Wireless Carriers Try to Get the 411
Reception to Cell-Phone Directory May Be Spotty
By Griff Witte
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, October 7, 2003; Page E01
411. Online directories. The plain old phone book.
There are lots of ways to find out someone's number if that person's phone happens to be tied to a traditional land line. But if you need to reach someone on a cell phone and you've misplaced the digits, you're out of luck.
Starting next year, that may change.
In an initiative that is testing the balance between convenience and privacy, the nation's major wireless carriers are teaming up to put together a directory of wireless phone numbers that would allow customers to call 411 and connect to mobile phones, not just phones that plug into a wall.
For the carriers, it's a chance to make people more comfortable "cutting the cord" -- using wireless phones as their primary phones, content in the knowledge that people who need to reach them can. It's also an opportunity for the cellular companies to tap into what could be a multibillion-dollar listing business.
But at the same time, the carriers risk alienating their customers, many of whom worry that a central database of cell-phone numbers has the potential to spoil their one oasis from spam, junk mail and telemarketers.
"It's the last bastion of privacy, the cell phone," said Frank Kenney, a 57-year-old D.C. resident who uses his wireless phone only for emergencies and would like to keep it that way. Kenney said he fears that a database would allow people he doesn't know to bother him on his cell phone. "I'd resent that, just like I resent it with the regular phones," he said.
Kenney is not the only one who's concerned. Several members of Congress have recently raised questions about exactly how consumers would be protected if a wireless directory assistance program were initiated. "I don't want my phone number put on a list somewhere for the world to see," said Rep. Joseph R. Pitts (R-Pa.), who is gathering support for hearings on the matter. "Privacy of cell phones is extremely important."
The trade group spearheading the effort, the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association, maintains that no directory assistance program will be launched without multiple safeguards to ensure that the nation's 150 million wireless customers aren't deluged with unwanted calls.
"The industry has been protective of consumers' privacy. And we do that because it's good for business," said Travis Larson, spokesman for the CTIA. "If customers get calls they don't want, they'll probably turn off their phones."
In a letter to Pitts and four other members of Congress in August, CTIA president and chief executive Thomas E. Wheeler wrote that concerns that telemarketers will abuse the wireless-number database are "groundless."
"The privacy and integrity of the master database is of great importance to wireless carriers," he wrote.
It's not hard to understand why. A cell phone that's plagued by unwanted calls isn't a product that consumers are likely to keep.
"If you started to have unsolicited commercial calls on cell phones, that disruption would be even more of a constant problem than on your land line because it's always with you," said Susan Grant, vice president for public policy at the National Consumers League.
In addition, with cell phones, the recipient of a call shares the burden of paying along with the caller, she said.
To be sure the wireless 411 program doesn't backfire, the carriers are contemplating a variety of mechanisms to keep customers in control of who can reach them. For instance, instead of giving out numbers, operators might instead connect the call directly. Another way to protect customers might be to send them a text message when someone is trying to contact them through directory assistance, at which point they could decide whether to accept the call, reject it or send it to voice mail.
Finally, customers will be given the option to not be listed in the database. The carriers are still deciding if they should assume customers want to be part of the database unless they indicate otherwise or if customers should have to actively volunteer to be listed.
In the former case, customers might find themselves on the list without knowing they've consented. In the latter, not enough might sign up to make the service useful.
Another unresolved issue is whether customers who choose to remain unlisted will have to pay to do so, as is the case with land-line phones. Larson said that decision will be left up to the individual carriers.
Wireless directory assistance should be available next year, Larson said. Before that can happen, however, all the major carriers have to agree on how the service will work, which hasn't been easy given the competition in the industry. "There has been some significant friction and dissension," said Kathleen Pierz, an analyst with the Pierz Group, a research and consulting firm that specializes in directory assistance.
But she said wireless 411 could be a windfall for all the carriers, if they do it right. A survey conducted by the San Francisco-based Zelos Group Inc. consulting firm showed that allowing customers to access cell-phone numbers through 411 could bring the wireless industry $3 billion a year through user fees and the additional minutes that callers would spend on the network.
That's true despite the fact that consumer interest in the service is tepid at best. For a separate report, Zelos surveyed more than 1,200 mobile phone users, and approximately half said keeping their numbers unlisted was their top choice. Fewer than 10 percent said they wanted to see their cell numbers listed in the same way as their business or residential numbers. A larger percentage approved of listing if they could control who had access to the numbers.
The survey showed one major bright spot for the industry: "If you do this right, there's high interest among younger users," said Mark Plakias, a Zelos Group senior analyst.
Juanita Cooksey, 18, of Woodbridge is a case in point. She welcomes wireless 411 and would use it to get in touch with friends when she knows their home numbers but not their mobile numbers. "We need that," she said.
Cooksey said the extra convenience the service would bring outweighs any irritation from getting an unwanted call every now and then: "If it's somebody I don't know, I'd just say, 'You've got the wrong number.' "
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