How to avoid telemarketers through the 'Do Not Call' registry

Now you can avoid all those pesky telemarketers.

Through the “Do Not Call” Registry, getting your number off the list of people marketing folks can contact can be done through any of three simple steps.

You can register online at www.dnc.gov.sg, you can send the text message "DNC" to 78772, or you can call 1800 248 0772.

Those are the numbers to use if you don't want to be contacted in any way: call, text or other form.

Let's say you only want to unsubscribe from calls, however, then use the other numbers provided by the registry.

You can find the list and more detailed registration instructions here.

According to the Personal Data Protection Commission (PDPC), you should expect to stop receiving unsolicited telemarketing messages through your registered telephone number 30 days after registration (if you register on or after 2 July 2014) and up to 60 days after registration (if you register before 2 July 2014).

The DNC Registry has registered more than 67,000 unique numbers as of 6pm on its launch day on Monday, said a spokesperson from the PDPC said.
 
Highly anticipated by many consumers who do not wish to receive telemarketing messages via phone, short messaging service (SMS) or fax, the registry was set up by the PDPC for consumers who would like their telephone numbers to be blocked from such communication. They can register for free online, or via phone or SMS.
 
The spokesperson also said that 16 local organisations have created accounts with the DNC registry to ensure that the Singapore telephone numbers that they are sending telemarketing messages to are not listed in the Registry.
 
The registry's  debut, however, was partly marred by network issues experienced by M1 customers, who faced technical issues from Monday morning.  Many of these customers could not access the Internet via their mobile data plans.
 
An announcement on the DNC registry website said, “M1 network maybe experiencing problems relating to sending of SMS of One-Time Passwords since 9am this morning. Please note that you may experience delays in receiving One-Time-Passwords if you are on M1 network. M1 users may want to register by calling our toll free numbers.” One-Time Passwords are used as part of the DNC registration.
 
3G data issue rectified: M1
 
At about 10:30am, M1 posted on their Facebook page saying, “Some of our customers are experiencing intermittent access issues with mobile data. We are addressing the issue and apologise for the inconvenience.”
 
Another post published three hours later said, “Our engineers are working hard to resolve the issue now and we will update you when we have additional information.”
 
It was not until about 3:30pm that the issue was finally “recitified”, according to another post on M1’s Facebook page which said, “We have rectified the issue that caused some of our customers to experience intermittent mobile data access, and we apologise for the inconvenience.”
 
In a statement to Yahoo Singapore, M1 said, “At about 8:00am on Monday morning, following a scheduled network upgrade the previous night, some customers began experiencing intermittent 3G data access issues. Customer access to voice calls, text messaging and 4G data were not affected. Our preliminary findings point to a software bug that prevented some customers from connecting to our mobile data network, and our engineers successfully resolved the issue by 2:00pm.”
 
At the same time, another announcement was posted on the DNC Registry site saying, “M1 reported that they have resolved the network problem and One-Time-Password sent through SMS has resumed to normal. However, should M1 user continue to face delays in receiving One-Time-Password through SMS, please register by calling the toll free numbers.”
 
Customers were still complaining about the lack of network and access to the Internet via their phones, based on comments on M1's Facebook page.
 
According to PDPC, "There is sufficient time for consumers to register their Singapore phone numbers before the DNC Registry kicks in on 2 January 2014, and they can continue to do so thereafter."