When we lived in the U.S., I registered both our cell numbers and our home phone number with the Federal Trade Commission’s National Do Not Call Registry. Although it wasn’t a foolproof system to avoid unwanted telemarketers from annoying us at all hours, it definitely cut down on the number of calls we received.
Now that we live in Mexico full time, and have for the past three years, we no longer have U.S. based phone numbers. We switched shortly after moving because the Mexico based cellphone plans were much cheaper.
It wasn’t long after we got our new numbers that we started getting calls from telemarketers — the only difference this time was that their sales pitches were all in Spanish.
Fortunately, Mexico has a law very similar to that of the United States that allows people to add their Mexican phone number(s) to a national do-not-call registry called Registro Público para Evitar Publicidad (REPEP).
They even have an online portal so you can do it yourself in less than a minute.
Registering Your Number Online
IMPORTANT: You can only register Mexican phone numbers.
Step #1
Go to the official website: https://repep.profeco.gob.mx/index.jsp
Step #2
- Click on the first option “registra tu número”
Step #3
- Enter your area code where it says “lada”
- Enter the remaining 7 digits where it says “teléfono”
- Enter the area code and the number with no spaces or dashes where it says “confirmación del número…”
- Under “sectores”, choose the type of calls to avoid. For all of them, check “todos”
- Hit the button that says “Registrar” and you’re all done.
Step #4 (Optional)
If you want to confirm that the information is in the registry, go back to Step #2 above and click on “consulta tu registro”. Enter your phone number and you’ll be able to see if it’s in the system.
Let’s Wrap This Up
Unless you’re a bored retiree who enjoys talking to strangers while working on his or her Spanish skills at the same time, I recommend adding all of your Mexican phone numbers to the registry.
We used to get several solicitation calls a week before we added our numbers and now we don’t get any.
I´ve had the same phone number for 6 yrs. I have never received a call from a telemarketer, but I get texts from UNOTV or something like that at least 2x a day. And no one knows how to get rid of it…do you?
No, I haven’t seen that.
Linda, send a text to 2222 and in the text type baja and send it. You will get a cancellation notice.
You didn’t even receive any of those annoying political calls during the last election? You must really be off the grid…lol.
This is telling me my number is not valid. It is valid, I use it all the time. And get sales calls all the time. Doesn’t work for me, I guess.
Did you separate it out (3 digit area code in LADA) and only the 7 digit phone number under teléfono? No spaces or dashes.
Mil gracias!
And to LindaRose above, I had the same problem with UNOYV texts. I then saw on the internet how to get rid of them. It was an odd text that you responded back to UNOTV and it took two or three times to get rid of them but it did work. Unfortunately I don’t remember what I texted!!!! Sorry, maybe someone else out there can tell you.
I found it:
Send a message to 2222 and type the message BAJA then send. Worked for me.
To get rid of UNOTV texts.
Thanks for sharing that.
Thanks for the info, I just registered my cell phone and my husband is doing it too.
You’re welcome 🙂
Thanks Paul
All done and supper easy.
You’re welcome. 🙂
Thanks! Very informative and easy to follow. Thanks to the person responding about UNOTV too!
Thank you!!! I was just thinking about the no call list we had at home. Your article came out just at the right time. We have been here since last October so we are getting lots of those calls and they talk fast! Thank you again.
You’re welcome 🙂
Thanks so much for sharing how to register on the do not call list! Super easy. Much easier than the States. Hope it works.
Thanks
It works out well for myself.Thank you
It said my number didn’t exist
Thanks so much! You took all the hard work out of getting rid of those annoying and puzzling calls. I can only say, “No habla español” so many ways.
HI Paul, Galen and I will be moving to Mexico in January 2019. Will we need to get different phone numbers.
How does that effect family and friends calling from the us?
They will only be able to call you for free if they have a phone plan that includes Mexico, like AT&T does. We work around it by calling each other via a free app called Whatsapp (a must-have if you live in Mexico) or they text us on Whatsapp and we call them from our phone. Our plan has unlimited calls and texts to all of North America.
MUCHAS GRACIAS Paul!
Thank you so so much and always so well explained!
I had the same problem as Ann & Roberta. “El número 0000000000 no es correcto”
It’s a Guadalajara number, Movistar chip, works fine since June 2017! Anyone know what could be up with this?
I just tried to register my Mexican cell number as you instructed. It wouldn’t let me put the full number in. Like I could type in ********. But not the whole number which is *********? What is the problem?
Hi Greta,
I omitted your number from the published version of your message for obvious reasons but I checked and the number is in the system now. You can check under the button that says “consulta tu registro”.
Thank you!