BSNL do not disturb registration online

Are you annoyed with those unwanted calls and advertising SMS es from telemarketing companies? The SMS es flood our inbox and the calls are really disturbing during a busy day. Now, to tackle this problem, the TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) offers a unique solution called the DO NOT DISTURB (DND) registry. If a user does not wish to receive promotional offers via SMSes and calls from various companies, they can enroll their phone numbers on the DND registry with their service provider, like BSNL.

To activate DND on BSNL:

Type START 0 and send this as an SMS to 1909 (tollfree)

OR

Call 1909 (tollfree) and follow the IVR guidelines.
Performing the above-mentioned step will block all types of promotional communications and in case you wish to only block specific types of advertisements, here are some categories one can choose from.

START 1- Banking, Insurance, Financial products, and credit cards
START 2- Real Estate
START 3- Education
START 4- Health
START 5- Consumer goods and automobiles
START 6- Communication, Broadcasting, Entertainment and IT
START 7- Tourism and Leisure

For example, you wish to only opt out from tourism and leisure related promotional communications, sms START 7 to 1909. If you are calling to 1909, the IVR will guide you to the specific categories.

BSNL users can visit here for more information.

Here is the problem with DND registration in India. You cannot do them online by going to any cellular operator’s website or the TRAI website. You have to send two text messages or call the 1909 number. I am not saying that these steps do not work but it still keeps me bugging as to why no cellular operators even the private ones have DND registration procedures online. One of my friends suggested that it might have been done to avoid fraud in which someone else would enable or disable DND without the user’s consent.

Bsnl is one of the nastiest operators when it comes to promotional messages and calls. I have used BSNL in the past and received all those filthy messages. One little secret is that BSNL hires some outside companies for sending promotional stuff. You may ask how do I know this? Well, I did my summer training from BSNL Allahabad and their marketing manager told us this. He said that the company does this to generate a revenue of about 5 crore rupees annually. When we asked about the company's values, he said that the matter was taken up in a meeting with the GM, but it was decided to continue with the policy since it generated revenue for the already cash-strapped organization.