Often you don’t even know if your own number is in the phone book. And if so, how to delete the entry there. TECHBOOK explains how it works.
The Deutsche Bundespost used to have a mouse-grey telephone with a rotary dial. Shortly after the introduction of color television in the early 1970s, color also came into play at the Post Office. Suddenly there were telephones in fern green, bright reddish orange, salmon red and ocher yellow. The dial gradually disappeared and the telephone got buttons. And every person in Germany with a telephone connection was automatically in the telephone book. Is it still like that?
Of course not. For data protection reasons alone, entries in the phone book may no longer be made automatically. With Deutsche Telekom, the successor company to the Bundespost, or with other telephone providers, every customer with a new landline connection or a new telephone number can decide for themselves whether the number should appear in the telephone book or not.
What should I do if I can’t remember whether I agreed to an entry or not? In the meantime, there are still printed telephone books. However, very few of you will have a current edition at hand.
Is my number in the phone book? Research on the net helps
The easiest way to search is via the website The phone book from Deutsche Telekom. Here you can enter your name and place of residence directly. When you find each other, the question is settled.
To be absolutely sure, you can do a reverse search. You will find the menu item directly on the left under the search mask. Just click and enter your phone number. If this request is also without a hit, you don’t seem to be listed in the phone book.
However, you may have objected to a reverse search when you applied. Then no entry appears in the online search, but you may still be in the printed edition.
Also Read: How to Find Out the Owner of an Unknown Cell Phone Number
Classic telephone directory assistance
In this case call them Domestic information at 11833 at. If you are not found there either, then at least you do not appear to have been entered via Deutsche Telekom. However, please note the costs of EUR 1.39 per started minute.
However, if you have a smartphone with another mobile phone company, your mobile phone number could be entered. In most cases, the providers are Deutsche Telekom, Vodafone or O2.
Play it safe
If you do not want to be found with your various phone numbers, it is advisable to explicitly delete a phone book entry. Deletion is not particularly complicated, but regulated differently from provider to provider.
As a Telekom customer, phone book entries can be made online in the customer center or by phone via the Telekom hotline Clear.
With Vodafone you have to download form #244 and send it completed to the following address:
customer care
40875 Ratingen
O2 customers log into the Online Customer Center a. There you will find the entry “Fixed Line Telephone Book” on the left-hand navigation bar. Click to start downloading a PDF form. Send this filled in to the O2 customer service:
Telefónica Germany GmbH & Co. OHG
Georg Brauchle Ring 50
80992 Munich.