In England at least you could opt out for free on landlines in the 90s. When mobile phones started up (back in the ten digit days) you could call a cellular pr

In England at least you could opt out for free on landlines in the 90s. When mobile phones started up (back in the ten digit days) you could call a cellular provider and query a number if you had a name. The STD (yes, yes, laugh at the STI joke) prefix used to signal the network the user was on so you could ask Orange for "John Smith" if the number started 0973. This was also free to opt out of.