Cell Phone Directory of Cell Phone NumbersIn telephony, a telephone directory (also called a telephone book and phonebook) is a listing of telephone subscribers in a geographical area or subscribers to services provided by the organization that publishes the directory.
Subscriber names are generally listed in alphabetical order, together with their postal or street address and telephone number. Every subscriber in the geographical coverage area is usually listed, but some subscribers can request the exclusion of their number from the directory. Their number is then said to be "unlisted" (American English), "ex-directory" (British English) or "private".
Cell phone numbers and Voice over IP listings, under current rules and practices, are not included in telephone directories. Efforts to create cellular directories have met stiff opposition from several fronts, including a significant percentage of subscribers who seek to avoid telemarketers.
Despite this stiff opposition from some parties however, in the coming year one may be able to call directory assistance to get a mobile number. This was according to Paul Davidson from one of the articles in USA Today. Soon the days of searching in vain for peoples cell phone numbers will be over.
Not every number will be listed in the directory being compiled by the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association, the trade group that represents wireless carriers. Cell phone customers must give permission, or opt in, to be added; also, there won't be a directory in print or online. Still, the service is drawing criticism from consumer advocates who say it encroaches on a rare bastion of privacy. Furthermore, cell phone subscribers pay for incoming calls, even unwanted ones. Such concerns prompted Verizon Wireless, the No. 1 wireless company, to keep its 40 million subscribers out of the directory. They believe, according to the company’s spokeswoman Brenda Raney, that customers come to them with the expectation of privacy, and that it's too early in the process to understand what releasing customer numbers to a database will mean.
Most wireless service contracts include provisions granting permission to add a subscriber's number to a directory, absolving carriers of liability even if a customer does not opt in.
It's unclear how valuable the listings will be, given carriers' plans to get subscribers' permission for inclusion and some major companies like Verizon’s, refusing to take part.
The favor towards such cellphone directories would be far higher if cell phone providers were to add other privacy guards like for example, transfering calls to the wireless subscriber without divulging the number. Or they could give friends an easy-to-remember code that network operators would request before divulging contact data, which might include e-mail addresses as well as cell phone numbers or pager numbers.
Fueling the project is the fact cell phones — 163 million in the USA — rival landline phones in number. About 7 million people use only mobile phones.
A growing number of real estate agents, plumbers and others in small businesses who use cell phones on the job are asking for a wireless directory. Also, new rules enable customers to keep their wireless numbers when they switch carriers. Many of those in favor of having their cell phone numbers on directories are those whose business is done over the cell phone, since it's important for folks to be able to get in touch with them. Of course these people would keep their personal cell phone off the rolls.
Reference: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/data/2004-07-27-wireless-directory_x.htm
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