31–40 of 92 posts
I find that 99% of spam calls (at least for now) can be eliminated by simply not answering any numbers that match the first six digits of my own telephone number. I don't know why telemarketers decided this would be a good strategy to increase conversions, but it certainly makes things easier for me.
Many of these services will only call "hot" numbers - numbers that pick up/give some interaction. Hitting "decline call" actually gives them an indication the line is hot, since the call went to VM earlier than if it had timed out, and will lead to more calls.
So I let the calls ring until the other side ends the call.
Having the spam call ringing is annoying though, so I've taken to leaving my phone in airplane mode if I'm not expecting a call.
(Most people communicate via email or Signal with me anyways)
In my experience if you leave your phone in airplane mode when not expecting calls for a week or so, it'll drastically cut down on the robocalls.
I'm fairly convinced that the only way this gets fixed is if enough people complain loudly to the phone companies & cancel accounts. Verizon / AT&T / T-mobile / etc. absolutely have the power to fix this, and they're choosing instead to largely ignore it, and productize the solutions for anyone who cares enough - let the spammers pay to create the problem, and let the consumers pay for the remedy. Telcos win on both…
Then the next step is for spammers to leave voicemails
Move your phone to ooma.com. service is fast and easy. My phone bill dropped compared to comcast and I have eliminated spam calls.
Please explain: why would Ooma service, in and of itself, reduce spam calls?
I used to carry a secondary phone that I would use for non-life-critical contacts, but have since stopped carrying that phone, although I still keep basic service active on it.
I'm fairly convinced that the only way this gets fixed is if enough people complain loudly to the phone companies & cancel accounts. Verizon / AT&T / T-mobile / etc. absolutely have the power to fix this, and they're choosing instead to largely ignore it, and productize the solutions for anyone who cares enough - let the spammers pay to create the problem, and let the consumers pay for the remedy. Telcos win on both…
>If it's someone who needs me, they'll leave a voicemail Then the next step is for spammers to leave voicemails
"Hi! This is Rachel from card[DELETE]"
I answer and ask to be put on their do not call list (or if it's a scam bot, I press the remove button). People say this just confirms you are a real person, but I'm pretty sure they haven't tried it successfully for months the way I have. I still get calls of course, but it's a couple a week and not from the same parties over and over and over.
what is that?
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.
I'm fairly convinced that the only way this gets fixed is if enough people complain loudly to the phone companies & cancel accounts. Verizon / AT&T / T-mobile / etc. absolutely have the power to fix this, and they're choosing instead to largely ignore it, and productize the solutions for anyone who cares enough - let the spammers pay to create the problem, and let the consumers pay for the remedy. Telcos win on both…
>If it's someone who needs me, they'll leave a voicemail Then the next step is for spammers to leave voicemails