Telephone Calls! Help! [Stopping telemarketing calls]

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CountryBoy
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Telephone Calls! Help! [Stopping telemarketing calls]

Post by CountryBoy »

We are on the Do Not Call List but we get calls from companies, plus survey co.s, politicians, etc. all day.

We don't answer unless someone identifies themselves.

The phone is no longer our own; it belongs to any company that wants to sell something.

Please! How do we stop it ???!!!
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Boglenaut
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by Boglenaut »

Those auto-dialers with spoofed call ID are now common. They are destroying the phone system. Now they spoof your neighbors' numbers. I can block 30 numbers, but that's whack-a-mole.
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Kosmo
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by Kosmo »

Don't have a phone? We have a land line, but don't have a phone plugged in (cable/internet is cheaper with the phone service). Don't know and don't care how many solicitors call.
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Raybo
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by Raybo »

We have a different problem. A machine calls, when we answer, there is silence on the line for a short period of time, and then a mechanical voice says "Good Bye." This happens several times a day. I've tried being silent or talking like a recorded message. The same thing results.

Do anyone know what this is about?
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pennstater2005
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by pennstater2005 »

We had the same issue and finally just unplugged it. It came as a bundle with our internet through Verizon (they required a landline, at the time anyway). We both have cellphones.
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island
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by island »

Just pick up the phone and say I'm on the do not call list, please stop calling and remove my name from your database. That's worked for us for the occasional person who calls every night until I do that. I don't get involved in any conversation, even if it's a charity I'm not interested in, I repeat remove my number and stop calling. One more taken care of.
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Toons
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by Toons »

I dropped the landline 8 years ago,,, No junk calls on the cell phone :happy
Last edited by Toons on Fri Aug 08, 2014 9:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
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livesoft
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by livesoft »

We have an answering machine. Most of the non-personal callers do not leave a message. For others, there is the delete button.

Basically, when the phone rings, everybody ignores it. Nobody even twitches a muscle. About once a week, we listen to any messages.

So my advice is to train yourself to ignore phone calls and listen to your messages once a week. Put the ringer on the lowest volume, too.
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yukonjack
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by yukonjack »

I had the same problem and ended up unplugging the phone. I now use only my cell phone. I've been doing that for about a year now and it has worked out fine.
Wabbit
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by Wabbit »

yukonjack wrote:I had the same problem and ended up unplugging the phone. I now use only my cell phone. I've been doing that for about a year now and it has worked out fine.
Why wouldn't you eventually just get all of the solicitation calls on your cell phone?
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Rob5TCP
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by Rob5TCP »

I was getting 6-10 a day. I joined nomorobo.com
It took some time, but now I am down to 2-3 a day.
Not perfect.

I use the caller ID; my friend's numbers are on my list
so if comes up with someone other than my friend's - straight
to the answering machine.

Most of these calls are overseas (frequently Indian) scammers
who care little for the do not call list.

Occasionally I will goof on one and see how much of their time I can
waste. One was from "Microsoft". I kept him on the line for almost 30
minutes, getting my credit card wrong. I even let him have access to
an old Windows 98 machine that I have not used in 8 years. HE was
furious when I told him I did computer support and I knew he was a
complete scam.
S&L1940
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by S&L1940 »

Raybo wrote:We have a different problem. A machine calls, when we answer, there is silence on the line for a short period of time, and then a mechanical voice says "Good Bye." This happens several times a day. I've tried being silent or talking like a recorded message. The same thing results.
Do anyone know what this is about?
Sometimes get the same thing; either the 'goodbye' or just silence. Wondering if they are randomly checking for live numbers. You can try stating 'this is not a working number'!

We usually let the phone ring but found that our doctors (sadly we use quite a few) sometimes make calls from their personal phones that show up on caller ID as "name not available" so we tend to answer most calls and hang up when they turn out to be like the weirdos that have been mentioned here. Have gotten 'Microsoft' tech calls and told them we were on Apple - end of call and presumable off their list.
Don't it always seem to go * That you don't know what you've got * Till it's gone
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Rob5TCP
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by Rob5TCP »

Frequently robo callers will disconnect if there is not a free agent to pick up the line.
They will call back again. It's a numbers game (scam).
Enough calls, people answers (1% or .01%); they don't call. Eventually someone bites
and is scammed.
denovo
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by denovo »

I notice a lot less junk calls for cell phones as opposed to land lines. If your number is listed online, I would delete it. Check out whitepages.com. You can claim and delete your listing if you like. You can search by name or address.
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TomatoTomahto
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by TomatoTomahto »

Rob5TCP wrote:I was getting 6-10 a day. I joined nomorobo.com
It took some time, but now I am down to 2-3 a day.
Not perfect.
It might not be perfect, but it's the best performing free product I can recall. Unfortunately, not all land lines can benefit from it.
I get the FI part but not the RE part of FIRE.
harrychan
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by harrychan »

Raybo wrote:We have a different problem. A machine calls, when we answer, there is silence on the line for a short period of time, and then a mechanical voice says "Good Bye." This happens several times a day. I've tried being silent or talking like a recorded message. The same thing results.

Do anyone know what this is about?
That is a system which calls numbers by random then notes down which numbers have a live person. When you get those, start pressing any number to simulate a dial tone.

The way I deal with this is for every non personal contact I give out my Google voice number. Only real friends and family have my cell phone. So far its worked out well. I've also disconnected my home phone years ago.
This is not legal or certified financial advice but you know that already.
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Dtort
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by Dtort »

For unidentified calls on my cell phone, I quickly Google the number. If its linked to a known scam, I add it to my "Scammers" contact (sadly, there's about 30 numbers on it now). On my phone, I also have the option to set the ringtone for different callers - and in this case, it's set to "crickets" which is nearly inaudible.
tomd37
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by tomd37 »

Talking about spoof call numbers, I had an incoming call showing my own telephone number as the calling number. :annoyed
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livesoft
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by livesoft »

Caller ID? Looking up numbers? Why waste any of your time? Just don't answer the phone. Let your machine record a message if they leave one. If they don't leave a message, so much the better.

But I have to ask this question of the folks who are complaining:

May I ask folks why they even bother to answer the phone?
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denovo
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by denovo »

livesoft wrote:Caller ID? Looking up numbers? Why waste any of your time? Just don't answer the phone. Let your machine record a message if they leave one. If they don't leave a message, so much the better.

But I have to ask this question of the folks who are complaining:

May I ask folks why they even bother to answer the phone?
Habit? I guess you've never seen Phone Booth?
The Caller: Isn't it funny? You hear a phone ring and it could be anybody. But ringing phone has to be answered, doesn't it?
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Sidney
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by Sidney »

livesoft wrote:Caller ID? Looking up numbers? Why waste any of your time? Just don't answer the phone. Let your machine record a message if they leave one. If they don't leave a message, so much the better.
Our phone allows us to customize the ring based on the incoming caller ID. So if it is a family member or someone we want to hear from, the ring is distinctive. We ignore all the rest. [Actually we sometimes ignore the family member :P ]
I always wanted to be a procrastinator.
rj49
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by rj49 »

Get a pay-by-the-minute cell phone to use as your 'landline' and then simply keep it turned off. T-Mobile pay-as-you-go stores phone messages online, so I can see who called and listen to messages that way, instead of being bothered by telemarketers. If it's a repeat solicitor, I just delete the message without listening, and most of the time they eventually give up. If you're expecting a call from a doctor or someone, just keep it on for that time and use caller ID on cell phones to only answer from that person.

Then only give out a different cell number to friends and relatives. If somebody needs to get ahold of you, they can leave a message on your 'business' phone and you can check messages without being bothered.

The same goes for email--have one for business, one for companies you know will send you email junk, and one for friends/family and places you know won't spam you (Vanguard, the library, etc). Then research how to unsubscribe safely from unwanted emails (something my parents still have yet to learn, and like many, they think they need a landline).
denovo
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by denovo »

rj49 wrote:Get a pay-by-the-minute cell phone to use as your 'landline' and then simply keep it turned off. T-Mobile pay-as-you-go stores phone messages online, so I can see who called and listen to messages that way, instead of being bothered by telemarketers. If it's a repeat solicitor, I just delete the message without listening, and most of the time they eventually give up. If you're expecting a call from a doctor or someone, just keep it on for that time and use caller ID on cell phones to only answer from that person.

Then only give out a different cell number to friends and relatives. If somebody needs to get ahold of you, they can leave a message on your 'business' phone and you can check messages without being bothered.
Use Google Voice for this, no need to set up another phone.
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goaties
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by goaties »

Time to go to a VOIP provider? Ours gives many options for blocking unwanted calls, including setting up something they call "telemarketer block": (this is taken from their website, but I've deleted the company name)

When activated, inbound callers will hear an automated message which will require them to press a specific key (1-9) in order to complete their call. Your Phone WILL NOT begin to ring, until AFTER the inbound caller has successfully pressed the requisite key on their phone. By configuring your friends, family, and colleagues' phone numbers into your Phone Book and setting up a prioritized "Call Treatment" to route calls from these numbers directly to your phone, you can ensure that ONLY callers from unknown numbers will be prompted to press the requisite key (1-9) in order to complete their call.

That should at least block the robo-dialers. Other methods are available to block your college alumni association, the policeman's fund, etc which seem to involve real people dialing.
Mitchell777
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by Mitchell777 »

I just use caller ID now. Occasionally someone I want to talk to calls (do not recognize the ID) and I wait until I hear the beginning of the message and pick up quickly. Over time the calls have dropped in half, but my aggrevation level dropped by 75%.
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Igglesman
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by Igglesman »

NOMOROBO. It works. You get one ring...if the caller is a robocaller or telemarketer, no more rings...but you can check it on caller ID.
I eliminated at least 5 calls per day.

Oh ---- and it is FREE.
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CountryBoy
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by CountryBoy »

Am interested in all the different answers to my OP.

But could people answer
Why wouldn't you eventually just get all of the solicitation calls on your cell phone?
tim1999
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by tim1999 »

I used to get daily solicitation/junk calls on my landline even when it was registered for DNC. I dumped the landline a few years ago, registered my cell phone for DNC, and I don't think I've received even one solicitation/junk call since then. No idea why.

I could be wrong about this, but I thought at least at one time there was some law against robocalling cell phones, since the phone owner pays for the minutes on incoming calls?
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ResearchMed
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by ResearchMed »

CountryBoy wrote:Am interested in all the different answers to my OP.

But could people answer
Why wouldn't you eventually just get all of the solicitation calls on your cell phone?
We do seem to get those calls on our cell phones.

The ubiquitous "Rachel" and "Heather" calls? They now arrive on the cell phones.

As do those marvelous offers of pre-approved credit, or help with our business loan (er, what business loan?), etc.

The Caller ID is usually spoofed to something new and different each time.
However, there are a few of them that keep coming in from the same phone number, and we've got those labeled so we ignore them.

We each have too many business calls that we DO need to answer, from numbers we can't predict, so we can't ignore them all or let them go to voicemail.
(Fortunately, answering these calls on what seems a 24/7 basis - but it's not, really, of course - has led to a good business outcome, and now I'm getting ready to sell said little business, and then that will end!)

RM
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JonnyDVM
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by JonnyDVM »

First of all ditch the land line. Secondly, even my cell phone is getting targeted by robo calls and sales pitches now. A few weeks ago I was being bombarded/harassed by a company trying to sell me an extended warranty on my car. Received mailings and several phone calls. Some of the calls I ignored but sometimes they fooled me into answering as the caller ID would show a few different numbers. I told them (nicely) several times I wasn't interested. The fourth or fifth time they called me (I was in the car) I lost it and went on a profanity laced tirade to the guy on the other end of the line about how I wasn't stupid enough to be interested in his companies bleeping scam and to stot bleeping bothering me you annoying bleeping bleeps. When I got home I promptly went online and reported all the phone numbers and name of the company that had been bothering me to the states attorney general office. Not sure whether it was the report to the attorney general or the profanity laced tirade that did the trick, but that was the last I have heard from them.
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likegarden
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by likegarden »

We don't answer the phone either. Since I do not wear my hearing aid in the house I also do not notice phone calls, except when I happen to sit next to the phone while on the computer. We have an answering machine. So when we notice a familiar name, doctor etc. or phone number then we will pick up. Otherwise the answering machine might take any message. We only answer recorded messages from people we know.
Once we had lost our recording on the answering machine which only gave one 'beep', annoyance calls dropped during that time. Try that!
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CountryBoy
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by CountryBoy »

Just spoke with the Verizon phone company on this.

They advise:

- they can not control who calls us anymore than who we call

-that going to cell phone will have junk calls as well.

-get on the FCC Do Not Call list (already done that)

-sign on to my Verizon account and choose the Privacy options available to me there

-he never heard of NOMOROBO
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Rob5TCP
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by Rob5TCP »

I have used Nomorobo.com from the first day they began offering their service.
They won an FCC grant to devise a way to block robo calls. Consumers reports mentions them in their story about robo calls

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/news ... /index.htm


They are not perfect, but they have the best solution so far
https://www.nomorobo.com/

The way to ultimately stop them is when millions of people take their calls and waste as much time as possible until the #$%#$#$ hang up.
Since it's unlikely this will ever happen, nomorobo is the next best thing. For now they are free, but I would pay for their service.
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CountryBoy
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by CountryBoy »

Many thanks for the article; greatly appreciated.

My wife suggested an unlisted number but then we agreed that is useless. Since we would have to use it for the NYS DOM, etc. and they sell all our info to whomever anyway, it would be a useless exercise.

At the moment nomorobo seems our only life line and that tenuous at best.
bberris
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by bberris »

The free app whoscall will try to identify based on caller ID, and then give you the option to block the number. It also lets you know if another user identified or blocked it. I don't answer any caller id that I don't recognize. I figure I've lost out on 50 different lotteries, Nigerian legacies, and the IRS is going to put me in jail because I didn't wire them money.
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Go Blue 99
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by Go Blue 99 »

We get a lot of annoying calls on ours. It comes out cheaper to keep the line though, as our security company charges much more for monitoring without a landline.
island
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by island »

livesoft wrote:Caller ID? Looking up numbers? Why waste any of your time? Just don't answer the phone. Let your machine record a message if they leave one. If they don't leave a message, so much the better.

But I have to ask this question of the folks who are complaining:

May I ask folks why they even bother to answer the phone?
I'm not one who complains about this; minor annoyance and I have bigger fish to fry. Like you I let it go to the answering machine where no message will be left.
You ask why pick up. I'll do that for the occasional persistent one that calls more than once daily, usually in the evening for many consecutive days. Pick up, tell them I'm on the do not call list so stop calling, say it before they start their spiele, hang up. Problem solved.
I too do not see why anyone would make a project of it by looking up numbers, etc, nor do I see why it's such a big deal to begin with. First world problem, but "problem" is an overstatement.
hucards
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by hucards »

I'm on the do not call list as well but get calls occasionally. Usually banks and surveys. I was getting the robo calls but those have stopped. Anytime I get a call I block the number on my iphone. I never answer the phone if the caller isn't in my address book. It's not perfect but it's something.
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plannerman
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by plannerman »

FYI--nomorerobo does not work on an AT&T land line or on Verizon wireless. That leaves us out.

plannerman
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Rob5TCP
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by Rob5TCP »

I have a business line so recognizing another spam used to be important, I was getting so many.
Thanks to Nomorobo my business line only gets a few spam calls a week, so every call is answered on the second ring.

My personal lines all go straight to voicemail if the number is not recognized.
dolphinsaremammals
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by dolphinsaremammals »

This was driving me crazy. I tried several things.

Of course, I was on the Do Not Call list.

Nomorobo and call block are not available on my line.

I bought a Panasonic phone that claims to block numbers, but the setup is so complex I never set it up in case it threw away real calls.

For awhile, I wasted their time pretending to have to find my credit card and so forth. Life is too short.

Then I pushed 1 and let their employee go Hello? Hello? while I said nothing. I stopped because I assume that might make them more likely to re-call.

Hanging up immediately tends to make them call back. I suspect their system thinks it got an answering machine.

Now I say nothing and let their blathering run out. I figure the more I use up their time, the less profitable their scam is.

This has dropped things to about a call a day.

When I realized I was answering the phone expecting a telemarketer and hence being short with a normal person, I invested in a Telnote large callerid display. This is a wonderful product. I just glance at it and have a good chance of knowing if it is a real person or if I have the opportunity to waste the scammer's time.

I can't give up my phone, since I have doctors' and the like calling me, and they often come in with anonymous or unfamiliar numbers.

Some idiot scammers reuse numbers like variations on local numbers, so I am even more likely to know its them before I answer.
Parthenon
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by Parthenon »

Has anyone tried using a "disconnected number" tone [ http://stuff.gigo.com/phone/ ] as a lead in on your answering machine? If it does what is supposed to it should make the calling machine believe the number is no longer in service. The mp3 file at the above location can be cut down to one second by eliminating the voice explanation.

I put it on my answering machine a couple of weeks ago but haven't been home to see if it works.

Ed
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paulsiu
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by paulsiu »

Charity and political orgs appears to be an exemption to the do not call unless you explicitly state that you want to be on the do not call list. You have several options.

1. You can buy a telephone that allow you to block numbers. On my phone, I can scroll through the list and add numbers to a blocked list. The phone will ring once and the other person gets a busy signal. Con: My list is full, I have over 30 numbers blocked.

VOIP devices like OOMA also have this feature. They also have community list which basically works by votes. If x number of people block the number, it will show up on your block list. However, the community block feature is a extra cost feature.

If you setup an asterick system, you can do even more amusing stuff like setting the voice to echo.

2. You can setup something call a privacy manager from your phone company. It blocks caller without ID. However, this doesn't work since most caller used a spoofed ID.

3. Answer every call with "Put me on a do not call list". They are legally supposed to remove you. YOur actual result may vary.

4. My mom answers in Chinese and pretends she does not understand English.


Paul
S&L1940
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by S&L1940 »

two areas really annoying
Had a business line that was formerly owned by the world's champion deadbeat. Multiple credit bureaus, college loans, some seemingly threatening bodily harm. One saving grace was that the delinquent party had an offshore name that even the harassers could not pronounce. My reply was usually 'do I sound like I might be asdfnvoe?' That response and the polite ones who realized I was a business and not their target finally reduced the incoming calls to near zero.

Second issue, creditors who call everyone with the same last name as mine in hopes of locating debts that - I believe - they bought for 10 cents on the dollar and hoping to cash in. The caller (dialing my personal line) usually asks for "Tommy" or whomever. These calls still come infrequently but I think they accept the fact that the person they are looking for is not in my household and maybe the searchers just keep rotating for $.05 on the dollar...
Don't it always seem to go * That you don't know what you've got * Till it's gone
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

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Felix is a wonderful, wonderful cat.
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by abuss368 »

We let is go straight to the answering machine. 100% of the time there are hang ups!
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CountryBoy
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by CountryBoy »

go straight to the answering machine.
We do that already. Sounds like there is no way to stop the phone ringing off the hook with the robo machine calling and then hanging up.
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by abuss368 »

I once changed my answering machine to the Arnold Schwarzenegger clip "Your Terminated!" The impact on the marketing calls was priceless.
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Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by Mudpuppy »

Parthenon wrote:Has anyone tried using a "disconnected number" tone [ http://stuff.gigo.com/phone/ ] as a lead in on your answering machine? If it does what is supposed to it should make the calling machine believe the number is no longer in service. The mp3 file at the above location can be cut down to one second by eliminating the voice explanation.

I put it on my answering machine a couple of weeks ago but haven't been home to see if it works.

Ed
At one time (I don't know if it still exists now), there was an answering machine product that would automatically play the tri-tone for a disconnected number (called SIT) at a low volume (supposedly low enough that a human caller would not notice but a machine would notice). I can't recall what the product was called, but it's easy enough to replicate. The trick is making sure the recording has the right frequencies to be recognized as the SIT and to choose the right tri-tone sequence (some are for temporary failures, so they wouldn't prevent the robodialer from calling back later).

Here's the Wiki on SIT: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special_information_tones

Note: The Intercept tone from the table in the Wiki probably would work best, particularly in cases where the dialer database keeps the specific SIT error recorded. If they know your number was previously good, they'd believe Intercept (number disconnected) would be a valid state change. The remaining codes could be interpreted as a temporary dialing failure, and that won't get them to stop dialing.

Edit for clarity: It's the tri-tone that triggers the dialer to mark the number as inactive, not the rest of the recorded message (e.g. "We're sorry. The number you dialed..."). So use the tri-tones on the Wiki instead of the full messages on gigo.com. The Wiki tri-tones are cleaner audio files as well, which means you have a better chance of tricking robodialers.
Rich in Michigan
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Joined: Mon Jun 11, 2012 1:27 pm

Re: Telephone Calls! Help!

Post by Rich in Michigan »

Our land line has an answering machine, like most people, and like many people ours gives an audio called ID so we can be in another room and hear who the call is from. 90% of the time the call is junk so we never even have to get out of a chair to go answer it.
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