones-why/120540/10 "2002-07-24T14:20:40Z")
Thanks SmackFu! I get sales calls on my cell about twice a month. I always bite their head off, but now I can bite their head off AND cite a law. cool. ---
**Author:** ![MachV](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@MachV](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MachV)\ **Post date:** [July 24, 2002, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/telemarketers-dont-call-cell-phones-why/120540/11 "2002-07-24T14:34:01Z")
This is one of the many reasons the only phone I have is my mobile!