(2/22/99)

Telemarketers. They're the door-to-door salesmen of the '90's. But instead of knocking on doors, they gain access to our homes by calling on the telephone.

We all receive sales calls, sometimes at a bad time, and sometimes offering something in which we're not all that interested.

But now, there's a new way to avoid such calls. News Specialist Pamela Davis explains.

It's called "No Solicitation" and it promises to reject sales calls before they reach you at home.

Have you ever wished you could stop telemarketer phone calls? U.S. West says most people get anywhere from two and seven of these sales calls every week.

According to Benny Benedict, "They're annoying."
Jim Wiggins says, "I despise them. I hate them. I don't care for them at all."
Mandi Evans agrees, "I hate 'em. Absolutely hate 'em.

If you share these kinds of feelings, here's some great news. You can now buy a new service called No Solicitation.

Here's how it works:
A telemarketer dials your phone number, but your phone does not ring. Instead, the caller hears a recording that says, "You have reached a number that does not accept solicitations. If you are a solicitor, please add this number to your do not call list, and hang up now."

According to U.S. West officials, this service should weed out unwanted telemarketer calls.

Michael Frandsen of U.S. West says, "If telemarketers get the message that the customer that they're calling doesn't want to receive calls from telemarketers, they're supposed to hang up. They're not supposed to pursue it."

Some people say the most persistent sales calls they get are from the phone companies themselves. They all want you to switch long distance plans. Will this new service stop even the phone companies from calling us?

Fransden insists, "It'll stop em." Even you guys? "Even us," he says.

The new service is more expensive than other popular add-ons.

• Call waiting costs $3.95 a month.
• Caller-ID costs $5.95 a month.
• No Solicitation costs $6.95 per month.

www.uswest.com