Coming for cellphones: 411 Directory service can be crucial for small businesses
By Hiawatha Bray, Globe Staff | September 5, 2005 Once, you had to pay the telephone company an extra fee if you wanted an unlisted number. These days, you can get one without even trying. Just get a cellular telephone, or one of those new Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP) phone services. In most cases, directory assistance operators won't be able to find you. That's because cellphone and Internet phone providers have not plugged their customers' numbers into the big national phone number databases. That's good news for millions of consumers sick of harassment from telemarketers. But millions of others -- especially small-business people and the self-employed -- want their numbers listed. The absence of directory listings might persuade them to keep their traditional phones. But times are changing. Starting next year, millions of cellphone users will be available through the same 411 service that lists standard phone numbers. And there are moves afoot to include VOIP telephone numbers in phone directories, as well. Most of the nation's biggest wireless carriers have teamed up with Qsent Inc. of Portland, Ore., to produce a national databse of wireless phone numbers. ''Our plan is to roll it out to all the major 411 providers in the country," said Greg Keene, Qsent's chief privacy officer. ''For those of us that really want to be reached . . . it'll be available." Directory assistance services are provided either by the phone companies themselves, or by independent firms like Infonxx Inc. of Bethlehem, Pa. When the Qsent database opens for business, these directory assistance providers will be able to connect to it and search for listed cellphone numbers. Cellphone users who don't want their numbers listed need not worry. This will be an ''opt-in" database. A user won't be listed unless he requests it, and can get delisted whenever he changes his mind. Numbers won't be printed in a phone book or sold to telemarketers. They will be available only by dialing directory assistance. Cingular, T-Mobile, Nextel, Alltel, and Sprint plan to participate in the system. But Verizon Wireless, the nation's largest cellphone carrier, with 47 million subscribers, wants no part of it. ... http://www.boston.com/business/personaltech/articles/2005/09/05/coming_for_cellphones_411/ Reply with a "Thank you" if you liked this post. _______________________________________________ MEDIANEWS mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
