I got a Pro Call Blocker and found it lacking. Very poor instructions.
Erased contacts without my telling it to. Wouldn't pass calls to telephone
system when in series. Many other problems. I sent it back today.

Any suggestions for a better one?

I may be wong but I'm afraid these gadgets may not be as helpful as we
would hope. I would think the computer programs telemarketers use would
change their fake caller id if a call was blocked until it goes through. I
would think life would be much better if the No Call List was enforced and
phone companies protected against fake caller ids and perhaps blocked ids.

What do you think?

TIA


--
You know it's time to clean the refrigerator
when something closes the door from the inside.

KenK writes:

I got a Pro Call Blocker and found it lacking. Very poor instructions.
Erased contacts without my telling it to. Wouldn't pass calls to telephone
system when in series. Many other problems. I sent it back today.

Any suggestions for a better one?

I may be wong but I'm afraid these gadgets may not be as helpful as we
would hope. I would think the computer programs telemarketers use would
change their fake caller id if a call was blocked until it goes through. I
would think life would be much better if the No Call List was enforced and
phone companies protected against fake caller ids and perhaps blocked ids.

What do you think?

nomorobo works for me.

Visit www.nomorobo.com.

--
Dan Espen

On 1/7/2016 8:48 AM, KenK wrote:
I got a Pro Call Blocker and found it lacking. Very poor instructions.
Erased contacts without my telling it to. Wouldn't pass calls to telephone
system when in series. Many other problems. I sent it back today.

Any suggestions for a better one?

I may be wong but I'm afraid these gadgets may not be as helpful as we
would hope. I would think the computer programs telemarketers use would
change their fake caller id if a call was blocked until it goes through. I
would think life would be much better if the No Call List was enforced and
phone companies protected against fake caller ids and perhaps blocked ids.

What do you think?

TIA


That's wot you get for buying that bull**** technology, asshole.

KenK has brought this to us :
I got a Pro Call Blocker and found it lacking. Very poor instructions.
Erased contacts without my telling it to. Wouldn't pass calls to telephone
system when in series. Many other problems. I sent it back today.

Any suggestions for a better one?

I may be wong but I'm afraid these gadgets may not be as helpful as we
would hope. I would think the computer programs telemarketers use would
change their fake caller id if a call was blocked until it goes through. I
would think life would be much better if the No Call List was enforced and
phone companies protected against fake caller ids and perhaps blocked ids.

What do you think?

TIA

Change your # and unlist it.
The new landline phones have a # block button that works. Caller ID
gives you the choice of answering the call or ignoring it.

On 1/7/2016 9:16 AM, Dan Espen wrote:
KenK writes:

I got a Pro Call Blocker and found it lacking. Very poor instructions.
Erased contacts without my telling it to. Wouldn't pass calls to telephone
system when in series. Many other problems. I sent it back today.

Any suggestions for a better one?

I may be wong but I'm afraid these gadgets may not be as helpful as we
would hope. I would think the computer programs telemarketers use would
change their fake caller id if a call was blocked until it goes through. I
would think life would be much better if the No Call List was enforced and
phone companies protected against fake caller ids and perhaps blocked ids.

What do you think?

nomorobo works for me.

Visit www.nomorobo.com.


Nomorobo sucks.

On Thursday, January 7, 2016 at 8:48:44 AM UTC-8, KenK wrote:
I got a Pro Call Blocker and found it lacking. Very poor instructions.
Erased contacts without my telling it to. Wouldn't pass calls to telephone
system when in series. Many other problems. I sent it back today.

Any suggestions for a better one?

I may be wong but I'm afraid these gadgets may not be as helpful as we
would hope. I would think the computer programs telemarketers use would
change their fake caller id if a call was blocked until it goes through. I
would think life would be much better if the No Call List was enforced and
phone companies protected against fake caller ids and perhaps blocked ids.

What do you think?

TIA

If the FCC would start to fine the phone networks for every call when these f**kin a**holes use their "service", they'd find a way to cut them off tomorrow

On Thursday, January 7, 2016 at 9:17:00 AM UTC-8, net cop wrote:

nomorobo works for me.

Visit www.nomorobo.com.

--
Dan Espen

Even with NMR, I still get a dozen calls a week, even after blocking 20 different numbers from some of the persistent telemarketers

"KenK" wrote in message
...
I got a Pro Call Blocker and found it lacking. Very poor instructions.
Erased contacts without my telling it to. Wouldn't pass calls to telephone
system when in series. Many other problems. I sent it back today.

Any suggestions for a better one?

I may be wong but I'm afraid these gadgets may not be as helpful as we
would hope. I would think the computer programs telemarketers use would
change their fake caller id if a call was blocked until it goes through. I
would think life would be much better if the No Call List was enforced and
phone companies protected against fake caller ids and perhaps blocked ids.

What do you think?


I got one and I love it. Well, I like it. Instructions are **** poor and
the user interface is worse. But, it deals with calls that I have
programmed in, and then they seem to stop calling. I get new ones, but
fewer, and then I program those in too.

"Eagle" wrote in
:

KenK has brought this to us :
I got a Pro Call Blocker and found it lacking. Very poor
instructions. Erased contacts without my telling it to. Wouldn't pass
calls to telephone system when in series. Many other problems. I sent
it back today.

Any suggestions for a better one?

I may be wong but I'm afraid these gadgets may not be as helpful as
we would hope. I would think the computer programs telemarketers use
would change their fake caller id if a call was blocked until it goes
through. I would think life would be much better if the No Call List
was enforced and phone companies protected against fake caller ids
and perhaps blocked ids.

What do you think?

TIA

Change your # and unlist it.

My number was never listed. I still get calls.

The new landline phones have a # block button that works.

Details?

Caller ID
gives you the choice of answering the call or ignoring it.

My phone and answering machine don't display them. My answering machine
says the ID but too fast to remember and write down (it saves the id and
repeats it if there ia a message but the telemarketers hang up as soon as
the my answering message comes on and it's obviously an answering
machine). And besides, I'm not sitting there waiting for a ring.




--
You know it's time to clean the refrigerator
when something closes the door from the inside.

On 1/7/2016 12:28 PM, Shade Tree Guy wrote:
On Thursday, January 7, 2016 at 8:48:44 AM UTC-8, KenK wrote:
I got a Pro Call Blocker and found it lacking. Very poor instructions.
Erased contacts without my telling it to. Wouldn't pass calls to telephone
system when in series. Many other problems. I sent it back today.

Any suggestions for a better one?

I may be wong but I'm afraid these gadgets may not be as helpful as we
would hope. I would think the computer programs telemarketers use would
change their fake caller id if a call was blocked until it goes through. I
would think life would be much better if the No Call List was enforced and
phone companies protected against fake caller ids and perhaps blocked ids.

What do you think?

TIA

If the FCC would start to fine the phone networks for every call when these f**kin a**holes use their "service", they'd find a way to cut them off tomorrow


I've been saying that for years. The government and phone company have
to know where these calls are coming from and how to stop them. Their
do not call lists are a joke.

Worse thing for me are the junk faxes because it costs me paper and ink.

Otherwise I don't answer my land line that has the fax and use caller id
on ViOP phone and answering machine to deal with others.

On Thu, 07 Jan 2016 12:16:55 -0500, Dan Espen
wrote:

KenK writes:

I got a Pro Call Blocker and found it lacking. Very poor instructions.
Erased contacts without my telling it to. Wouldn't pass calls to telephone
system when in series. Many other problems. I sent it back today.

Any suggestions for a better one?

I may be wong but I'm afraid these gadgets may not be as helpful as we
would hope. I would think the computer programs telemarketers use would
change their fake caller id if a call was blocked until it goes through. I
would think life would be much better if the No Call List was enforced and
phone companies protected against fake caller ids and perhaps blocked ids.

What do you think?

nomorobo works for me.

Visit www.nomorobo.com.

I agree with what Dan said about nomorobo.

Nomorobo explains how their system works by requiring the incoming
call to ring two phone numbers simultaneously, their system number and
your phone number, to determine if the incoming call is a robo-call.
If the call is a robo-call you will only hear that one ring.

We had an 8 or 10 year old Panasonic cordless phone system that we
recently replaced with a new Panasonic cordless phone system. The new
phone has the option to allow, or not, the first ring of an incoming
call. With that option activated we don't even hear the first ring
anymore.

Shade Tree Guy writes:

On Thursday, January 7, 2016 at 9:17:00 AM UTC-8, net cop wrote:

nomorobo works for me.

Visit www.nomorobo.com.

--
Dan Espen

Even with NMR, I still get a dozen calls a week, even after blocking
20 different numbers from some of the persistent telemarketers

I must be blessed.
Close to 100% effective here.
The best part is being in the shower, or otherwise occupied and
hearing that single ring followed by silence.
Telemarketers can get through, so far, nothing is perfect,
but I know I hear at least 9 blocked calls for every one using
some kind of fake number that can't be blocked.
Only 3 today (so far).

--
Dan Espen

On Thursday, January 7, 2016 at 11:48:44 AM UTC-5, KenK wrote:
I got a Pro Call Blocker and found it lacking. Very poor instructions.
Erased contacts without my telling it to. Wouldn't pass calls to telephone
system when in series. Many other problems. I sent it back today.

Any suggestions for a better one?

I may be wong but I'm afraid these gadgets may not be as helpful as we
would hope. I would think the computer programs telemarketers use would
change their fake caller id if a call was blocked until it goes through. I
would think life would be much better if the No Call List was enforced and
phone companies protected against fake caller ids and perhaps blocked ids.

What do you think?

TIA


Any form, website or company that requires a phone number gets
my landline number. Any person or entity that I trust and *want*
to hear from gets my cell phone number.

My landline phone has a built-in answering machine, i.e. not
voicemail. I *never* answer my landline because no call to that
number ever needs immediate attention.

Rough (made up) numbers:

90% of the time the landline rings and no message is left
after the machine announces the default "We are not
available" message.

10% of the time, a message is left and I deal with it at my
convenience. Since it's a regular answering machine, i.e. not
voicemail, it's just a matter of a few buttons to listen, skip,
erase, etc. I don't have to dial in to voicemail and listen
to annoying voice prompts to handle the messages.

On my cell phone, if I don't recognize the number (rare)
I just let it go to voicemail and check it later.

My system seems to be working because I am not bothered
by telemarketers or robo-calls on my cell phone and I
just delete the few that end up on my landline
answering machine.

On 1/7/2016 2:42 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Thursday, January 7, 2016 at 11:48:44 AM UTC-5, KenK wrote:
I got a Pro Call Blocker and found it lacking. Very poor instructions.
Erased contacts without my telling it to. Wouldn't pass calls to telephone
system when in series. Many other problems. I sent it back today.

Any suggestions for a better one?

I may be wong but I'm afraid these gadgets may not be as helpful as we
would hope. I would think the computer programs telemarketers use would
change their fake caller id if a call was blocked until it goes through. I
would think life would be much better if the No Call List was enforced and
phone companies protected against fake caller ids and perhaps blocked ids.

What do you think?

TIA


Any form, website or company that requires a phone number gets
my landline number. Any person or entity that I trust and *want*
to hear from gets my cell phone number.

My landline phone has a built-in answering machine, i.e. not
voicemail. I *never* answer my landline because no call to that
number ever needs immediate attention.

Rough (made up) numbers:

90% of the time the landline rings and no message is left
after the machine announces the default "We are not
available" message.

10% of the time, a message is left and I deal with it at my
convenience. Since it's a regular answering machine, i.e. not
voicemail, it's just a matter of a few buttons to listen, skip,
erase, etc. I don't have to dial in to voicemail and listen
to annoying voice prompts to handle the messages.

On my cell phone, if I don't recognize the number (rare)
I just let it go to voicemail and check it later.

My system seems to be working because I am not bothered
by telemarketers or robo-calls on my cell phone and I
just delete the few that end up on my landline
answering machine.

I do the same thing with both land line and cell phone.

Occasionally, I'll get a call on the land line and the caller ID will
show my husbands name on it, but he's sitting in the living room
watching tv. How can someone spoof his name like that?


--
Maggie

On 01/07/2016 12:38 PM, Gordon Shumway wrote:

[snip]

Nomorobo explains how their system works by requiring the incoming
call to ring two phone numbers simultaneously, their system number and
your phone number, to determine if the incoming call is a robo-call.
If the call is a robo-call you will only hear that one ring.

How does it determine if its a robo-call? If by number, then its useless
for the vast majority of calls I'm getting now (they keep changing the
number they're "calling from").

--
Mark Lloyd
http://notstupid.us/

"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as
false, and by the rulers as useful." [Seneca the Younger (4? B.C. - 65
A.D.)]

On Thursday, January 7, 2016 at 12:49:24 PM UTC-8, Muggles wrote:

Occasionally, I'll get a call on the land line and the caller ID will
show my husbands name on it, but he's sitting in the living room
watching tv. How can someone spoof his name like that?


--
Maggie

Possible evidence that your husband has been taken over by the "pod people"?

On Thu, 7 Jan 2016 14:49:24 -0600
Muggles wrote:

On 1/7/2016 2:42 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Thursday, January 7, 2016 at 11:48:44 AM UTC-5, KenK wrote:
I got a Pro Call Blocker and found it lacking. Very poor
instructions. Erased contacts without my telling it to. Wouldn't
pass calls to telephone system when in series. Many other
problems. I sent it back today.

Any suggestions for a better one?

I may be wong but I'm afraid these gadgets may not be as helpful
as we would hope. I would think the computer programs
telemarketers use would change their fake caller id if a call was
blocked until it goes through. I would think life would be much
better if the No Call List was enforced and phone companies
protected against fake caller ids and perhaps blocked ids.

What do you think?

TIA


Any form, website or company that requires a phone number gets
my landline number. Any person or entity that I trust and *want*
to hear from gets my cell phone number.

My landline phone has a built-in answering machine, i.e. not
voicemail. I *never* answer my landline because no call to that
number ever needs immediate attention.

Rough (made up) numbers:

90% of the time the landline rings and no message is left
after the machine announces the default "We are not
available" message.

10% of the time, a message is left and I deal with it at my
convenience. Since it's a regular answering machine, i.e. not
voicemail, it's just a matter of a few buttons to listen, skip,
erase, etc. I don't have to dial in to voicemail and listen
to annoying voice prompts to handle the messages.

On my cell phone, if I don't recognize the number (rare)
I just let it go to voicemail and check it later.

My system seems to be working because I am not bothered
by telemarketers or robo-calls on my cell phone and I
just delete the few that end up on my landline
answering machine.

I do the same thing with both land line and cell phone.

Occasionally, I'll get a call on the land line and the caller ID will
show my husbands name on it, but he's sitting in the living room
watching tv. How can someone spoof his name like that?



any common sysop can explain that to you.
Oh wait you claim to have been one, then you
should know.

On 1/7/2016 11:06 AM, KenK wrote:
"Eagle" wrote in
:

KenK has brought this to us :
I got a Pro Call Blocker and found it lacking. Very poor
instructions. Erased contacts without my telling it to. Wouldn't pass
calls to telephone system when in series. Many other problems. I sent
it back today.

Any suggestions for a better one?

I may be wong but I'm afraid these gadgets may not be as helpful as
we would hope. I would think the computer programs telemarketers use
would change their fake caller id if a call was blocked until it goes
through. I would think life would be much better if the No Call List
was enforced and phone companies protected against fake caller ids
and perhaps blocked ids.

What do you think?

TIA

Change your # and unlist it.

My number was never listed. I still get calls.

There's nothing to stop a machine from just dialing every number in a given
exchange and "hoping for a sucker"!

Also, even if you've not listed a number, if you've given it out (to
a business, UPS, etc.) then it's probably leaked out to some database,
somewhere (with your NAME tied to it!)

The new landline phones have a # block button that works.

Details?

Caller ID
gives you the choice of answering the call or ignoring it.

My phone and answering machine don't display them. My answering machine
says the ID but too fast to remember and write down (it saves the id and
repeats it if there ia a message but the telemarketers hang up as soon as
the my answering message comes on and it's obviously an answering
machine). And besides, I'm not sitting there waiting for a ring.

Exactly. You need something to be sitting there waiting for
the ring and THEN making a decision as to whether or not YOU
should be "bothered" by this call! (i.e., don't even let me
HEAR the ring!!)

On 1/7/2016 10:28 AM, Shade Tree Guy wrote:
On Thursday, January 7, 2016 at 8:48:44 AM UTC-8, KenK wrote:
I got a Pro Call Blocker and found it lacking. Very poor instructions.
Erased contacts without my telling it to. Wouldn't pass calls to
telephone system when in series. Many other problems. I sent it back
today.

Any suggestions for a better one?

I may be wong but I'm afraid these gadgets may not be as helpful as we
would hope. I would think the computer programs telemarketers use would
change their fake caller id if a call was blocked until it goes through.
I would think life would be much better if the No Call List was enforced
and phone companies protected against fake caller ids and perhaps blocked
ids.

What do you think?

TIA

If the FCC would start to fine the phone networks for every call when these
f**kin a**holes use their "service", they'd find a way to cut them off
tomorrow

And, should ISP's be fined for delivering unwanted email?
Who decides what is "unwanted"?

The best market driven solution is to charge a fee -- payable to the
recipient! -- to deliver the call. The recipient can then *waive*
that fee (press '*', etc.).

So, friends/folks you want to hear from you learn to press '*'
as a matter of common courtesy. If you forget, you promptly call them
back and "ding" yourself for a call -- which cancels out the call
for which you negligently billed them!

Telemarketers can factor that cost into the price of their wares.
Unwanted contacts would have to find some way to *induce* you to
waive the fee; if you simply hang up on them, they get dinged!

Let the phone company get a commission on these charges -- for the
service they have provided.

On 1/7/2016 1:53 PM, Mark Lloyd wrote:
On 01/07/2016 12:38 PM, Gordon Shumway wrote:

[snip]

Nomorobo explains how their system works by requiring the incoming
call to ring two phone numbers simultaneously, their system number and
your phone number, to determine if the incoming call is a robo-call.
If the call is a robo-call you will only hear that one ring.

How does it determine if its a robo-call? If by number, then its useless for
the vast majority of calls I'm getting now (they keep changing the number
they're "calling from").

It's no different than any other blacklisting technology -- except, that
*you* don't have to maintain the blacklist!

As telemarketers adapt, they'll randomize their use of spoofing numbers more
and any "common" database (e.g., like this) will loose its effectiveness.

You'll also see more obvious attempts to steal the *entire* contents of
your address book (think about your smart phone that is infectable!)
for lists of "valid" phone numbers.

What happens when TelemarketerInc starts using your Mom's phone number
in their CID spoofing? Not only will she not be able to call *you*
but she'll also not be able to call anyone else who uses the service!

Additionally, it leaks all your "metadata" to a third party -- that
may or may not be covered by any privacy legislation regarding "telephone
carriers".

On Thu, 7 Jan 2016 14:53:05 -0600, Mark Lloyd
wrote:

On 01/07/2016 12:38 PM, Gordon Shumway wrote:

[snip]

Nomorobo explains how their system works by requiring the incoming
call to ring two phone numbers simultaneously, their system number and
your phone number, to determine if the incoming call is a robo-call.
If the call is a robo-call you will only hear that one ring.

How does it determine if its a robo-call? If by number, then its useless
for the vast majority of calls I'm getting now (they keep changing the
number they're "calling from").

Go to their website and see for yourself.

On 1/7/2016 2:54 PM, Shade Tree Guy wrote:
On Thursday, January 7, 2016 at 12:49:24 PM UTC-8, Muggles wrote:

Occasionally, I'll get a call on the land line and the caller ID will
show my husbands name on it, but he's sitting in the living room
watching tv. How can someone spoof his name like that?


--
Maggie

Possible evidence that your husband has been taken over by the "pod people"?


LOL

--
Maggie

On Thursday, January 7, 2016 at 1:02:45 PM UTC-8, Don Y wrote:
On 1/7/2016 10:28 AM, Shade Tree Guy wrote:

If the FCC would start to fine the phone networks for every call when these
f**kin a**holes use their "service", they'd find a way to cut them off
tomorrow

And, should ISP's be fined for delivering unwanted email?

Nope, because unwanted e-mails aren't against FCC rules (AFAIK)

On Thursday, January 7, 2016 at 2:42:56 PM UTC-6, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Thursday, January 7, 2016 at 11:48:44 AM UTC-5, KenK wrote:
I got a Pro Call Blocker and found it lacking. Very poor instructions.
Erased contacts without my telling it to. Wouldn't pass calls to telephone
system when in series. Many other problems. I sent it back today.

Any suggestions for a better one?

I may be wong but I'm afraid these gadgets may not be as helpful as we
would hope. I would think the computer programs telemarketers use would
change their fake caller id if a call was blocked until it goes through.. I
would think life would be much better if the No Call List was enforced and
phone companies protected against fake caller ids and perhaps blocked ids.

What do you think?

TIA


Any form, website or company that requires a phone number gets
my landline number. Any person or entity that I trust and *want*
to hear from gets my cell phone number.

My landline phone has a built-in answering machine, i.e. not
voicemail. I *never* answer my landline because no call to that
number ever needs immediate attention.

Rough (made up) numbers:

90% of the time the landline rings and no message is left
after the machine announces the default "We are not
available" message.

10% of the time, a message is left and I deal with it at my
convenience. Since it's a regular answering machine, i.e. not
voicemail, it's just a matter of a few buttons to listen, skip,
erase, etc. I don't have to dial in to voicemail and listen
to annoying voice prompts to handle the messages.

On my cell phone, if I don't recognize the number (rare)
I just let it go to voicemail and check it later.

My system seems to be working because I am not bothered
by telemarketers or robo-calls on my cell phone and I
just delete the few that end up on my landline
answering machine.

I have two working magicJacks and I give out the USB dongle number to anyone who asks for a phone number. Unanswered magicJack calls go to voicemail that can be accessed anywhere in the world through my Email. I never hear a ring unless I'm sitting in front of one of my Windows computers with a magicJack hooked up. Unfortunately, magicJack doesn't work on my Chromebook so all calls go to my Email anyway. It's amazing how many telepests call my magicJack because I gave my number to a bank, insurance company or medical care organization. $35 a year to have a stealth phone number is a bargain. I was an early adopter and got my first magicJack in 2007 when they first came out. A roommate broke that magicJack in 2012 but I kept paying for the number after I bought another magicJack so I had a number that would never bother me but would go to voicemail which I responded to if it was actually someone, a company or an organization I needed to get in touch with. You can purchase a magicJack, activate it but you don't have to hook it up. You will have a stealth phone number not connected with your physical address. ヽ(€¢€¿€¢)ノ

[8~{} Uncle Stealth Monster

On Thursday, January 7, 2016 at 11:34:52 AM UTC-6, taxed and spent wrote:

"KenK" wrote in message

I got a Pro Call Blocker and found it lacking. Very poor instructions.
Erased contacts without my telling it to. Wouldn't pass calls to telephone
system when in series. Many other problems. I sent it back today.

Any suggestions for a better one?

I got one and I love it. Well, I like it. Instructions are **** poor and
the user interface is worse. But, it deals with calls that I have
programmed in, and then they seem to stop calling. I get new ones, but
fewer, and then I program those in too.


I've had one now about 3 years and couldn't do without it.
If it should die on me I'd be online buying another one
pronto.

The instructions are not fabulous but easily enough
to be understood and it has cut those robo calls to almost
nil. When a new one arrives it immediately gets blacklisted.

On Thursday, January 7, 2016 at 12:39:27 PM UTC-6, Gordon Shumway wrote:

I agree with what Dan said about nomorobo.

Nomorobo explains how their system works by requiring the incoming
call to ring two phone numbers simultaneously, their system number and
your phone number, to determine if the incoming call is a robo-call.
If the call is a robo-call you will only hear that one ring.


I'm sure Nomorobo is fabulous but your local phone company
has to offer/subscribe to it for a person to use it. My
phone company does not, thus the Pro Call Blocker.

On Thursday, January 7, 2016 at 11:48:44 AM UTC-5, KenK wrote:
I got a Pro Call Blocker and found it lacking. Very poor instructions.
Erased contacts without my telling it to. Wouldn't pass calls to telephone
system when in series. Many other problems. I sent it back today.

Any suggestions for a better one?


If you're willing to change your phone service, Ooma VOIP has extensive
call blocking choices, everything from your own personal list, to one
that Ooma generates, etc. You'd have to get their premier service,
which is about $14 a month. The eqpt is $120, or there ones available
on Ebay for half that.

And guess just where is a popular resource
for these fraudsters - domestic and overseas,
to get your phone#s?...

Per Dan Espen:
nomorobo works for me.

Visit www.nomorobo.com.

They probably tell you on the web site, but just to prime you....
NoMoRobo requires that you have two extra-charge features on your phone:
CallerID and Simultaneous Ring.
--
Pete Cresswell

Per KenK:
Any suggestions for a better one?

My little personal obsession is that Challenge-Response is the only
workable solution - for now.

e.g.

"Ring, Ring" (but the phone's ringer is silent at this point)

"Hello, this is the Smith's. Press 1 for Joe, Press 2 for Sue..... and
so-forth"

Ideally, you accompany that feature with a Gold List so that known
callers do not get the prompt and the phone just rings until you or the
answering machine answers it.

Either way you need to train people you know to press, for instance, "9"
or "88".... or whatever to make the phone ring.

Depending on how it's set up, failure would flip the caller to an
answering machine or just hang up on them.

Yeah, it's a hassle.... but so is a 5:1 ratio for junk calls to legit
calls.... and I am about *that* far from implementing it via my VOIP
provider.
--
Pete Cresswell

Per ItsJoanNotJoann:
I'm sure Nomorobo is fabulous but your local phone company
has to offer/subscribe to it for a person to use it. My
phone company does not, thus the Pro Call Blocker.

If you have a broadband Internet connection you are not limited to your
phone company.

You can install a little black box between the phone line and your
Internet connection and subscribe to a Voice Over Internet Protocol
service.

That's what I do for my outgoing non-800, non-911 calls.

Incoming are still via the phone company, so my phone number is
registered with them.

One gotcha is that you have to set up the box. Not rocket
science, but it does take some reading of instructions and time.

My little black box is a LinkSys SPA3102.

My VOIP provider is CallCentric.com.

Anybody wants my setup parms for the box, let me know and I will post
them.


Both have been working for about five years with only the occasional (as
in 2x per year) need to unplug the box and then plug it back in again.

Only reason I have kept the phone company account are doubts about 911
service under a VOIP provider and the chance, however small, of
something going wrong with porting my phone number from the phone
company to the VOIP provider..... And I suspect my doubts are misplaced.
--
Pete Cresswell

Per Frank:
I've been saying that for years. The government and phone company have
to know where these calls are coming from and how to stop them. Their
do not call lists are a joke.

- The phone companies are making money on those calls.

- Things get more complicated when those calls originate
offshore and go through multiple VOIP relays. (whatever
*those* are.... but I've got a half-dozen lame letters
from the Pennsylvania AG's office citing that as the
reason they no longer can do anything.

OTOH, I have to think it's a money/resources thing
because it would seem that they could set up honey pots
and prosecute once money changes hands.
--
Pete Cresswell

Per Don Y:
The best market driven solution is to charge a fee -- payable to the
recipient! -- to deliver the call. The recipient can then *waive*
that fee (press '*', etc.).

I have always suspected that telephone solicitor calls to cell phones of
people in various European countries (where the caller pays
for the air time) are rare.

Anybody know ?
--
Pete Cresswell

Per Don Y:
The best market driven solution is to charge a fee -- payable to the
recipient! -- to deliver the call. The recipient can then *waive*
that fee (press '*', etc.).

So, friends/folks you want to hear from you learn to press '*'
as a matter of common courtesy. If you forget, you promptly call them
back and "ding" yourself for a call -- which cancels out the call
for which you negligently billed them!

Telemarketers can factor that cost into the price of their wares.
Unwanted contacts would have to find some way to *induce* you to
waive the fee; if you simply hang up on them, they get dinged!

That is the most sensible-sounding solution I have heard so far - from
anybody, anywhere.

"Sounding" because I have no clue as to the technological or political
(think industry "lobbying") ins-and-outs of it.
--
Pete Cresswell

Mark Lloyd writes:

On 01/07/2016 12:38 PM, Gordon Shumway wrote:

[snip]

Nomorobo explains how their system works by requiring the incoming
call to ring two phone numbers simultaneously, their system number and
your phone number, to determine if the incoming call is a robo-call.
If the call is a robo-call you will only hear that one ring.

How does it determine if its a robo-call? If by number, then its
useless for the vast majority of calls I'm getting now (they keep
changing the number they're "calling from").

As I said, works for me.

They get the block list from the users.
Like me.

If a call gets through and it has a legitimate number I enter it
into their block list, through, what they call the "dashboard".

Since they have lots of users, and approve new entries pretty quick,
I'm getting a high effective rate.

Unless they change the number on every call, nomorobo will catch up.

For a while, I was getting robo calls from the same exchange that
I live in. I use Verizon's block list to block them as the telemarketer
is impersonating some neighbor and I don't want nomorobo to block a
neighbor. I haven't seen one of those in ages though.

I can assure you, the service is far from useless.

--
Dan Espen

On 1/7/2016 11:58 AM, Dan Espen wrote:
Shade Tree Guy writes:

On Thursday, January 7, 2016 at 9:17:00 AM UTC-8, net cop wrote:

nomorobo works for me.

Visit www.nomorobo.com.

--
Dan Espen

Even with NMR, I still get a dozen calls a week, even after blocking
20 different numbers from some of the persistent telemarketers

I must be blessed.
Close to 100% effective here.
The best part is being in the shower, or otherwise occupied and
hearing that single ring followed by silence.
Telemarketers can get through, so far, nothing is perfect,
but I know I hear at least 9 blocked calls for every one using
some kind of fake number that can't be blocked.
Only 3 today (so far).

I have RingTo VOIP. I guess they have a call blocker because I get very
few junk calls, as long as I wait until the third ring to answer. You
can also add specific numbers to block.

Plus RingTo is free. Only have to pay $12 per year for E911 service.
Plus the start-up cost of an Obi SIP adapter.
http://www.obitalk.com/info/asp/ringto.

On 1/7/2016 3:49 PM, Muggles wrote:
On 1/7/2016 2:42 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Thursday, January 7, 2016 at 11:48:44 AM UTC-5, KenK wrote:
I got a Pro Call Blocker and found it lacking. Very poor instructions.
Erased contacts without my telling it to. Wouldn't pass calls to telephone
system when in series. Many other problems. I sent it back today.

Any suggestions for a better one?

I may be wong but I'm afraid these gadgets may not be as helpful as we
would hope. I would think the computer programs telemarketers use would
change their fake caller id if a call was blocked until it goes through. I
would think life would be much better if the No Call List was enforced and
phone companies protected against fake caller ids and perhaps blocked ids.

What do you think?

TIA


Any form, website or company that requires a phone number gets
my landline number. Any person or entity that I trust and *want*
to hear from gets my cell phone number.

My landline phone has a built-in answering machine, i.e. not
voicemail. I *never* answer my landline because no call to that
number ever needs immediate attention.

Rough (made up) numbers:

90% of the time the landline rings and no message is left
after the machine announces the default "We are not
available" message.

10% of the time, a message is left and I deal with it at my
convenience. Since it's a regular answering machine, i.e. not
voicemail, it's just a matter of a few buttons to listen, skip,
erase, etc. I don't have to dial in to voicemail and listen
to annoying voice prompts to handle the messages.

On my cell phone, if I don't recognize the number (rare)
I just let it go to voicemail and check it later.

My system seems to be working because I am not bothered
by telemarketers or robo-calls on my cell phone and I
just delete the few that end up on my landline
answering machine.

I do the same thing with both land line and cell phone.

Occasionally, I'll get a call on the land line and the caller ID will
show my husbands name on it, but he's sitting in the living room
watching tv. How can someone spoof his name like that?



I, too, have gotten calls from myself.

Wife gets mad at me because I often pick up and become a loose cannon.

Never know myself what I might say.

She tells me I could go to jail for asking to speak to a white person or
something like that.

I tell her that if they come after me, I will be called a national hero

On 1/8/2016 11:16 AM, Frank wrote:

snip

I, too, have gotten calls from myself.

Wife gets mad at me because I often pick up and become a loose cannon.

Never know myself what I might say.

She tells me I could go to jail for asking to speak to a white person or
something like that.

I tell her that if they come after me, I will be called a national hero

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIVfrBFc5og

On 1/8/2016 1:16 PM, Frank wrote:
On 1/7/2016 3:49 PM, Muggles wrote:

How can someone spoof his name like that?


I, too, have gotten calls from myself.

Wife gets mad at me because I often pick up and become a loose cannon.

Never know myself what I might say.

She tells me I could go to jail for asking to speak to a white person or
something like that.

I tell her that if they come after me, I will be called a national hero

LOL I like you're approach!

--
Maggie

On Thursday, January 7, 2016 at 11:48:44 AM UTC-5, KenK wrote:
I got a Pro Call Blocker and found it lacking. Very poor instructions.
Erased contacts without my telling it to. Wouldn't pass calls to telephone
system when in series. Many other problems. I sent it back today.

Any suggestions for a better one?

I may be wong but I'm afraid these gadgets may not be as helpful as we
would hope. I would think the computer programs telemarketers use would
change their fake caller id if a call was blocked until it goes through. I
would think life would be much better if the No Call List was enforced and
phone companies protected against fake caller ids and perhaps blocked ids.

What do you think?

I dumped my landline and put my cell phone on "airplane mode" at
bedtime.

Cindy Hamilton