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Mon, 13 Jul 2009 118800 Mobile phone directory site fails, still down

Site was supposed to come live again on Saturday morning but failed

Rosemary Hattersley PC Advisor

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The 118 800 mobile phone directory service has broken down and is still not back online after several days without service.

A message currently reads "Service suspended whilst we make improvements."

"The 118 800 service for mobile phone connections is currently unavailable - from this website and by phone - whilst we undertake major developments to our 'Beta Service' to improve the experience for our customers. We'll be back as soon as possible with the new improved service."

The service aggregates UK mobile phone numbers and creates a searchable database of contact information.

The message continues. "All ex-directory requests made by people in our directory to date are being processed. There will be no need to resend these requests. And we will take further ex-directory requests when the service resumes. We will not be taking ex-directory requests by phone or text whilst the service is not operational."

The downtime means means that anyone who has visited the website to either register their number or have it excluded from the mobile phone database will be left in limbo waiting for a confirmation text message stating that their request has been processed.

Over the past few days emails have been circulating round British offices suggesting that anyone who doesn't want their mobile phone number to be included in a commercial database visit the website of the company setting up the directory and enter their mobile phone number.

However, some sources have suggested that the email itself is part of a campaign to get people to enter their mobile phone number at the site, thereby confirming the number is active.

According to details posted at www.118800.co.uk in the FAQ section under Privacy, you should be able to have your number delisted by prefacing your phone number with the letter 'E'. A text message will confirm that this has been done and your mobile number won't them to added to the claimed database of some 15 million numbers.

The 118 800 service will sell its database to businesses and marketeers that want to be able to contact potential customers. Consumers will be able to find friends and colleagues via the service by entering the person's name and location and by paying a fee of £1. The service will then connect them to the person, but will not divulge the mobile phone number.

The company that runs 118 800, Connectivity, says it will broker the call but will ask the person receiving the call if they are happy to accept the call.

Even so, many consumers are unhappy that their private mobile phone numbers will be traded in this manner - hence the apparent surge in traffic to the site to go ex-directory.

Conveniently, the Web site where you can opt out of the database is down for maintenance. PC Advisor's calls to Ofcom for comment on the service itself and the legitimacy of the emails stating that you can opt out in this manner have yet to bear fruit. Ofcom has so far said that it believes the matter may be out of its remit and has no comment given that the service has yet to launch.

The accompanying TV adverts for the service, which went live on 18 June, suggest that the service will be akin to that of the Yellow Pages or other directory services that provide business and residential phone numbers. However, privacy campaigners are concerned that it's actually an infringement of consumer's rights.

"You are supposed to have people's consent if you are going to pass their number around and they need to know where it is going to go," says Chris Watson, a lawyer at CMS Cameron McKenna, told the BBC Working Lunch programme.

For now, the best advice is probably to ensure your phone number doesn't appear on sites such as Facebook, not to allow the sharing by 'selected organisations' of your details and to switch your phone silent.

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Comments received


David said on Mon, 13 Jul 2009

Where do I go to opt out of this? Services like this should be illegal!

Dave said on Mon, 13 Jul 2009

You can't at the moment, thats partly the point.

Best to check tonight, once the website is offline select the ex directory option.

Tom said on Mon, 13 Jul 2009

I don't remember being told to put an 'E' in front of my phone number, when attempting to use the ex-directory option.

"According to details posted at www.118800.co.uk in the FAQ section under Privacy, you should be able to have your number delisted by prefacing your phone number with the letter 'E'. A text message will confirm that this has been done and your mobile number won't them to added to the claimed database of some 15 million numbers."

Tom said on Mon, 13 Jul 2009

Have all of the main mobile phone vendors been selling our numbers to this directory? Surely customers should have been notified first?

Joe said on Mon, 13 Jul 2009

Hello, Joe from 118800.co.uk here.

The website has been taken down for some essential maintenance work to be carried out, in order for us to improve the service we offer our customers. Any requests to opt out of the service before the site was taken down will still be carried out so there is no need to opt out again.

Just to reassure you that we’ll never actually give out anyone’s personal details. When you search on 118800.co.uk, we’ll send an SMS message to the person you’re looking for, giving them your contacts details and it is then up to you if you wish to call them back or not.

We are genuinely interested in getting peoples feedback so that we can shape the service to make sure people are comfortable with it and for the service to be as useful and reliable as possible.

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us on contact@118800.co.uk

Thanks,

Joe
118800.co.uk

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