Reaching out to cell phone only users

[rinsd]

This came up in another thread so I went digging around.

"Whether on a landline or cellphone, people tend to screen messages and rely on caller ID numbers when deciding whether to answer the phone. Compounding the problem for surveyors is the growth of cellphone-only users, who are even harder to reach and more reluctant to take calls from unknown numbers because of the cost.

About 11.8% of adults live in households that use only cellphones, according to a recent government estimate — up from 3.5% at the end of 2003, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, which also supplied the lifestyle data on the group.

These people are generally very different from those who have landline phones, said Scott Keeter, director of survey research for the Pew Research Center.

"They're younger, they are more likely to be racial or ethnic minorities, less likely to be married, less likely to be homeowners — and all those things are associated with different political or social attitudes," Keeter said."

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-survey23jul23,1,4786480.story?coll=la-headlines-california&ctrack=2&cset=true

[TechBear_Seattle]

1. What I want on my cell phone service....

Is a "No accept" list. Numbers on this list (including "Information unavailable" and "Caller ID blocked" calls) would be rejected at the provider level; my phone would never ring, text messages from these numbers would never be delivered. The caller would get a message (voice or text) saying that the number had been blocked.

No more stolen minutes retrieving messages. No more wasted time being distracted from calls I want to reject.

[nascar55]

2. Hmmmm

I'm Married, owen my home and am well over 40 and not a "racial or ethnic minorities. . .". I do not have a land line. I only use cell phones. I will not let AT@T in my home.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

3. Me too

have not had a "landline" for over 3 years now

[NYVet]

5. Land line?? Aren't those the..

invisible lines of psychic power that cross the globe and converge on places like Stonehenge??

[damntexdem]

7. No, not Stonehenge. Just like electronic lines, landlines converge at ...

NSA headquarters. ;-)

[rinsd]

4. The exception does not prove the rule (nt)

[welshTerrier2]

6. i block landline calls with this free software

if I don't know you or you don't provide a callerID, you don't get through to me on the phone.

A software product called PhoneTray let's you set "rules" that determine which calls get through and which ones don't. it works great and it's free.

here's a download link: http://www.freedownloadscenter.com/Business/Misc__Phone_Tools/PhoneTray_Free.html or
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Internet/Telephony-SMS-GSM/PhoneTray-Free.shtml