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This Guy Found a Way to Block Robocalls When Phone Companies Wouldn’t

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Re: This Guy Found a Way to Block Robocalls When Phone Companies Wouldn’t

#51
post #50
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know, a lot of these calls are personally relevant too. Would you rather pick up the phone and wait on hold for 45 minutes to talk to someone at your gas company again after they already didn't fix your problem last week, or would you like to get a call asking how your service appointment went so you can say "Unresolved issues. Please escalate" and get a call later from someone who can actually fix it while their…

Sure, there isn't always a hard-and-fast line between spam calls and legitimate calls. Asking how a service appointment went seems personally relevant to me. Asking if I'd like to sign up for my ISP's TV service isn't. It's the latter call that enrages me.

Yep. That's why we don't do any sales calls or lead gen, even if those are the most profitable kind of outbound calls. I think I probably wouldn't want to sit in the same office with a lot of those people.

Most surprising to me was to find out that when you ask a bill collector to stop calling, they actually do stop calling. If they don't, they could be liable for up to $1000 per infraction plus damages by the FDCPA!

Re: This Guy Found a Way to Block Robocalls When Phone Companies Wouldn’t

#52
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Telecoms guy here. Firstly CLI blocking is easy to get around. Faking CLI is very easy. There is a field within SIP that is refereed to as P-assert. The idea is that this field always contains the billable number. However I know of at least 3 sip carriers you could sign up today with, have numbers within 10 minutes and they allow you to put ANY CLI and P-assert. Then you can bridge in to the TDM and almost untraceabl…

Phone systems are also global. You create legislation and fines for not setting that value, but calls from legacy systems around the world still have to be supported. Or has anybody ever tried to call a number and got a "sorry, your phone is too old, you need to upgrade" response?

that would be funny, alas the only issue we have these days is "This call is not supported from a rotary dial phone"

In all my years I have only had 1 customer still using a rotary

Re: This Guy Found a Way to Block Robocalls When Phone Companies Wouldn’t

#54
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I too follow the whitelist approach for phone calls. Most ligitmate callers (my bank, doctor, friend, family, or coworkers) will leave a message. This effectively confirms their identity and I'll add the number to my contacts list so that I know to answer next time. It works really well.

I wish there was a way to send these calls to a specific voicemail message. "You have been sent to voicemail because the number you're calling is not in my contacts list. Please leave a short message telling me whose phone you are calling from." etc.

Google Voice lets you do exactly this with its call screening feature.

Re: This Guy Found a Way to Block Robocalls When Phone Companies Wouldn’t

#55
post #54
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish there was a way to send these calls to a specific voicemail message. "You have been sent to voicemail because the number you're calling is not in my contacts list. Please leave a short message telling me whose phone you are calling from." etc.

Google Voice lets you do exactly this with its call screening feature.

It requires me to answer the phone.

Re: This Guy Found a Way to Block Robocalls When Phone Companies Wouldn’t

#56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you pick up the phone and say "Please put me on your courtesy do not call list", legitimate companies will stop calling you. That leaves the you've won a free cruise/insurance/alarm scam companies, but they mostly don't call over and over again. The point is not to argue with them about whether they should be calling you etc., it is to advertise yourself as a dead lead.

I don't get any "legitimate" calls because I'm on the State and US National Do Not Call Registry. All I get is illegitimate calls and have therefore resorted to calling my friends and colleagues: "I do not answer phone calls. Period. Ever. If you need me, arrange a Skype/Hangout/Facetime or even voice call in advance."

I'm solving the problem by simply getting rid of my landline.

Re: This Guy Found a Way to Block Robocalls When Phone Companies Wouldn’t

#57
post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't get any "legitimate" calls because I'm on the State and US National Do Not Call Registry. All I get is illegitimate calls and have therefore resorted to calling my friends and colleagues: "I do not answer phone calls. Period. Ever. If you need me, arrange a Skype/Hangout/Facetime or even voice call in advance."

I'm solving the problem by simply getting rid of my landline.

I got rid of my land line more than 10 years ago but it did not help.
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