WASHINGTON — Whenever call waiting beeped on Peg Keeley's phone, she knew it was another sales pitch.
Keeley, 64, said the calls from telemarketers got so bad she had to disconnect call waiting just to have an uninterrupted phone conversation.
"I didn't know how to do away with them," she said.
The retired government worker from Springfield, Ill., gets as many as four telemarketing calls a day. She said things have gotten better without call waiting because "if I'm on the phone at least they can't get through to me."
Inspired by many similar tales of aggravation, the Federal Trade Commission said Tuesday it wants to create a national "do not call" registry, strengthening existing telemarketing rules that forbid late-night calls and deceptive sales tactics.
Current rules require specific telemarketers to obey when consumers ask to be put on a "do not call" list.
The new proposal would let consumers call one toll-free number to stop most telemarketing calls made from outside a consumer's state, said Howard Beales, the FTC's director of consumer protection. Consumers could choose to allow calls from certain companies or charities.
Telemarketers would have to update their no-call lists monthly from the national list, which would cost the agency between $4 million and $6 million in the first year. Telemarketers who call people on the list could be fined up to $11,000 for each violation.
The FTC plans public hearings in June on the registry and other proposed telemarketing regulations, such as preventing telemarketers from hiding their identities from consumers' caller ID boxes. Agency commissioners could vote on the changes as soon as a year from now.
Telemarketers say a national registry isn't needed.
H. Robert Wientzen, president of the Direct Marketing Association, said people who do not want to be called can request that their names be added to his group's list, which has 4.1 million names. He said many telemarketers, including those calling from within states, participate in the service and abide by the list.
"The government may be overstepping its boundaries by spending taxpayer dollars to limit communication," Wientzen said. He said the proposed rules would hurt the industry, driving companies out of the country to avoid the regulations.
Beales said the national registry would apply to companies that aren't part of the association.
More than 25 states already have legislation requiring "do not call" lists, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. The FTC would work with them to ensure the national list and local lists work together, Beales said.
Getting off telemarketer lists hasn't been easy for Alanna Dunn, 39, who receives up to four calls a day at her home in Ceres, Calif. — sales pitches pushing everything from cell phones to investments in Texas oil wells. One group selling construction materials wouldn't take no for an answer.
"When I asked, 'Can you please take my name off your mailing and calling list?' they said, 'Sure, your name will be put on a list, but you'll be called every 10 minutes,' " Dunn said. Abusive and harassing calls followed, and Dunn had to file a police report and have the phone calls traced.
"For the most part, people are very, very kind, but a lot of them are wise," she said. "When you start to say, 'Please take me off your . . . ,' you get it half out and they hang up."