Cell phone numbers aren't being released or made public to telemarketers. Period. It's a common hoax of annoying chain-letter mailers!
It might seem like an old-fashioned thing, but at one time, nearly everyone had a landline, and not a cell phone. In fact, it is only in the past 15 years or so that many people have become dependent on their cell phone, and have even gone so far as to stop having landlines altogether. This might be easier for most people, but it certainly makes it hard to get phone numbers. Remember in the old days, when all you had to do was hit 411 and ask for a listing in a city and state? 411 is a great tool to find out someone's landline number, but it does nothing for cell phones.
In the 1990s there was a push for a national cell phone directory. This was an idea that many cell phone carriers had due to the increase in the number of cell phones that were being used and the lack of a way to find out cell phone numbers. Alltel, AT&T Wireless, Cingular, Nextel, Sprint PCS and T-Mobile banded together to form a plan. They hired Qsent, Inc. to help them form a national cell phone directory. This would be a directory that would be an opt-in service for cell phone customers.
The plan was to give wireless customers the chance to be included in this 411-type service. They would be able to opt-in for the service, which would mean that they would have to sign up for the service. Once they had signed up, their phone number and name would be included in this national directory. However, if they asked to not be included, they would not be. Also, if they simply did nothing, they would not be added into the service. The cell phone carriers thought that this would be a good plan because it would allow people to find that phone number that they were looking for, and would ultimately make cell phones even more popular, as there would be no reason for a person to not have one.
There were several other important measures about the proposed National Cell Phone Directory. First of all, the phone numbers and information would not be published anywhere. There would not be a print copy of the directory for people to be able to have. This would prevent people from finding all of the cell phone numbers and then selling them or using them for telemarketing. Also, the directory would be only for the use of people looking for a specific cell phone number. The numbers would not be sold or given away to any businesses, or to any telemarketers. The opt-in service would also not cost any money for the people who wanted to participate in it.
The plan has not yet come to fruition. There are several reasons behind this. For one, an urban legend developed around the National Cell Phone Directory, claiming that it would be a way for telemarketers to get a hold of cell phone numbers and that everyone would have to then sign up for the No Call Directory. Also, the plans simple never materialized for this type of nation-wide service. Several states passed laws which would require anyone who wanted to make a directory to contact all of the people who were involved, which also slowed down the process.
