But a KIRO viewer contacted our Consumer Investigators with disturbing news about unwanted calls on her cell phone.

Jane Ulness of Edmonds is retired now, but she still works part-time at the Edmonds Antique Mall to earn a little extra money. She's careful with her income, to the point that while she owns a cell phone, she doesn't use it much.

“I don’t use my cell phone to talk. I have a hard line. I use my cell phone for emergency purposes,” said Ulness.

MORE INFORMATIONDo Not Call RegistryCells Phones & The Do Not Call RegistryFile Complaint With FTC 1-877-FTC-HELP(1-877-382-4357)

So she became angry when a strange number kept appearing on her cell phone's caller I.D. -- a number she later traced to a telemarketing company offering vacation packages.

“It ticked me off, because I don’t want my cell phone used for – I only have a minimum amount of minutes – and I don’t want them used for telemarketers,” said Ulness.

It was just such complaints as this that lead the federal government to establish the national ‘Do Not Call’ registry. By the millions, Americans signed up their home land line phones to the registry, which bars calls from most telemarketers. The exceptions are calls from politicians, charity groups and companies similar to the ones you do business with.

Because cell phones are different from landlines--for instance, you normally have to pay a portion of any call you receive, wanted or not--the federal government has automatically banned most telemarketing calls from cell phones, a policy Jane Ulness agrees with.

“Why should people have to pay extra money for minutes, on calls that are not wanted by them?” said Ulness.

Most telemarketing calls to cell phones are blocked, but not all. The government bans automated telemarketing calls--the vast majority--but not individual calls from real people who are able to get your cell number.

Still, because of all the restrictions, you should not be seeing a flood of telemarketing calls to your cell phone, but if you do, they'll show up on your caller I.D. and you should report them to the Federal Trade Commission.