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Verified by Twilio

twilio.com

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Re: Verified by Twilio

#61

Post by inlined »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #9

I'm skeptical for the following reasons: 1. Companies like Twilio largely created the explosion in spam calls by providing extremely cheap, programmable calls, so I'm always a little skeptical when the company selling the poison is also selling the antidote. 2. I really don't like the idea of a single company being responsible for a global verification system for something like phone calls. How are decisions made ove…

It seems like a small pivot in their model. Before they sold cheap access to programmatic telephony and now they sell access to customer-valued telephony. Assuming there’s some stick against abuse (e.g. company verification + response to complaints about the purpose tag) then Twilio can profit by doing good.

Re: Verified by Twilio

#62

Post by _Codemonkeyism »

ozmbie wrote: post #38
HugoHobling wrote: post #19

I know it's overkill, but this is my current setup for my phone numbers. I treat phone numbers the same way I do my email address: I use different numbers for different purposes. 1. I have a "clean" phone number I only share with friends/family. Certain prefixes and phone number actually receive next to zero spam calls. This number has received 2 calls in the years I've had it. 2. I have a phone number I share with c…

Is this a uniquely American problem? My Australian mobile phone receives maybe one spam call per year. It’s my single phone and I give out the number to various businesses and people.

Basically get no spam calls in Germany, sometimes from companies where I'm a customer.

Re: Verified by Twilio

#63

Post by boring_twenties »

HugoHobling wrote: post #19

I know it's overkill, but this is my current setup for my phone numbers. I treat phone numbers the same way I do my email address: I use different numbers for different purposes. 1. I have a "clean" phone number I only share with friends/family. Certain prefixes and phone number actually receive next to zero spam calls. This number has received 2 calls in the years I've had it. 2. I have a phone number I share with c…

Wow.

I've been praying for a Google Voice replacement for around a decade now, I guess this it it!

Re: Verified by Twilio

#64

Post by js2 »

DuskStar wrote: post #60
js2 wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't have any trouble receiving SMS messages from short code senders to either my Google Voice or my VoIP number. Is this problem specific to Twilio? Sometimes sites want to know my mobile provider (why does it matter?), so I just choose Verizon or Other. The only site that won't accept my GV number is att.com. Oh the irony...

I find sites that won't accept my Google Voice number on a semi-regular basis. I think the most recent was Uber, which I discovered when moving phones a few months back.

I wonder if I have more success because my GV number was originally a cellular number (many many years ago). I've used it with Uber and Lyft successfully.

Re: Verified by Twilio

#65

Post by Erwin »

ozmbie wrote: post #38
HugoHobling wrote: post #19

I know it's overkill, but this is my current setup for my phone numbers. I treat phone numbers the same way I do my email address: I use different numbers for different purposes. 1. I have a "clean" phone number I only share with friends/family. Certain prefixes and phone number actually receive next to zero spam calls. This number has received 2 calls in the years I've had it. 2. I have a phone number I share with c…

Is this a uniquely American problem? My Australian mobile phone receives maybe one spam call per year. It’s my single phone and I give out the number to various businesses and people.

In Denmark, phone sales to consumers are generally illegal though strangely insurance and newspapers are excluded.

There's a national "do not call" list you can sign up to as well. This is amusing called the "Robinson List", presumably after Robinson Crusoe. The same concept is used in a dozen other countries.

I guess the penalties are severe enough that it generally only very shady people call, such as those pretending to be from Microsoft and calling to fix your computer.

Re: Verified by Twilio

#66

Post by r_singh »

boring_twenties wrote: post #63
HugoHobling wrote: post #19

I know it's overkill, but this is my current setup for my phone numbers. I treat phone numbers the same way I do my email address: I use different numbers for different purposes. 1. I have a "clean" phone number I only share with friends/family. Certain prefixes and phone number actually receive next to zero spam calls. This number has received 2 calls in the years I've had it. 2. I have a phone number I share with c…

Wow. I've been praying for a Google Voice replacement for around a decade now, I guess this it it!

https://www.openphone.co is a 2019 YC company trying to make a replacement.

Re: Verified by Twilio

#67

Post by dvfjsdhgfv »

> it also potentially prevents consumers from receiving vital communications—calls from the doctor, banks that are flagging issues, schools calling about parents’ children.

That's bullshit. I have these important number in my address book. In the unlikely case the doctor wants to call me from a phone booth or from their friend's phone (why?), they'll leave a message and I'll call them back. As for the bank, they know my e-mail and I asked them not to use the phone for communication anyway.

Really, for many people there is no reason to answer unknown calls at all, especially if their experience is that most of these is someone wanting to sell something to them. Not to mention in our times asynchronous communication is very important for mental health.

Re: Verified by Twilio

#68

Post by blackbrokkoli »

FFS USA, not every problem is a problem to solve by "the free market". You can see the America-Is-Great Mindset in a lot of these comments: Even the US has a problem with robocalls, so that must mean it's an unsolved problem obviously. So we have to solve it with our superior technology!!

Just no. Almost nobody else in the western world has this problem. How? Regulation. In Germany, if you get reported for unsolicited calling, the Bundesnetzagentur will come to you and give you a very hefty fine, per violation. Problem solved. I remember exactly four unsolicited calls in my life, two of them on a number which was published in a phone book for 15 years.

Spam calling is not something were there is net value created for society so we need an elaborated discussion of what is ok and what is not (like e.g. paid universities). It just sucks. Make it illegal, and then actually enforce that. The idea of creating a million dollar industry to create a telemarket arms race is...not good.

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