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Eliminating Robocalls

twilio.com

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Re: Eliminating Robocalls

#151

Post by tareqak »

tareqak wrote: post #68

I don't get that many robocalls anymore after I signed up for https://www.donotcall.gov/ . I also make a point of reporting unwanted calls there too (I got two pretending to be from the IRS saying that I was about to be sued). I know that people find it annoying to go through the process of reporting the call, but I consider it to be one of those things that fall under the "All that is necessary for the triumph of ev…

Sorry, I should have quantified how much (and I can no longer edit my post): two in a month has been the most in a given month, and most months are just zero. Someone else used to have my phone number as well, so I had to politely say that that person no longer has this number, but that was over six months ago now.

Re: Eliminating Robocalls

#152

Post by g6nhe9twPd66 »

r00fus wrote: post #134
gonehome wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used Google voice for years while Google let it languish in relative obscurity. Eventually after I realized it was silently dropping group messages because they were MMS and Google never worked on supporting MMS (images were dropped too back then) I left it for iOS and iMessage. Getting dropped from group chats meant people thought you were ignoring them and you'd miss invitations. Google had a huge lead with voice…

I hand out my actual mobile# to friends/family. I give out my GV# (I use call-screening) to everyone (esp. businesses) and put it on my gmail .sig. I get almost no spam calls at all.

I'd like to know how you don't receive spam calls to your mobile # as the robo-dialers just go through the entire list of phone numbers in that area code, so you have to receive some to that device. I do the same as you but with Skype instead of GV, but my mobile # gets hosed by robo-dialers.

Re: Eliminating Robocalls

#153

Post by bigiain »

jpalomaki wrote: post #51
StudentStuff wrote: post #2

Getting STIR & SHAKEN implemented so we have proper trust of the caller ID is going to be a massive undertaking for the industry as a whole. T-Mobile and Verizon have implemented it in limited forms internally, but they have no interest in making their implementations interoperate, let alone work with the other RBOCs, CLECs and their resellers (Twilio in this case). STIR/SHAKEN also can break call forwarding, as a fo…

If the operators don’t act, maybe the traditional phone calls become obsolete and people switch to Facetime/WhatsApp/GoogleTechDuJour.

Some people might say this has already happened.

For me, it's very very rare for an incoming voice call to be a friend - 99.9% of them are from businesses, and I prioritise them accordingly. I sometimes realise my phone is on silent, and think "Oh yeah, I was out to dinner or at the movies 3 or 4 days ago, and didn't remember to turn the ringer back on..."

Re: Eliminating Robocalls

#155

Post by hermitdev »

sokoloff wrote: post #21
CharlesColeman wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because individually they'll do a worse job of mitigating spam than if they try to mitigate it collectively.

Doesn't reducing spam phone calls directly hurt their bottom line?

Probably not. Most charges are done per minute of talk time. An unanswered phone call would not generate a charge. If people are unwilling to answer the phone due to a high spam volume (such as myself), they're likely losing money from the spam. I only answer the phone from known numbers or if I'm immediately expecting a call. Everything else goes to voicemail.

Carriera have an incentive to increase call acceptance, and that means cut down on the bullshit robocalls that are already illegal to cellphones, but rarely enforced.

Re: Eliminating Robocalls

#156

Post by mirimir »

Maybe there ought to be a robocall service for ~anonymously targeting the callback numbers provided in robocalls. Many years ago, I setup an autodialer to hit an 800 number provided by a persistent robocaller. And pretty soon, they stopped calling me.

Re: Eliminating Robocalls

#157

Post by 6nf »

snazz wrote: post #83
a_wild_dandan wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Blocking numbers won't deter anything, FYI. Those spam calls spoof random numbers (often using your area code). I've received a spam call from myself.

You sure it wasn’t just a single digit off from your phone number? I’ve never gotten a call from myself. Is Caller ID that insecure?

Sign up for any random SMS API service. You'll note that you can send SMS using anything you like as the 'from' field. There's no checks or restrictions. Same goes for voice calls in most cases.

Re: Eliminating Robocalls

#158

Post by nmstoker »

Seems like this is much worse in the US - I've had the same number in the UK since 2000 and not had a robocall EVER. The occasional human spam call comes in (like once every two or three months) but I tend to just hang up and usually Google offers to block them (my Pixel 2 has the spam call blocker built in)

Re: Eliminating Robocalls

#159

Post by aboutruby »

godzillabrennus wrote: post #52

I have had a Google Voice number since it was Grand Central. It has gone on all of my business cards. It's at the bottom of every email. I put it on my website. Google does an amazing, world class, mind blowing, job of filtering out robo calls. I get maybe one a week at most. I get more calls direct to my cell number from random call bots that hit every number with mobile carriers than I do through my Google Voice nu…

Only available in the US though, I have one but it's not easy for anybody outside the US to get one.

Just a few things:

- It does filter out all the spam (I get maybe a random call once a year and a random text once every 6 months)

- There is no SIM card, so it has to go through the internet, which is much less reliable

- You can call anywhere in the world very cheaply (US is free)

- The phone apps are barely usable (Hangouts on iOS for instance) (Google Voice one is blocking non-US users)

- It's a life saver in emergency situations and just when being abroad in general, and for that only it's the best provider out there.

Re: Eliminating Robocalls

#160

Post by hermitdev »

cronix wrote: post #34
Abundnce10 wrote: post #25

All I really want to do is allow calls through to my phone that are stored in my contacts. If they're not in my contacts, I'd prefer not to be notified and have it sent to voicemail.

One problem is they can easily spoof the number. I've received 2 calls from Bank of America's 800 number, that weren't actually from Bank of America (they were pretending there was a problem with my account...phishing for info...). They were in my address book, and showed up as such. You can't trust caller ID. They might not have your friends phone numbers, but you probably also have other major institutions that you…

The solution to this is never give out any PII when receiving a call. Ask what theyre calling about, then hang up and dial back. Yeah, you enter the hours long call queue, but you're not giving out your info to a potential spoofer. Also, don't call the number they give you on the phone. Look up the number for your bank (usually easy enough to find on the back of your debit/credit card). Same is true for any organization that potentially has info that could be used for identity theft. Hang up and call them back independently.
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