Junk : Legitimate Phone Calls - Your Ratio ?

[Dan Espen]

I'd settle for blocks put on any call with a forged originating number or caller id. I suppose that would be some mandatory government prescribed equipment upgrades. Not sure how that would be perceived. There's probably some lobby that insists they need to make number and ID faked calls.

To give the US government some credit, they did come up with the do not call list, which worked pretty well for a while. They've also fined a few of the miscreants. A few times they've solicited input from the general public for advice on a fix. Recently they ruled that nomorobo is not violating any laws.

I suppose with terrorists blowing things up and shooting civilians this isn't the governments highest priority.

[Micky]

Yes. I don't think you're using it right.

Plus..

I thought you were going to say "moot for me" or "in my case", but you continue to sound like because it doesn't work for you it doesn't work for anyone.

[Micky]

I totally forgot that one of my friends now lives in Georgia. He sent me an email saying he tried to call me, and I called him back.

I told him his area code, 678, sounded like it was a spammer or foreign country and he said he felt the same way.

[Stormin Mormon]

From what I read on Facebook, global climate change is the Obama admin highest priority.

[Nil]

On 01 Dec 2015, Moe DeLoughan wrote in alt.home.repair:

Quite right. The DNC list is and has always been limited in scope and effectiveness. To call it "moot" as if it suddenly went bad is to misunderstand it. It works about as well now as it ever did. The difference is that there are lots and lots of bad guys who know they can ignore it with impunity.

After I first signed up for the DNC, the number of sales calls from legit companies really did decline drastically. Some years later I suddenly started receiving more calls, and then discovered I had somehow fallen off the list. I signed up again and the calls again abated. Nowadays the only calls I get that should be covered by the DNC are from some shady local chimney sweep who calls me once or twice a year, even though I have no chimney. Otherwise, nearly all other non- personal calls are from scamming robocallers who would never have respected the DNC anyway.

[Nil]

On 01 Dec 2015, Vic Smith wrote in alt.home.repair:

I've been told, and I believe it, that if you answer the phone at all you've already done the damage. You will have verified that your number is valid and it will then be placed on a list of vetted phone numbers and sold. In other words, just by answering you have assured that you will be receiving more calls.

My strategy is to never answer a call whose caller ID I don't recognize. My phone speaks the ID so I don't even need to get up. A real caller will leave a voice mail. Like I mentioned earlier, if the same bogus number calls again more than 3 or 4 times I block it.

[Don Y]

My first design was essentially, "type the magic digit". But, you can't give them more than one chance -- otherwise they unconditionally type 0123456789.

Remember, if it's a machine you're dealing with, it will have infinite patience and determination! It will keep trying to call you, over and over!

A trick I learned when "protecting" products from counterfeiting was to let the "thief" think he'd succeeded, then block him some time later. So, they don't know which "test" they failed.

"Please enter your access code:"

[Don Y]

That begets a slippery slope. If I do something using my internet connection, should my ISP be financially liable?

The market driven solution is to provide a service whereby the caller is CHARGED to place a call to a phone number. The CALLEE (and only the callee) can elect to issue a CREDIT for each call he is willing to ACCEPT.

So, I have an incentive to answer the phone -- I get a "cut" out of the charge! The phone company has an incentive -- they get a cut, too!

Friends calling would obviously result in your pressing the "CREDIT button". Telemarketers would be desperate to get you to do so -- they simply couldn't stay afloat if they had to PAY (you!) for every call! Even if it was something as trivial as

10c!

[Tekkie®]

Dan Espen posted for all of us...

So how do I sign up? I've had many calls from her...

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per Micky:

I'll take that....

My assumption being that those not getting my volume of junk calls are not getting them for some other reason than the DNC lists.

It's like the old joke where a guy is walking around Manhattan blowing a whistle.

"Why are you blowing that whistle ?"

"To keep the wild elephants away."

"But the nearest wild elephants are in Africa."

"See !"....

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per Nil:

That has not been my experience.

I got a laugh out of one call:

I asked the caller "Have you ever heard of the Do-Not-Call List ?"

His reply: "How about the Do-Not-Care-List ?... Click !....

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per Don Y:

That sounds like an upside to the European practice of billing the caller for cell phone airtime.

[Dan Espen]

Pretty sure something on that page will link you to the right place. I've gotten a lot of calls too. Not sure if I'll take the time though...

[Nil]

On 01 Dec 2015, "(PeteCresswell)" wrote in alt.home.repair:

I think you miss my point. The guy who Does-Not-Care would never have cared. The DNC List would never have have worked against him, even on Day 1. The list was never expected to prevent all unwanted calls, even though that's what most people want to believe.

That is a pretty funny response, though. I bet you're not the first person he used it on.

[thekmanrocks]

Pete Creswell wrote: "Per [e-mail]:

Maybe.... check my later post in the thread.

[Andy]

You can get rid of most junk callers by using this ringtone.

Record it at the beginning of your message on your answering machine.

(I edited out the voice from the ringtone.)

Andy

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

I get some of those, even though we're in an area where you're not allowed to choose an electricity provider.

BTW, we get lower rates.

[Micky]

As I said before, I used to get a lot of spam calls before the DNC but it went down and stayed down.

I did get my first or second call about electric rates today. The combination of all the background noise at his end, and his accent, I couldn't understand most of what he said. There really is the option now to change companies, and he might be for real. But apparently the cheapest rate-giver changes weekly so it doesn't seem worth it. One guy came around in person 15 months ago. They're all taught a pitch which is too demanding. "Let me see your electric bill." Who, you?

[gfretwell]

I wondered if that worked myself. It probably will unhook a robo call but they don't usually talk to a machine anyway.

[Mark Lloyd]

[snip]

Mostly sounds good. What happens when friends call and you're not home?