Fred Ennis <fred@aficom.ocunix.on.ca> (05/12/91)
I'd like to put forward an idea that has been percolating in my mind for some time. Many of us object to outbound residential telemarketing, especially ADADs, carpet cleaners, subscription salespeople, etc. Here's the idea. For a nominal monthly fee, your dial tone company would disable telemarketing calls from accessing your line. How? By selling the telemarketers special lines. Any firm engaging in outbound residential telemarketing where there has been no recent previous contact with the customer (this gets around the dentist telling you it's time for your checkup or the chimney cleaner you hired two years ago telling you it's time to clean again), would be forced by the telco tarriff to use these special CO lines for all such calls. The telco would then deny access from those lines to everyone who signed up for their "telemarketing exclusion" deal. Winners: People willing to pay a buck or two a month to ensure they're not interrupted by sales pitches. Telemarketers who won't waste time with people who will be ticked off at them. The telco because it makes money from both sides. Although costs would go up slightly for everyone, I think the social benefits are worth it. Now, I'd like some feedback from the participants in the newsgroup. Is it workable? Is there are telco marketing type around here who either likes the idea or can shoot it full of holes? I am assuming we have the technology, at least in any CO that can offer CLID and other such features. Cheers! Fred Ennis Internet: fred@aficom.ocunix.on.ca UUCP: aficom!fred AFI Communications, P.O.Box 11087 Station H, Nepean ON K2H 7T8