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Ask HN: How do you reduce unsolicited phone calls?

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Ask HN: How do you reduce unsolicited phone calls?

#1
Besides registering to be on Do Not Call lists, how do you reduce or eliminate robocalls and scams? If the telecommunications industry isn't going to fix this, surely someone has made a reputable and trust worthy app to address this, no? I hate that we have to default to not answering the phone from unrecognized numbers and wait for a voice mail if it's legit.

Re: Ask HN: How do you reduce unsolicited phone calls?

#2
I hate that we have to default to not answering the phone from unrecognized numbers and wait for a voice mail if it's legit.

That's what I do, expect if they leave a voice mail I almost know 100% it's a recruiter or a scammer because my family and friends don't live in the 1990s. Everyone else I want to be contacted by is either in my contacts or has organized a specific time to call me via email or some other means first.

Re: Ask HN: How do you reduce unsolicited phone calls?

#4
I've ditched my mobile service in part on account of this.[1]

There are landline phones with blocklists of up to 1,000 numbers. None seem to offer the more useful option of whitelisting. (Or whitelist / blacklist / greylist.)

I've been looking into small-office / SOHO PBX or VOIP options which might afford solutions. Asterix and/or Twilio that I'm aware.

Another option is to ditch both POTS and traditional mobile services for ... well, just what tech-based messaging? I'd prefer no vendor lock-in, but the options seem decidedly minimal.

I think we're in the final decade of traditional / offshoot voice comms. Ironically, it's falling costs which are largely to blame. Make this too cheap, and every asset on the planet can beat a path to yor door. Or phone / voicemail / messaging system.

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Notes:

1. The other reasons: tracking, surveillance, privacy, cost, and always-on stress.

Re: Ask HN: How do you reduce unsolicited phone calls?

#5
If your phone provider/plan supports it then http://nomorobo.com/ is wonderful. But, as with everything else, the industrious telemarketers have begun programming their system to try to evade this. I would prefer if it would show the caller id of the call it was blocking, but it doesn't do that.

Re: Ask HN: How do you reduce unsolicited phone calls?

#7
Answer the phone when they call and conference in the Jolly Roger telephone bot http://www.jollyrogertelco.com

The bot will waste the telemarketers time, which is the most expensive thing that these companies are paying for. Do this enough times and the calls drop off rapidly.

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