Phone solicitations going robotic

[FIREd]

Also I'd add that your cell phones are powered and need to be recharged. This could be a problem if you don't have a backup alternative.

We have cordless landline phones but that's why I keep an old phone around that doesn't require charging (gets power from the telephone loop).

When we were without power for almost a week this spring, our old corded phone and the landline really helped with DW's business. We were trying to conserve batteries on our cell phones and redirected all business calls to the landline.

 

[REWahoo]

We don't care. We don't have to. We're the Phone Company.

Of course, in this day and age where dropping the land line and going only with cell phones (or other voice over IP service) is an option, maybe they need to start caring...

Earlier this year copper thieves climbed the utility poles and carted off several hundred feet of phone cable in the subdivision adjoining ours. They were without land line phone service for more than a week.

"We're aware of the problem and we have our best people working on it."

 

[Free To Canoe]

We actually received cash money for turning in people who illegally called us even though we were on the do not call list. This was in CA about year 2005. I think it was $70 or so.

 

[M Paquette]

Would a land line really be more reliable in an earthquake than a cell phone?

I'm not in earthquake country and haven't given it much thought, but it would seem miles and miles of wires strung between poles would be far more vulnerable to damage than individual (hopefully reinforced) towers with backup generators. Or am I missing something?

The risk to the cell phone system isn't the towers. It's the users. One little shake or similar event, and millions of users whip out their phones at the same time, slamming the cellular network to max capacity.

Landline phones have a capacity limit, too, but it shows up on the trunk lines between major exchange areas, and not so much on local calls. In the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, calls within exchanges and between nearby exchanges largely went through, but out-of-area callers got the dreaded "please try your call again later" message.

We get plenty of 'bot calls. Many of the commercial calls have silence on the line until I say something, and then with confirmation that they've reached a meatbag, rather than a fax or other 'bot, the spiel starts. Especially fancy systems connect me to a human being, for whom I have my scripts ready (Do Not Call violation, and the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act stuff for the collection agency 'wrong numbers') for fun and profit.

I wonder if, with alternate communications channels (texting, VOIP, etc) coming into wider and wider use, if voice telephony will wind up like the postal service, mostly 'bulk rate' junk calls.

 

[alvarezg]

Bare DSL and VOIP are the way to go. Nobody calls my Magic Jack number except people I've given the number to. I imagine NetTalk is the same.

 

[scrabbler1]

Landline phones have a capacity limit, too, but it shows up on the trunk lines between major exchange areas, and not so much on local calls. In the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, calls within exchanges and between nearby exchanges largely went through, but out-of-area callers got the dreaded "please try your call again later" message.

Good point about how landline phones can get overloaded and the way they get overloaded.

Back in 1982 my college roommate from from St. Louis and when he tried to call his family back home after the Cardinals won the World Series it took him a while to get through.

And back on 9/11/01, I got stranded in New Jersey and it took me a while to use my friend's landline to call my dad on Long Island to let him know I was okay.

 

[meierlde]

......
Landline phones have a capacity limit, too, but it shows up on the trunk lines between major exchange areas, and not so much on local calls. In the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, calls within exchanges and between nearby exchanges largely went through, but out-of-area callers got the dreaded "please try your call again later" message......

Note that if you go very far on a cell phone you transfer to the same infrastructure to run between the towers involved. So that if you have congestion on non local calls it will affect both cell and landline calls. Essentially the cell towers are terminals where the call goes to large capacity land lines to switching centers, which then figure out which tower to go to and then route the call over the fiber infrastructure to get there. In addition it is possible for a land line exchange to overload if to many people pick up the phone at once, there is a detailed system to determine what the max number of calls an exchange should be capable of handling. The same applies to interexchange calling also. Recall that it used to be said to not make long distance calls on mothers day because it overloaded the system.

 

[Lsbcal]

There is a difference between wanting to make a call to communicate with friends during an emergency (I'm OK, how about you?) and being able to communicate many hours after the shock hits. If the emergency lasts 3 days or more your power source for communications is probably going to be more important. BTW, we live in an area zoned red for earthquakes -- our earthquake insurance rates are high. And what about WW3? Just kidding on that one.

It might get pretty lonely for DW and myself being on the edge of a city -- what do I do if I drop the landline and it really would have helped? Is anyone here going to compensate me for the problems I might encounter? In the end, it's my responsibility to make the right decision. Kind of like investing, are any of those Bogleheads going to top off my account if it goes into the tank because of their opinions that I followed?

Note: I'm no authority on this but need to be convinced before shutting down our landline connection. Most of us have only a vague idea of the true disaster scenarios. Must be some thorough studies out there somewhere on this.

 

[REWahoo]

There is a difference between wanting to make a call to communicate with friends during an emergency (I'm OK, how about you?) and being able to communicate many hours after the shock hits. If the emergency lasts 3 days or more your power source for communications is probably going to be more important. BTW, we live in an area zoned red for earthquakes --

Note: I'm no authority on this but need to be convinced before shutting down our landline connection. Most of us have only a vague idea of the true disaster scenarios. Must be some thorough studies out there somewhere on this.

I agree you should keep your land line. Maybe purchase a CB radio you could plug into your car as a tertiary means of communication if the big one does realign the coastline.

 

[nphx]

I had the need to review "Lessons Learned" from Haiti and Japan incidents. SMS Texting was the most successful communications form.

 

[unclemick]

I agree you should keep your land line. Maybe purchase a CB radio you could plug into your car as a tertiary means of communication if the big one does realign the coastline.

Hmmm - I remember the crab and shrimp fishermen who had a combo cell/radio service - out on the water if they hit a dead zone they flipped a switch and used the radio. One guy showed how he could talk from Lake Ponchartrain to Grand Isle - a fair amount of miles.

heh heh heh - If I tryed to name the service my memory would probably get it wrong.

 

[rescueme]

Note: I'm no authority on this but need to be convinced before shutting down our landline connection. Most of us have only a vague idea of the true disaster scenarios. Must be some thorough studies out there somewhere on this.

I'm with you (I'm a belt, suspender and duct tape kind of guy )...

Heck, during Sunday/Monday (when our electric was out 25+ hours) I recharged my cell by plugging into my car. However that made little sense since I could not hear it for any incomming calls since the car was parked in the driveway (I tried to drive it into the family room, but it would not fit ).

Our landline (on two direct connect - non wireless handsets) worked fine...

 

[JOHNNIE36]

I guess you need caller ID for this. We have ATT for the landline and they want $10/month for caller ID. We could afford this but it seems like extortion to have to pay for such a simple feature. Any cheaper way of doing this?

Switch to Verizon, add TV and interrnet for only $200/mo.

 

[M Paquette]

Switch to Verizon, add TV and interrnet for only $200/mo.

... for small values of cheaper...

 

[sheehs1]

I'm with you (I'm a belt, suspender and duct tape kind of guy )...

Heck, during Sunday/Monday (when our electric was out 25+ hours) I recharged my cell by plugging into my car. However that made little sense since I could not hear it for any incomming calls since the car was parked in the driveway (I tried to drive it into the family room, but it would not fit ).

Our landline (on two direct connect - non wireless handsets) worked fine...

Same here. My landline phone purchased for emergencies when we do not have power worked just fine while without power from Hurricane Irene. I also bought a battery powered cell phone charger from Radio Shack....so I would not have to charge my cell in my car. That worked fine too. I was gad to have both.

 

[Nords]

Even though I'm one of those geezers who is supposed to cling to copper wires to the bitter end, I'm not a fan of land line phones. We live in a rural area and our land line reliability was the pits. I was happy to say goodbye to the bill and the frustration of picking up the phone, not hearing a dial tone, and dealing with "Ernestine" at the phone company.

I thought I heard someone call my name.

We pay $25/month for our landline (which is surprisingly reliable), and we paid something like $90 for an answering machine whose ringers we can turn off. We don't have to tell anyone to put us on their do-not-call lists... their computers detect the answering machine and never call again. After a year or so we're removed from everyone's lists, although we do have problems with election years.

This system is amazingly effective for our friends, who know to either (1) send us an e-mail, (2) leave a voicemail and we'll call back when we walk by the phone, or (3) leave us alone. Yes, we miss out on a lot of short-notice "opportunities". Thank goodness.

Another unexpected benefit is that our daughter has learned to solve her own problems instead of outsourcing their solution to Dial-A-Dad. These days we get voicemail along the lines of "Here's my problem, here's what I'm thinking, call me back within x hours if you get the chance, or else I'll send you an e-mail to tell how it worked out-- love you, bye!" Best empty-nester present ever.

Meanwhile Hawaii's ridges & valleys practically guarantee crappy cell-phone connectivity (as verified by our daughter whenever she's home on break). Our pay-as-you-go cell phone costs a minimum of $20 every 30 days. Even when we pay $1.99 for the day's first call, we'll still finish a month with a $12 balance. It's fun to see Verizon get so upset when we let the money lapse at the 30-day mark and then don't reload the phone until the 89-day mark.

So, between the robocalls and the cell-phone hassles, I can see us sticking with a landline and an answering machine for a long, long time.

 

[FreeAtLast]

I have noticed an uptick in the number of these types of calls over the last year. I am also noticing incoming texts to my cell phone for offers to get out of debt and to refinance my home.

I let the answering machine pick up most of them.

I am on the "Do not Call Registry" so I am not sure why I am getting the calls.

 

[ziggy29]

I am on the "Do not Call Registry" so I am not sure why I am getting the calls.

Probably from overseas boiler rooms where the FTC can't touch them.

 

[chinaco]

Probably from overseas boiler rooms where the FTC can't touch them.

It might take a little discussion to get to the name of the company...

But I would think if they are acting on the behalf of a domestic company or company that does Business in the US... the client company would be accountable for those regulations.

Unless this is the big loophole!

 

[ziggy29]

It might take a little discussion to get to the name of the company...

Yeah, good luck getting answers to "who are you" and "who do you represent" -- they are, no doubt, specifically trained to NOT answer those questions. When you start asking those questions, they tend to immediately hang up.

 

[Lsbcal]

Yeah, good luck getting answers to "who are you" and "who do you represent" -- they are, no doubt, specifically trained to NOT answer those questions. When you start asking those questions, they tend to immediately hang up.

That was my experience. The first time the guy said our phone was not on the do-not-call list. The second guy just hung up on me. Next time I will ask them to hold while I go find a responsible party to take their call. Should at least slow them down a bit.

 

[chinaco]

Yeah, good luck getting answers to "who are you" and "who do you represent" -- they are, no doubt, specifically trained to NOT answer those questions. When you start asking those questions, they tend to immediately hang up.

Perhaps the approach is to hold the curses till after you understand what it is about.

I would expect they have a pitch to sell something and would get to it pretty quick. You may have to listen a little and ask a few questions (nicely). Act like the mark they are hoping for...

Questions cannot begin with: "What the F^%@ are you doing calling..."

 

[ziggy29]

Perhaps the approach is to hold the curses till after you understand what it is about.

I would expect they have a pitch to sell something and would get to it pretty quick. You may have to listen a little and ask a few questions (nicely). Act like the mark they are hoping for...

My wife has been getting a lot of these calls on her cell phone and we did play this game once recently. It turns out she was asked for the 'man of the house' or some such, and this time instead of hanging up or playing Grand Inquisitor, she said "yeah, hold on a moment."

Sure enough I get on and someone with a nearly impossible accent mentioned something about my Viagra prescription and how they could save me some money or some such (can't be sure; the accent was really hard to get past). But never would they identify themselves or the entity they were representing.

 

[FIREd]

Recently, I have had callers asking for complete strangers. When I say that I don't know such or such person, then the caller offers to "help" me instead...

 

[axtec]

Sorry to open an old thread, but I think you'll like this article published today about a robocall scam being shut down. I'm sure we've all been called by "Rachel, from Card Services".

Top 5 Things to Know About Robocalling - ABC News