Not that I want them to call, but I have had a cell phone for about four years now and have never recieved a call from someone trying to sell me something. I get the occasional wrong number, but that’s about it. I get telemarketer calls on my home phone often, even got them when I had an unlisted number. What is the difference?
Maybe your cell fone isn’t listed in the Yellow Pages.
Mine neither, but I’m not free of telemaketer pestering, so you’re a dang lucky mamalovin’.
So, Uniball, you do get telemarketer calls on your cell? As far as I know, my cellphone number is not listed anywhere. When I lived alone I had an unlisted number (because of an ex-boyfriend and a new boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend), and I still got sales calls. I have had the same cell number for four years and I would get very mad if a telemarketer called me at that number because I have to pay for incoming calls. I am just curious why the sales calls don’t happen.
I believe it has something to do with when cell phones were first being introduced.
Back then, the people who owned a cell had to not only pay for outgoing calls, but incoming calls as well.
Could it be a holdover? Whatever the case, you’ll never see me object until they do start calling.
Aren’t certain phone numbers reserved for cellphones? If so, I would think that telemarketers would omit those numbers from their calling programs because:
- People are very unlikely to be receptive to a sales pitch on a cellphone since the call is costing them money.
- People aren’t going to be open to a sales pitch either walking around or driving.
Land line calls tend to reach a more receptive audience I think.
I’m emphasize that all of the above are WAGs.
CnoteChris, AFAIK, I still pay for incoming calls. I think. I don’t know, I just pay the bill.
BobT, Your answer make sense. But I would think that a few of the dam* telemarketers would try to get ahold of people on their cells. I don’t even answer my home phone when it rings unless I recognize the name and number on my caller ID. Too many calls I get are from “unavailable” and I know they’re telemarketers calling so I don’t bother picking it up. They never leave a message and my friends do. I give my cell phone # to friends and family and only use my regular phone line for internet connection.
Bos-
Yep. Most people still do. But surprisingly, myself included, plans are beginning to wave the air time of certain incoming calls.
So Cnote, you must not get telemarketer calls on your cell either? I was thinking (hoping!) that maybe there is a law of some sort banning them from calling cell phone numbers.
You mean you never get calls from that cell phone comp you got the phone from asking if you want more air time?
I recently looked at some alphanumeric pagers & they said that they would send you ads sometimes on the pager.
This is true. I work as a technician for a cell phone company in the southeast, and yes, it is against the law for telemarketers to call those private numbers. One could randomly call all the pre-fixes and reach you, but they wouldn’t know your name. . . and that makes for a VERY bad beginning for their pitch.
On another note: incomming and outgoing calls are all decided on your plans that you buy and each individual company has rules for what actually costs you. There will never be uniformity in the business, too much compition.
Neither do mine, but I once fu… uh, dated a girl who knew my cell phone number, and later on she tried to sell me a magazine subscription - by cell phone. So that’s how I suppose my dang cell phone number ended up in some mailing list.
Also I think alot of telemarketers get their numbers from forms we fill out i.e. when we buy something online and fill in name, address, phone number. Most people don’t put down a cell phone number.
handy, Nope. Never get calls from the cell phone comp.
penael, Thanks! That was the answer I was looking for! Laws, glorious laws!
Uniball Aww…that’s too bad.
k2dave I avoid giving my cell# out to people who don’t need it. Friends and family only!
Great answers. Thanks!
I get telemarketers calling me on my cell all the time!! Usually it is a credit card company of mine, telling me about some great deal I qualify for. I tell them no right away, then when they keep talking, I just hang up. I try to be nice but they just won’t let me.
BTW, I do not hang up because it is on my cell. I hang up because I HATE them!!
I get unlimited cellular air time on my phone. What’s that- roughly 44,640 included minutes a month 
What a great rate plan, don’t you think??
As a telemarketer, I can say that it’s illegal for us to call a number that costs the receiver. That includes most cell phones, and of course we can’t tell who has a “free incoming calls plan”, so we don’t call any.
(Aside: Where do I get one of these miraculous plans? I only get the first 60 seconds of an incoming call for free.)
This is why there’s a big effort to stop e-mail spam (which YOU pay to receive) but not paper junk mail (which the company pays to send, but you receive it for free).
On the other hand, we do sometimes end up calling cell phones anyway, because people forward their home numbers to the cell phone. I’ve made at least one sale this way, to a trucker who was on the road in Nevada but had his home phone forwarded.
If it were legal, and people wouldn’t be pissed that they were paying to hear a sales pitch, we probably still wouldn’t make many sales. I can’t say we wouldn’t do it; we don’t make many sales at 8:00 on Saturday morning or 9:00 on Friday night either, but we still call.
Sit down for a nice home-cooked meal, and leave your cell on.
They’ll find you.