And from today, mobile users can register for free by texting “TPS” and their email address to 78070.
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So it brings us great pleasure to pass on the news that, according to Sky News, it is now even easier to get your number listed with the Telephone Preference Service.
And that’s it. You should get a SMS reply from the TPS, which confirms that your number has been added into their database.
TPS hopes that the text-to-register service will see a reduction in this kind of cold calling and customers should notice a difference in the frequency of these unwanted calls within a few days of opting out (calls only – this does not yet extend to unwanted texts). The quickest way to do it is to block numbers directly on your handset, but if companies use hundreds of different numbers to constantly call people, blicking numbers manually won’t save you from such calls, at least temporarily.
Unfortunately, because text messages are defined as “electronic mail” in the eyes of the law, signing up for the TPS (which only governs domestic phone calls) will not save you from the constant barrage of spam texts-and sadly, there’s no TPS equivalent for texts and e-mails.
‘Rogue callers operate illegally and against the interests of ordinary people, ‘ said John Mitchison, head of the TPS.
Numbers will then be put on a “no-call” list so that they won’t be contacted by businesses reported to the TPS as dodgy. While 18.5 million landlines in the United Kingdom (about 85 percent) are on the TPS, only 2.9 million mobile numbers (2.9 percent) have registered.
Ofcom research found that only 48 per cent of people familiar with the TPS were aware that mobile numbers can be registered compared with 88 per cent for landline numbers.
Be careful who you give your contact details to, whether it’s online, on the phone, or in person.
But if you are registered with TPS and you receive a call you have not consented to, the Information Commissioner’s Office can take enforcement action against the company involved.
At the end of April the regulator had 122 cases of nuisance calls or messages under investigation.
ICO has been clamping down on companies making live telesales calls, automated marketing messages and also spam text messages.
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These are not covered by the service, but they can be reported to a mobile network operator by forwarding the text to 7726.
