When the phone rings during dinner, most people think one thing: It must be a telemarketer.

But imagine those annoying phone calls following you around wherever you go, interrupting romantic restaurant dinners, business meetings and Little League games.

Solicitations easily could make their way into the wireless phone market if personal numbers become publicly accessible. And two New Hampshire legislators want to make sure cell-phone owners have a choice in the matter.

Rep. Neal Kurk, R-Weare, and Rep. James Phinizy, D/R-Acworth, are sponsoring legislation to protect people who do not want their cell-phone numbers published. The pending bill, which would take effect Jan. 1, 2008, would allow a customer to bring action for damages against someone for publishing his or her cell-phone number without written permission. The plaintiff could sue for the amount of damage caused to them or $1,000, whichever is greater.

"It is not illegal currently to publish those," Kurk said. "There is great pressure on the cell-phone companies to make those numbers public because so many people are dropping their land lines."

Because wireless companies charge cell-phone users by the minute for both incoming and outgoing calls, consumers would even have to pay for potentially unwanted calls, he said.

Kurk said telemarketing calls are comparable to unwanted e-mails.

"It's like spam," he said. "So much of our time is spent deleting."

Automated incoming calls will grow in popularity, Kurk predicted. Instead of receiving an e-mail from a candidate at election time, people may begin getting voice-mail messages on their cell phones, he said.

Mark Elliott, a media representative for Sprint, said the company doesn't release customers' cell-phone numbers, nor do they have plans to do so in the immediate future.

"But it is a service that we continue to believe could be very valuable when provided on an opt-in basis - and with the appropriate privacy for subscribers," he said.

The primary value, Elliott said, would be for people who operate businesses using only their wireless phone.

For people who do want their cell-phone numbers published, Wendy Bulawa, a Verizon spokeswoman, said she recommends advertisements and business cards. Verizon does not make cell-phone numbers public, she said.

"Think about the hassles that people with land lines go through: calls in the middle of the night, telemarketers, search functions on the Internet," Bulawa said.

People want their privacy, she said.

Kurk also compared the potential publication of wireless numbers to the effects people experience with their land-line phone numbers. There is a charge to have land-line numbers unlisted, but if it was published in the past, it probably will remain accessible through the Internet.

The Internet would most likely be the forum for a cell-phone directory, Kurk said. But people won't see the information popping up soon on WhitePages.com, the online version of the phone book.

Max Bardon, president and chief operating officer, said the company will not list any information that isn't already available through other sources. Again, privacy is the issue.

"WhitePages.com fully supports the development of services that enable consumers to control the availability of their cell-phone listing," he said. "To the extent that this type of information becomes publicly available or is made available to us by our users, we will treat it in keeping with our long-standing commitment to protecting the privacy of consumers."

Plaistow Town Manager Jason Hoch said he hopes the town would be able to regulate the privacy of its cell-phone numbers, just as it can land lines.

"It becomes interesting in our case because we have some that are simply registered to the town," he said. "Someone could find 20 in a registry just for the town of Plaistow and could amuse themselves by dialing to find who they get at the other end."

Overall, the town has 24 cell phones and pays for them with a block plan. Hoch said he doesn't think the cost of incoming calls would be a factor as much as the distraction it would cause.

But, he noted, there's one way to avoid dealing with unwanted calls: caller ID. If his phone rings at dinnertime and he doesn't know who's calling, he doesn't answer.

Talker:

Would you want to have your cell-phone number published?

Amanda Bonanno, Derry: "No, I don't like prank and unwanted cell-phone calls coming in."

Justin Edson, Derry: "No, because it's your private number. Your home is more of a public number."

Greg Bacon, Derry: "I don't think they should be able to publish your number without your consent. There's nothing more annoying than telemarketers calling you at 8 or 9 p.m."

Jennifer Pierce, Goffstown: "It's bad enough when you have telemarketers calling your house."

Amy McLaughlin, Derry: "No, I only like people I know to call my cell phone."