steveg
Making a new reply.
Registered: 04/19/02
Posts: 27495
Loc: D'OHio
Despite being listed for many years on the Do Not Call registry, I still get annoying calls from time to time on my cell phone (which is my only phone). But now that I took a deal from Time Warner that included digital phone — which I'm using strictly for a fax line — I'm getting inundated with junk calls. I immediately registered that number, and I know it can take up to 90 days for the registry to update, but this is INSANE!
Since my MFC does not have a handset or any voice capability, I have a cheapie phone that can be plugged into its line 2 jack. I've installed Time Warner's My Phone app on my Mac and iPhone, so when these annoying calls come in, the caller ID is captured and I can call them back and counter-annoy them!
Some callers have an opt-out that allows you to punch in the number you want removed, so I can do that on the iPhone (and I opt-out both phones). But for others, I have to plug the spare phone into the MFC and make the call from that number. What. A. PIA!
I expect that this will diminish over the next few months, but DAYAM!
It's why whenever I get a nuisance call, I send a feedback to Callercenter and report the phone number. It's posted on the website and everybody sees it. That way, others are warned.
The ones I hate are the ones soliciting donations to like police auxiliary, firefighters fund, you name it. Sympathetic as I am to those services, if you donate to a single one you will be inundated by dozens more. I am not Bill Gates. I don't have deep pockets.
Pirate
Old And In The Way
Registered: 02/21/07
Posts: 3284
Loc: Missouri
Or the ones that are not human operators, bots that drone on and on and you can not shut them up or even ask for a supervisor to inform them you are on the DNC list
steveg
Making a new reply.
Registered: 04/19/02
Posts: 27495
Loc: D'OHio
It seems that Monday is the big day for these parasites. I had eight junk calls Monday, and nothing Tuesday except for one wrong number (someone looking for whomever had this number last — and yeah, I looked up the history of the number so I can let those callers know that party ain't here no more).
I figure it'll subside in a month or two, and then I can delete the TW app and put the handset in a drawer.
Biggerfoot
I invented modding!
Registered: 10/11/02
Posts: 4131
I really miss ATT and their Privacy Manager. It stopped virtually all of the SPAM calls. It was about $4 a month though.
With Time Warner, you are able to block 30 calls but you have to manually put the number in on their website. It was handy though during the elections where you got those bot calls.
I think some of the newer Panasonic phone can also block calls.
I wish there was a way to block the robo calls before they fill up voice mail.
I hate it when I have my home phone forwarded to my mobile...sure enough SPAM calls while hiking in the middle of nowhere!
steveg
Making a new reply.
Registered: 04/19/02
Posts: 27495
Loc: D'OHio
Call blocking only works on legitimate numbers. Problem is, so many of these junk calls are made using spoofed caller IDs.
I get very few junk calls on my cell phone. But one that I can count on getting a couple of times a month is the Reduce your credit card interest rate scam. Some give you an opt-out prompt to have your number scrubbed. But most variations don't. So for the latter, I take the Don't bust a ball-buster's balls approach. I stay on the line and either lead the rep on using an over-the-top foreign accent and giving him/her all kinds of bogus information to totally flummox them, or I simply ask if they can promise me a rate as low as their IQ — at which point the line goes stone dead!