TPS (Telephone Preference Service)

The Telephone Preference Service is a list of numbers held by a company called DMA (Data & Marketing Association). This list is the UK’s only official ‘Do Not Call’ register for landline & mobile numbers. It allows people and businesses to opt out of unsolicited live sales and marketing calls. There are 2 lists within this service - The TPS and the CTPS (Corporate Telephone Preference Service). The CTPS is the same as the TPS but for business phone numbers. Organisations that call out trying to gain business via live calling potential customers are subject to having their calling number data screened by the TPS & CTPS list. A list can only be used for 28 days before it needs screening again. 

If a company ignores all the above rules, the following will happen.

All complaint information is reported to The Information Commissioner Office (ICO), which takes enforcement action against organisations making nuisance calls.

Our TPS service also takes into consideration the CTPS list. This is a vital tool for anyone cold calling or making unsolicited calls. There are two ways you can have the service enabled on the platform. Firstly, company-wide service enables you to switch any number of telephones on/off within a customers estate of handsets at a fixed monthly price. The other way is to switch it on for
individual handsets only. This is a great option if you have just a couple of handsets you would like the service enabled on but should you grow to more than 6 handsets requiring the service, then the company-wide service (which is exactly the same) is a better-priced option.
Let’s take a look at how and what the service can do for your customers to keep them on the right side of the law.

We have seen a partner get hit with big fines so we know not taking action is very much liable to prosecution with huge cost consequences.

TPS number lookup

The services can be found on the left-hand side of the portal menu bar under Features > TPS at the bottom of the page.
Click here and you will see this window.

Before you enable the service, you can test it by entering a number here and pressing search. Our lists are updated daily, so you will never be outdated like a TPS list cleaner. We check, clear, and watch every call you make to ensure that you are protected.   It will tell you if the number is on the TPS list.

Enabling the service (Reseller Only)
You can enable the TPS service on a per user basis or for the customer’s whole account. Then enable on the telephone users you want to have it. This is cheaper is you want more than 5 users to have the TPS service (Note: You need to action this for your customer).
To activate this for the entire customer account, go to Commerce > Customers and click on the customers account name (do not switch into the account). Under Customer Settings, you will find ‘TPS’. Change on the drop down menu to Customer, then save. The whole customer account is now protected by TPS.

You will then be charged per the price list provided for the customer account. There is a one-off charge and a monthly charge. You can then add as many or a few telephone users to use the service as you wish, plus add more or remove as and when you need them.   To activate this on a per-user basis, you would use the same method as above, but select Extension from the drop-down menu and save. Now, when you activate a telephone user, you will be charged for each user you have. This is a perfect choice if you just want a couple of telephone users only to have the service.

Once the service is enabled on the customer's account, you can go into each telephone line and enable the TPS service. It can be found under line settings below class of service and use blacklist.

Depending on the service you have enabled (company wide or single user) and if you have inserted charges in the the rate plan, you may get a pop up message informing you of the charges for the customer. Please see our price list for our per telephone and per customer based charge   Click OK and the service is now enabled

 

Now, when you make a call to a barred TPS number it will play the following message and NOT connect the call.

‘You are not allowed to dial this number because it is part of the TPS list.’