My Home Phone Is Driving Me Nuts!!!!
I am getting a Ton of Unwanted Calls!
I am getting a half dozen calls or more a day.
Most of them with no one on the line.
It's Driving Me Nuts!!!!. I think I already said that.
I am starting ignore the phone, not answer it, and let my answering machine answer it, which then fills up with empty blank messages, which it does anyway when I am out. Of course this means I also miss any legit calls.
The problem is the proliferation of auto-dialers.
Instead of a person trying to call companies now have a auto-dialer try to reach you and then connect you to a person if you answer.
The phone rings. I answer it, say hello. I then get several seconds of dead air. Then a click or some noise as the auto-dialer tries to connect to to an operator/sales-person/etc. Then it does either of several things, drop the call abruptly, beep & drop the call, play a recoding saying "goodbye", play a recorded advertisement, or even a request for you to call a number(yeah right), & occasionally a legit message, or connect you to a person. All the while, if it connects to a person I am still waiting to find out if it is a legit call.
So now I hear the phone actually connect to another live phone, so I say hello again. Sometimes the call will then disconnect at this point, possibly after making me wait a few more seconds. Usually at this point someone says hello and goes through the usual "may I speak to" routine. Which is when I find out who they are(or claim to be) and what they want. Most of the time it is some sort of advertising survey or something, often they are out and out Scams & Phishing attempts. If it is any of these I either say not interested(or some such) & hang up, simply hang up without saying anything, or place the phone down & let them talk to dead air. A few times I have tried to put them off some how, or yelled at them "Take me off your calling list"
Yes, I have added my phone to the "Do Not Call" Database & requested my phone service block private numbers. But I still keep getting tons of calls.
The main complication is that legit calls are using the same automated systems, my doctors appointments, my pharmacy, my utilities, etc. That means if I just hang up the instant I get an automated call I am hanging up on these too. It's even likely at least some of the disconnects are from these sources. So what the _(bleep)_ do I do? ???? It's driving me nuts!!!!
>i< ..:::
PS. I got 3 dead air calls while sitting at my desk writing this.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!
Comments
I have a blacklist app.
On my cell, I have a blacklist app. Whenever I get one of those calls, I add that number to the blacklist. It works well for me.
Edit: Nevermind, I didn't see the bit about letting your answering machine get it until I read through a second time. Sorry.
NoMoRobo
Have you tried https://www.nomorobo.com?
see article about it at: https://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/01/11/technology-f...
I use it with my Vonage account and it's great.
Janice
Darn!
According to the Boston Globe article, this only works for those using VOIP - Voice Over Internet Protocol. I have a hardline phone, so no joy.
I went outside once. The graphics weren' that great.
Many "landline" phones now
Many "landline" phones now are actually VOIP systems. Comcast, UVerse users, and so forth, are all VOIP systems. They are only converted to analog inside your home or business.
What's even worse is that I have a fax machine connected to my landline. I get between two and six phone calls _a day_ that I know of that trigger off the fax machine. I have yet to get a junk fax, so they're all robocalls.
Want to know the nasty part? They're usually political shills, and not offering me things. The DNC list specifically exempts people calling for political polls, political shilling, and charitable organizations trying to solicit donations. It wouldn't be so bad if they were required to dial the numbers by hand, or at least hit a button to say 'dial next number'.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
Copper
I have ATT, its hardwired.
I went outside once. The graphics weren' that great.
Wow! Thanks
I just signed up. Not sure what nomorobo gets out of it, except to know who calls me. Hope it works. I get plenty of those annoying calls.
Update: There is a blurb on this service in the new (August) Consumer Reports. It's fully legit.
Thanks
I remember when the FTC had the contest but I didn't know anyone actually won and came up with a working system. I just added my Vonage and FIOS accounts. It seems so simple now. The phone companies are slowly implementing the "Truth in Caller ID Act" which will help even more, maybe. The terminating carriers have to assure they only send a verified caller ID to the end user. If the caller ID is not verified, they are starting to just block it or send you your own phone number with a name that says ID not verified. I work in the other end of the industry where my customers are having legitimate calls blocked because the carrier at our end is too lazy to verify the caller ID we are sending so the terminating carrier blocks it.
Lori
Keep a list of the numbers that call you...
If you are in the United States, you can sue the various organizations that violate the do not call restrictions and pull down 1,500 USD per call. A family recently got a multi-million dollar judgement against Bank of America for unwanted robocalls.
Except...
Political calls, non-profits, and surveyors are all exempt from the do not call regulations, along with a few other groups. Those are 99% of the people robo dialing anyway, as there are other laws that regulate robo dialing for telemarketers.
Most of the spammers also
Most of the spammers also violate the caller ID rules and use numbers that aren't legitimate. The phone companies don't bother blocking outgoing caller ID spoofing. (I know this can be done easily, as one of my customers has the caller ID controlled by their phone system, because they have two sites a mile apart, and both outgoing sites use the same caller ID)
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
I had the Same Problem
With my hard line phone I had accident's and PPI claim's I never knew I had and of course the rest of the crap like cold callers.
Then I got a call blocker which you have a list of nice people who get straight through to you (the star list) for the others they are asked to leave a message which computers can't do (the zap list).
But if it's a true person the phone rings and you hear the message then it's up to you you either hit the star button and they get through or you ZAP em and peace is restored.
Now I get not crap calls only nice calls from people - that is real people
Hope this helps
Christina
ps mobile ignore and switch off.
product
sometime ago there was product you could get called the Tele-zapper that would send a signal or something back at the auto-dialer to take you off their list. I don't know if that is still around but my uncle swore by it. Also, a few months ago we were getting calls from a from people claiming to be from microsoft responding to an error report. I have a friend that works for microsoft; he confirmed microsoft will NEVER call you, you MUST call THEM! So if you get a call from a person saying they are from microsoft and calling about an error report DO NOT LET THEM INTO YOUR COMPUTER. One more thing, the identity of that caller was blocked/unknown.
quidquid sum ego, et omnia mea semper; Ego me.
alecia Snowfall
I use caller-id
If I don't recognize a number, then I don't answer. As it keeps track of incoming calls, you can look through calls you missed when you were out.
{{Hugs}}
I have fun with the crooks
I get many calls from someone claiming to be a technician with Microsoft. They say that they have detected a problem in my computer and need to get in it to fix the problem. I put on an act, and act like the worried computer user. I keep leading them on until they ask to take over my computer. At this point I thank them as their call has now been traced to its point of origin. Then I tell them to get f++++d. That's when they hang up. There are several other scammers I treat the same way. You always get that 'boiler room' sound in the background. It's a fun diversion if nothing else is going on.
Portia
sounds like...
you need an electronic voice mail... it auto deletes messages where no one speaks or hangs up.
and if anyone does leave a message you can delete it!
And best of all. if you turn off your phone you can write in peace without missing friends or family.
Oh I have a tip for anyone being harassed on their cellphone. Add the # as a contact and assign a silent ringtone OR on android just set it to none. On my Iphone I can also block them once they are in my contact list. Everytime I get a new one I add their number to my contacts (I'm up to 4 'telemarketers' entries and multiple dozens of #s)
Dayna.
ps. That or a new # I'm sure your friends and bill collectors won't mind.
Here in the UK...
...our main problem is telesales calls from the Indian sub-continent which are beyond UK law and which don't have the calling number displayed. At the same time, medics, goverment offices, large businesses also withhold their numbers. I have a TrueCall device, which can be programmed to play a message to withheld/international callers which puts off most telesales callers. The message demands the caller to enter a digit, so automatic calls are not allowed through. It also has a zap and star list for calls where the number is displayed.
If even legit callers are withholding their numbers and using autodiallers for essential calls, then I guess at some time, a real person is going to have to call your number to contact you - or even email/snail mail you.
Thanks for all the responses .
I will definitely look in to some of the suggestions posted.
On the one hand I am glad I am not alone at being annoyed at this, but on the other I am sorry anyone has to put up with this nonsense.
Be safe don't give out any info to unverified callers callers.
>i<