How to check if your number is registered for DND

DND or Do Not Disturb or also called as Do not Call is a special regulation initiated by TRAI where an individual can register their number (both Mobile and Landline) to avoid calls from telemarketer which many of us find irritating and of no interest. TRAI has an official site, National Do Not Call Registry or Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Portal. Here you can check if your phone number is registered for DND.

The Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Portal is a database containing a variety of information prescribed in The Telecom Commercial Communications Customer Preference Regulations, 2010

How to check if your phone number is registered for DND?

• Visit the DND or Customer Preference Portal
• Type on your mobile number or landline number
• Click on Search
• The result will display the history of DND.

As you can see in the image, that I had activated the DND service in 2010, then 2011, deactivated DND on 2012 and then activated it again. The details include status, exact date, operator name, current status, last De-Activation date, and service area.

It is interesting to note that I had lost DND status when I switched from Vodafone to Jio. It explains why I had been getting from Telemarketers.

How to Register your number for DND?

If you would like to register/de-register their request for NDNC registry Dial 1909 or SMS to 1909 with keywords ‘START 0’ for registration.

According to TRAI, there are two categories of blocking.

• Fully Blocked Category- Stoppage of all commercial Calls/SMS
• Partially Blocked Category- Stoppage of all commercial Calls/SMS except SMS from one of the opted preferences

For registering option using SMS, for ‘fully blocked category’, write “START 0” and send it to 1909. For ‘partially blocked category’, send SMS ‘START’ with one or multiple options from the list of seven categories. There are at present seven preferences to choose from:

• Banking/Insurance/Financial Products/Credit Cards-1
• Real Estate-2
• Education-3
• Health-4
• Consumer goods and automobiles-5
• Communication/Broadcasting/Entertainment/IT-6
• Tourism-7

If you like to receive messages related to health products, then send SMS “START 4” to 1909. Similarly, for receiving messages relating to Real Estate and Education, send SMS “START 2,3” to 1909.

On successful registration, you will receive an SMS confirming exercised options and a Unique Registration Number within 24 hrs. The registration will be effective within 7 days of placing the request with the service provider. You can check the status from the page we listed above. You can also change the preferences after 7 days of registration or the last change of preference.

Even if someone is not registered with NCPR or DND can also identify the commercial calls. They will all come from numbers starting with ‘140’. This is a series specially earmarked for telemarketers. They can make calls only between 9 AM and 9 PM.

What action you can take if you receive a telemarketer call when in DND?

if you receive telemarketer calls or SMS even after 7 days of registration, you can register a complaint with his service provider within 3 days of receipt of such UCC:

By dialling 1909

Customers will have to provide

• Telephone number or header of the message from where the call or message has been received
• Short description of such call or message along with the date of receipt of call or message.

By Sending SMS to 1909

For complaint through SMS, the customer has to send SMS “the unsolicited commercial communication, XYZXYZXYZ, dd/mm/yy” to 1909. Where

• XYZXYZXYZ – is the telephone number or header of the SMS, from which the UCC has originated.
• The telephone number or header
• and the date of receipt of the unsolicited commercial SMS may be appended with such SMS

What happens after you make a complaint?

Service Provider will take action on complaint and inform the complainant within 7 days of lodging of the complaint. Customers may check the registration status of his complaint through the link “UCC Complaint Registration Status“.