Melbourne White Pages Phone Directory
Reginald Hanfy
A telephone directory, commonly called a telephone book, telephone address book, phonebook, or the white and yellow pages, is a listing of telephone subscribers in a geographical area or subscribers to services provided by the organization that publishes the directory. Its purpose is to allow the telephone number of a subscriber identified by name and address to be found.
The advent of the Internet, search engines, and smartphones in the 21st century greatly reduced the need for a paper phone book.[1][2] Some communities, such as Seattle and San Francisco, sought to ban their unsolicited distribution as wasteful, unwanted and harmful to the environment.[3][4]
Subscriber names are generally listed in alphabetical order, together with their postal or street address and telephone number. In principle every subscriber in the geographical coverage area is listed, but subscribers may request the exclusion of their number from the directory, often for a fee; their number is then said to be "unlisted" (US and Canada), "ex-directory" (British English), or "private" (Australia and New Zealand).[5]
A telephone directory may also provide instructions: how to use the telephone service, how to dial a particular number, be it local or international, what numbers to access important and emergency services, utilities, hospitals, doctors, and organizations who can provide support in times of crisis. It may also have civil defense, emergency management, or first aid information. There may be transit maps, postal code/zip code guides, international dialing codes or stadium seating charts, as well as advertising.
In the US, under current rules and practices, mobile phone and voice over IP listings are not included in telephone directories. Efforts to create cellular directories have met stiff opposition from several fronts, including those who seek to avoid telemarketers.[citation needed]
Telephone directories can be published in hard copy or in electronic form. In the latter case, the directory can be on physical media such as CD-ROM,[6] or using an online service through proprietary terminals or over the Internet.[7][8]
Selectphone (ProCD) Inc.)[9] and PhoneDisc (Digital Directory Assistance Inc) were among the earliest such products. These were not a matter of a single click: PhoneDisc, depending on the mix of Residential, Business or both, involved up to eight CD-ROMs.[7] SelectPhone is fewer CD-ROMs: five.[9]
The first telephone directory, consisting of a single piece of cardboard, was issued on 21 February 1878; it listed 50 individuals, businesses, and other offices in New Haven, Connecticut that had telephones.[12] The directory was not alphabetized and no numbers were included with the people listed in it.[13] In 1879, Dr. Moses Greeley Parker suggested the format of the telephone directory be changed so that subscribers appeared in alphabetical order and each telephone be identified with a number. Parker came to this idea out of fear that Lowell, Massachusetts's four operators would contract measles and be unable to connect telephone subscribers to one another.[13]
The first British telephone directory was published on 15 January 1880 by The Telephone Company. It contained 248 names and addresses of individuals and businesses in London; telephone numbers were not used at the time as subscribers were asked for by name at the exchange.[14] The directory is preserved as part of the British phone book collection by BT Archives.
In 1938, AT&T commissioned the creation of a new typeface, known as Bell Gothic, the purpose of which was to be readable at very small font sizes when printed on newsprint where small imperfections were common.[citation needed]
In 1991, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled (in Feist v. Rural) that telephone companies do not have a copyright on telephone listings, because copyright protects creativity and not the mere labor of collecting existing information.[17]
In late July 1995 Kapitol launched the Infobel.be website. [18] [19] Infobel was then the first telephone directory website launched on the then-nascent Internet . In 1996, in the US the first telephone directories went online. Yellowpages.com and Whitepages.com both saw their start in April.[20] In 1999, the first online telephone directories and people-finding sites such as LookupUK.com went online in the UK. In 2003, more advanced UK searching including Electoral Roll became available on LocateFirst.com.
In the 21st century, printed telephone directories are increasingly criticized as waste. In 2012, after some North American cities passed laws banning the distribution of telephone books, an industry group sued and obtained a court ruling permitting the distribution to continue.[3] In 2010, manufacture and distribution of telephone directories produced over 1,400,000 metric tons of greenhouse gases and consumed over 600,000 tons of paper annually.[21]
When i setup my ADSL and homePhone with telstra i told them i wanted a silent number and i didn't want my number listed...
But when i go to WhitePages i can see my number listed.
Can i get this removed??
Thanks
If you applied for and paid for an unlisted number in advance and they went ahead listed it, then they are in clear breach of the contract, in which case you should demand another number that is not listed.
If they are indeed charging an "unlisted number fee" on each bill for something that can be put in place free of charge by a simple request, then that's a major scandal right there and something that the ACCC and media would be very interested in knowing.
You can have a Silent Number, which removes it from the White Pages, as well as automatically hiding the number when making calls etc, for $3 a month. Number can be unhidden with the prefix 1832 on the dialled number.
You can have a Unlisted Number, which removes it from the White Pages, but still shows the number as visible when making calls etc, which is free. Number can be hidden with the prefix 1831 on the dialled number however.
I run a business from home and my number is not in the white pages and it doesnt show when i ring someone, i have done this to stop other business's ringing and trying to harass me to buy things or services from them.
You can request that your name, home telephone number and address are not listed in the White Pages directory or available from directory assistance services. A monthly fee applies. If you have a Silent Line, we will activate CLI Blocking (per call send) for your service at no additional charge.
You can request that your name, phone number and suburb/town be made available in the White Pages directory and other directory services, but not your street name and unit/house number. This may be a suitable alternative to a Silent Line. A monthly fee applies. You can choose to have CLI Blocking implemented at no additional cost.
When you make a call, the telephone number of the service you are calling from may be shown on the phone of the person you are calling, unless you use CLI Blocking. You can block the presentation of your number either on a call by call basis (per call block) or for all calls from your service (per call send).
If your line is defaulted to present your CLID and you dial the CLID blocking code (1831 + 127220), the message that you get will STILL indicate that "Your number will be presented to people you call".
There is also a remove listing option. This still presents your number when you call but removes it from the whitepages (takes about 48hrs).
There is no charge for this option. There is a charge for the silient number option though.
I came here looking for more info on this. Recently I began using the 3 mobile broadband usb which includes a sim and a moible number attached to it. For some reason the mobile number is now listed in the whitepages as my home number. Will have to find out more on Monday.
Edit>
Called 3 and now it's fixed
I used the Telstra online chat to sign up for a new home phone. Asked for a no 'white pages listing' and the consultant had NFI about this option and invited me to called up the call centre. He flat out says pay for a silent number or get listed!!
When you sign up for a new number, ask for an Unlisted Entry to be recorded in the IPND for your service. If you merely want to suppress your address, ask for a Suppressed Address entry. Also, get your CSP to write you a letter confirming that this has been done.
As Sensis purport not to use the IPND, if your details did appear then you could argue that there has been an unlawful disclosure of your details, particularly if you specifically requested an Unlisted Entry and had it in writing.
When I phoned Telstra to have my number removed, I got through to a foreigner who tried to sell me a Silent Number Service at just under $3 a month. This is not necessary. After requesting to speak to the manager on this ridiculous monthly fee, I got hold of an English speaking representative who efficiently removed my number from the white pages at no cost. The silent number service is when you call any number and it does not display. This is what you pay for on a monthly basis. Just removing your number from the white pages is free. Phone 132200 and request "Home Phone Disconnection". This removes your listed number and does not disconnect your home phone. You also then need to call the "Unwelcome Call Register" on 1800805996 and have your number registered so that you don't receive any marketing calls in future. See -calls/
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