I have had one of those challenge-response things. It didn't do much better than just an answering machine.
A few of the people who called me would press the button. Most wouldn't, so I would still need to have the phone ring so I could get the caller ID and answer (pressing the key for them).
I didn't have an exception list like you did. It would still be a problem (new important callers who won't press the key).
Often, there is a delay (sometimes a few seconds) while the "dialer" tries to track down a "human" to speak with you.
CID is a useless service. It is too easily spoofed. You need an authentication method that *you* control, not one that TPC *poorly* implements!
See above. Regardless of how "smart" it is, you're still relying on the information provided by the CID service (or, dealing with "blocked").
Yes, if *all* it does is require a particular DTMF tone-pair, then anything above $5 is ridiculous (e.g., DX.com sorts of prices)
We've adopted a simple solution in the past: answering machine with "factory default" outgoing message (so no information about our identities is revealed, why we aren't answering the phone, etc. Folks who know us don't need that information; folks that don't,
*shouldn't* need it!).The ringer is also turned off (unless we are expecting a "call back" from a friend, doctor, etc.). Every day or two, we notice if there are any messages for us and screen them when we are in the mood. Machine is digital (aren't they all, nowadays) so *if* a caller was unsolicited, just pressing ERASE after the first two words is enough to delete the message and advance to the next. Callers who don't leave messages cost us nothing (time).
This approach works without incurring the cost of (spoofable and therefore worthless) CID service. The downside is we don't see messages for hours or days at a time. OTOH, friends know they can more promptly reach us via other means.
If all of your callers are made aware of it, you can also eliminate the outbound message entirely (IME, this makes callers very uneasy -- despite the fact that they should instinctively *know* that the "beep" means "leave your message, now"). Or, replace it with the "service disconnected" message. Some robodialers will detect the pipe tones at the start of the message and remove your name from their list automatically.
I've been trying to come up with an interactive scheme that would allow the "attendant" to screen the calls in real time. I.e., quizzing callers to verify their identities. Presumably, that would eliminate the "automated" callers who wouldn't be able to comprehend the questions asked of them: "Press to be connected" as any "standardized" number could easily be handled by a dialer knowing that number a priori
"Press to be disconnected, and to be connected" as a trivial workaround would be to press *all* digits in a quick burst to defeat the previous option.
"What's ?" to try the patience of a human solicitor. etc.
For frequent callers, I am hoping to use speaker recognition techniques to make *their* experience less tedious (like your secretary recognizing your wife's voice and putting her through, automatically)
And you don't get calls from real people you want or need to talk to.
Anyway, I've been hearing about this use of SIT for a long time now. Wouldn't the robocaller machines been adapted already?
When I lived in Ft. Worth (more than 25 years ago) I had "926" in my phone number. Once I got a call from a boy saying "I want some pussy.". Apparently, he thought he was dialing a 976 number (these were link 900 numbers).
But there are other choices, even less expensive than what you pay. For example I use PhonePower and pay them about $5 a month.
People who *know* you and your practices adapt easily.
Where you get screwed is the folks who contact you only occasionally. Or, who may "vary" with each contact (e.g., someone calling from your doctor's office, the public library, a friend who's forgotten this idiosyncrasy, etc.)
That;s why its better to engage them interactively. Someone from your doctor's office is more likely to "comply" with some minor inconvenience in contacting you ("Please press 3") than they would "remember" the service disconnected message.
If you answer on a low ring count, there's no real way they can differentiate between a genuine message and a spoof. And, what do they do if they *suspect* it isn't genuine? Remain on the line and see if the message repeats? Or, if the connection is dropped?
Ideally, you are "listening" during the outgoing message (announcement) so legitimate callers can short-circuit the message and get to the *real* answering machine (or, cause a ring-thru).
While most of these firms are annoying, it really wouldn't be *smart* for them to persist. If you've gone to these lengths, it's because you are UNLIKELY to ever accept any of their "offers".
I have a prepaid flip phone, which I dont use very much. It's mostly just for emergency use. I was accumulating too many minutes, (since I have to buy more minutes every 3 months, whether I need them or not).
The phone does have very basic internet ability, so I can get weather info, get emails, connect to Google, and go to basic websites. However, it will NOT play videos on Youtube, or load an Ebay page, or anything like that. It does have a built in FACEBOOK icon, and I refuse to use Facebook on my computer, knowing they invade privacy, etc.
But I signed up for Facebook on the phone, just to be able to have minumal access to a few out of state relatives that have been begging me to join Facebook. I figured that if it became a problem, all I would have to do was buy a new flip phone, to change the number, and those phones are regularly on sale for $12.
Within a few days after signing up with Facebook, I began getting calls from unknown sources, which were usually hangup calls. (I dont normally leave my cellphone turned on). And using FB to contact the people I wanted, was slower than using a dialup connection on a computer, (with all the overloaded crap on FB). Soon, I was using up all the spare minutes on my phone, just waiting for something to load.
The amount of "UNKNOWN" calls continued to increase, yet I only had 3 people that I know, subscribed (Friends) on FB.
I unsubscribed to FB, and most of those "UNKNOWN" calls ceased. That was at least 2 years ago. I still have that same phone and rarely get unknown calls now. Rather than waste my time on FB, I just use up my spare minutes CALLING those relatives now, and it's much more personal and enjoyable!
Correct. Inform the few that you really need or want to talk to. The rest can hang up. Those that know me can call my cell phone.
Yes. Many just start in with their message and the answering machine starts recording. That includes my dentist's office as I found out last week. However, it knocked out about 30% or so of the junk calls and all calls from real live beggars. I have the answering machine to not ring at all.
Why would nobody be on the line? Doesn't make sense unless it's harassment. Change your phone number.
Such call are, in general, already illegal in the United States, and have been for some years.
Robo-dialing and the playing of automated announcements are not permitted. Making marketing calls to people who have registered their phone number on the "Do Not Call" list is explicitly illegal.
The law has next to no teeth, though. It is rare for the authorities to actually prosecute cases - it takes a *lot* of complaints to pressure them into doing the "legwork" needed to trace back these sorts of calls to the originator(s), and gather the evidence needed to secure a criminal conviction or a civil fine.
If I recall, the law does give the offended consumer (who receives such calls) the right of private action - i.e. the right to file a lawsuit in civil court against the marketer. Unfortunately (as with junk fakes) it is both difficult and expensive to track down the offender, collect proof that s/he was the one who called, identify the business or business owner, file suit, serve the suit, go to court, make your case, win, get a judgement, and then actually collect.
A lot of these calls come from "boiler room" telemarketing operations, which can set up and shut down on a moment's notice. By using Voice over IP they can make calls to anywhere, from anywhere, with excellent anonymity. And, a fair number of such calls are now originated from outside the U.S., so applying the TCPA law becomes almost impossible.
A couple of years ago, I switched my wife's business landline over from a dedicated hard-line to a voice-over-IP provider. The incoming call comes to an Asterisk server I run. It has a multi-layer defense against junk calls:
- Any call which is on our private "blacklist" is immediately rejected with a "CONGESTION" error.
- Calls from outside our local area codes go to a "Please wait to be connected" voice message, and then a 10-to-15 second delay before the phone / answering machine are rung. This gets rid of a lot of junk calls - they don't hang on the line long enough to get past the delay.
- I can dial "666" from any of our VoIP phones, and the system will read back the number of the last call on her line. I can then hit "6" to add it to the blacklist. If I head a ring-no-answer from her office I call 666, write down the number, run a quick Web check to see if there are telemarketing complaints against it, and if so, call back and "6" it to the blacklist.
I'm strongly tempted to add an automatic Web lookup to the "telemarketing complaint" web site, while the call is still in progress (or immediately after) and blacklist numbers that have been mentioned repeatedly or recently.
Unfortunately, none of the above helps with our main home land-line, which is still olde-fashioned analog (I don't want to get rid of it as it's pretty certain to work even during a power failure or Internet outage).
| But there are other choices, even less expensive than what you pay. | For example I use PhonePower and pay them about $5 a month. |
That's VoIP. We're talking about real phones.
That was just a small portion of the "Change" that Obummer has given us that we didn't want.
You may not want oligarchs, neither do I, but you probably voted for the all mighty supreme leader who rules without regard for our constitution, the will of the people or the safety of our country.
Nobody is holding a gun to your head demanding you continue with that company are they. You are free to choose any provider you wish.
You poor, poor, helpless child.
Per Unquestionably Confused:
When I'm feeling particularly raggy, I tell them "Look, think this through: I am on that list because I do not want strangers calling me - and I could care less who paid off who to get an exception... and you could have avoided this little ration by consulting the No-Call list."
Totally useless, of course. The poor schlemiel that's calling is probably making eight bucks an hour and hasn't seen daylight for 10 hours... but it gets it out of my system.
One thing that I have tried lately - which seems to help a little - is answering in a very soft voice.... loud enough so that somebody on the other end can hear it, but (I fantasize) not loud enough to computer the sensing software that lights up my number on some telephone solicitor's screen, or to trigger the delivery of the robo call.
I answer that way, wait about 1.5 seconds and then hang up if no response. At least one person I know has a cell phone where that strategy winds up having me hang up on them.... but then they call back and all is well. You're not there when I pick up? Oh well...
The ultimate answer, of course, is challenge-response.... but, so far, I have been reluctant to give up hard-wired 911 access in favor of the VOIP I would need to implement that. OTOH, if I really wanted to suck it up and spend some man hours, I guess I could learn how to install a telephone exchange server on my 24-7 PC.... but I haven't gone there yet.
You did not read my earlier reply.
A robocall is initiated by a computer, not a person. When you answer, the computer is supposed to connect you to a live pitchman. Sometimes, however, the call center is understaffed, which means there is no available pitchman. If you stay on the line and repeatedly say "Hello", you might eventually connect to a live person.
Quite a lot of these callers are using predictive or "robo-dialing" systems. Their computer system calls phone numbers, and tries to detect the presence of a "human answer" - somebody who picks up and says "Hello?" or something like that.
Only when the computer detects a human answer, does it start playing its recorded sales pitch, or ring the call through to a human telemarketer who reads the pitch. If the computer detects what sounds like an answering machine message, it just hangs up. If the computer detects a human answer, but all of the human telemarketers are busy annoying other consumers, the computer hangs up.
In some other cases, the telemarketers seem to be making short calls (with no content) in the hope that people will see the "missed call" indication on their Caller ID system, and call back... at which point the marketer tries their sales pitch. This may be a somewhat feeble attempt to avoid the Do Not Call list, because the marketer didn't
*technically* make a sales call to the consumer (just a call with no message) and the consumer ended up calling the marketer back and is thus "fair game" for a sales pitch.Since many of these robo-dialers work their way through whole ranges of phone numbers, doing so won't help much.
| Nobody is holding a gun to your head demanding you continue with that | company are they. You are free to choose any provider you wish. |
No. That's the point. As I explained and you apparently missed, there are two options. They both charge the same rate. Like most neighborhoods, there's a duopoly that's functionally a monopoly. (Many people don't even have that much "choice".)
There was an interesting article this past week about a software developer who's selling his new house because he can't get cable service, despite officially having a choice of several companies. It throws some light on the effects of the pro-big-business, anti-citizen position you're espousing:
An interesting detail of that story is that the man lives in one of 20 states where lobbyists have managed to get laws passed prohibiting municipal broadband service being sold to individuals. It so happens that there is a municipal line running near the man's house, but it's illegal for them to give him service. That would be "unfair competition"!
I bought this on Amazon. Works great. $40 Has a white list and black list as well as a screening mode.
SENTRY Dual Mode Call Blocker. Block 100% Robo Calls. Stop All Junk Calls, Election Calls, Survey Calls. 9999 Number Capacity
I like it. There is only one problem. It would cost me almost $10/month. I do not have caller ID. The charge for it runs almost $10/month.
Someday FiOS will arrive. Then caller ID will be included,
I am fully aware of Voice over IP. I am not interested.
Don.
There are more than those two options as others have pointed out. You said you didn't want VOIP. Well, that was one choice you made. Another choice you have is to have no phone at all.
Be that as it may, the market will seek it's own level and the consumers will continue to pay what is charged until they feel the price is too high. It's the old supply and demand thing.
Previously you complained about Citizen protection from corporate exploitation has gone way downhill in the US. Cite some examples of this exploitation. From the current administration I'm only seeing exploitation from the government. That will change
Tried this method for a few months with very limited success. Switched to nomiribo and mostly eliminated my problem. Bought a $90 Teleblocker and problem totally solved.
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