Obscenity obscenity phone calls.

[calmloki]

So I wear a heart pacing/defib device by Medtronics. Recently it's reported being much busier than normal - and the battery is running down. Makes me pretty alert to calls, as we are 1000 miles from our base health care and the device is checked at night via internet.

So the phone just rang with caller ID that said "MedicAlert"; I answered post hasty.

And it was a *!!@%# recording of Todd with order fulfillment letting me know they are ready to ship my medic alert something or other - didn't really catch what, as a recording that mentions "order fulfillment" when we haven't ordered anything trips my trigger. Not much joy swearing at a recording, but there you go. Need a special place for those who create robocalls..

 

[Walt34]

We have one of these call blockers and love it. Best $100 we ever spent. There was a noticeable drop in spam callers immediately and you can add numbers to be blocked as needed.

https://www.amazon.com/CPR-V5000-Ca...r=8-2&keywords=robocall+blocker+for+landlines

 

[calmloki]

We do have Ooma aggregator spam blocking - this call got past me by having an actual caller ID that was too close to my medical unit brand name - and me being too sensitive to a potential medical alert call. Various glands kinda went into full take care of business mode and I'm peeved/relieved/embarrassed it was just a robo sales pitch.

 

[Sunset]

We also have caller ID, which is basically useless now, as the spamers fake names all the time.

Still the habit is hard to break and we look at the ID, then let the answering machine take it. ..

 

[RunningBum]

It used to make my blood boil to get these calls, because I wouldn't know for sure. Finally cell service got good enough to drop my phone line, but they soon got my cell number. Thanks to a tip here, I put all of my contacts in a group with one ring tone. I made my default ring tone a quiet, soothing song that I like, so now when someone I don't know calls, I just listen to that song until it ends. I rarely even look at the phone unless I'm expecting a call from someone like a doctor's office that may come from another number. If they leave a message, which rarely happens, I'll check it. That's worked really well for me, because I don't feel like I'm being fooled by anyone.

I know some people just make that default tone silent, but there are enough times I want to know when a call comes.

 

[rayinpenn]

The hardwired house phone rings at least once a day with someone seeking money. If the number is unknown to us we don’t answer. We figure If it is important they will leave a message...

 

[GravitySucks]

The hardwired house phone rings at least once a day with someone seeking money. If the number is unknown to us we don’t answer. We figure If it is important they will leave a message...

The people that have landlines are the gullible elderly so its gotten even more profitable to make spam calls. I ended up unplugging mine and then when I got rid of DSL just had it removed. Only thing I miss is no way to call my cellphone to find where I left it. (Because I'm a forgetful gullible elder.)

 

[aja8888]

A landline is so 1990's...

 

[Walt34]

A landline is so 1990's...

We keep it because cell service around here is spotty/intermittent.

 

[TrvlBug]

A landline is so 1990's...

Our cell reception sucks, therefore we and all of our neighbors have landlines . Advantage is very, very few junk calls on the cell as it's mostly used for family and friends.

 

[always_learning]

We do have Ooma aggregator spam blocking - this call got past me by having an actual caller ID that was too close to my medical unit brand name - and me being too sensitive to a potential medical alert call. Various glands kinda went into full take care of business mode and I'm peeved/relieved/embarrassed it was just a robo sales pitch.

We also have Ooma and I finally created a "white list" where only people in my contacts list can make the house phone ring. All others go directly to voicemail. The voicemail is set to show up in our e-mail, which also pulls to my cell phone so if anyone leaves a message, I get it in about two minutes. I am just loving the piece and quiet now.

It used to make my blood boil to get these calls, because I wouldn't know for sure. Finally cell service got good enough to drop my phone line, but they soon got my cell number. Thanks to a tip here, I put all of my contacts in a group with one ring tone. I made my default ring tone a quiet, soothing song that I like, so now when someone I don't know calls, I just listen to that song until it ends. I rarely even look at the phone unless I'm expecting a call from someone like a doctor's office that may come from another number. If they leave a message, which rarely happens, I'll check it. That's worked really well for me, because I don't feel like I'm being fooled by anyone.

I know some people just make that default tone silent, but there are enough times I want to know when a call comes.

I hadn't seen this tip before, but I've made note of it. I'm the only one out of the four of us who gets zero spam calls on the cell while DD gets five or six a day, from all over the world... almost never with US area codes. This could really help her out.

The people that have landlines are the gullible elderly so its gotten even more profitable to make spam calls. I ended up unplugging mine and then when I got rid of DSL just had it removed. Only thing I miss is no way to call my cellphone to find where I left it. (Because I'm a forgetful gullible elder.)

Have you tried a Tile? It goes on your keyring and you download an app on your phone. The phone will make the Tile signal so you can find lost keys and it also works in reverse to if you push on the Tile it will make your phone signal, even if it's on silent. I've not tried one but have heard great things about it and it has really good reviews.
https://www.amazon.com/Tile-Mate-Fi...=1521934390&sr=8-3&keywords=cell+phone+finder

 

[Hermit]

We keep it because cell service around here is spotty/intermittent.

Our cell service is better than the land line service. Oh, BTW, we are out of cell service range. Its still better than the available land line! Calls go to Google voice mail and I get them in an e-mail. The sales calls never leave a message. Works for me.

 

[Jerry1]

I got another one from Microsoft Support today. What a joke. I told him that I believe everyone has been made aware of this scam and hung up. Isn't everyone aware? I can't believe this is still paying off for the scammers. I'm interested in the call blockers, but I'm dubious of their effectiveness since the scammers can manipulate caller ID. I'm pretty good with just letting them go to v-mail if they really need to get hold of me, but it is a pain.

 

[Scuba]

We don’t answer land or cell lines unless we know who it is. If it’s a legitimate call, the caller will leave a message and we’ll call them back.

 

[Badger]

The hardwired house phone rings at least once a day with someone seeking money. If the number is unknown to us we don’t answer. We figure If it is important they will leave a message...

+1 But on our cell phone since we got rid of our house phone.

Cheers!

 

[Nightcap]

It used to make my blood boil to get these calls, because I wouldn't know for sure. Finally cell service got good enough to drop my phone line, but they soon got my cell number. Thanks to a tip here, I put all of my contacts in a group with one ring tone. I made my default ring tone a quiet, soothing song that I like, so now when someone I don't know calls, I just listen to that song until it ends. I rarely even look at the phone unless I'm expecting a call from someone like a doctor's office that may come from another number. If they leave a message, which rarely happens, I'll check it. That's worked really well for me, because I don't feel like I'm being fooled by anyone.

I know some people just make that default tone silent, but there are enough times I want to know when a call comes.

I created silent ring tone (I called it "Golden," because silence is ...). I used it for callers I know I don't want to answer (like after unwisely giving my number to Fisher Investments...).

 

[always_learning]

I got another one from Microsoft Support today. What a joke. I told him that I believe everyone has been made aware of this scam and hung up. Isn't everyone aware? I can't believe this is still paying off for the scammers. I'm interested in the call blockers, but I'm dubious of their effectiveness since the scammers can manipulate caller ID. I'm pretty good with just letting them go to v-mail if they really need to get hold of me, but it is a pain.

As I said upthread, we have Ooma and I activated the NoMoRobo for spam callers. It works only when the spammers/callers don't spoof their numbers. The way it works is when several people report a number to NoMoRobo as a spam call, and then NoMoRobo blocks the number from reaching you. When they spoof numbers to those with my area code & prefix, they come through because the phone system thinks it's a legitimate call from XYZ bank or my neighbor.

As for the Microsoft scam, sadly, they are still making money. We know of someone who was scammed not so long ago (elderly person). I also keep hearing people who call the financial shows I listen to asking about checks they get in the mail where they are supposed to cash it and send some money back to the person who sent it and wondering if they are legit. The disappointment in the voices of the callers is sad. So many people are looking for free money that their 'beware voice' is overridden.

I think there are an awful lot of people of all ages who just read things online that interest them and avoid news and such, so they are more likely to fall victim to things like this. Just last week I spent 15 minutes explaining to a 35 year old that, no, you aren't being stalked by some guy who keeps calling you saying that you are calling him. Someone is spoofing your number and calling him and he thinks he's so important that he has to know who is calling him and why, so he keeps pestering you. I told her that if he calls her again, tell him to simply block her number and that she needed to block his. Problem solved.

 

[scrabbler1]

I got another one from Microsoft Support today. What a joke. I told him that I believe everyone has been made aware of this scam and hung up. Isn't everyone aware? I can't believe this is still paying off for the scammers. I'm interested in the call blockers, but I'm dubious of their effectiveness since the scammers can manipulate caller ID. I'm pretty good with just letting them go to v-mail if they really need to get hold of me, but it is a pain.

Sadly, nomorobo has become less and less effective since I added it following my switch to land line phone service through my cable TV/internet provider back in late 2016. In the beginning, it was blocking about 3/4 of the calls, now it is down to maybe 50% at best. I get fewer junk calls in general, thankfully, but more and more of them use spoofed, "neighbor" numbers matching my area code and exchange, so they are not in nomorobo's database. Other incoming calls use Private numbers.

My cell phone, a low-end one, is worse. Unable to block incoming calls, I get plenty of junk calls, at least 90% of all the calls I get there, because I have given my number out to maybe 20 people, all of whom know to try me on my land line first. Many of them are spoofed numbers like on the land line, while others appear over and over. When I get one of these calls, I just open the cell phone lid a tiny bit and close it. I pay per minute for my cell phone, so at least I am not draining my minutes dealing with that crappola any more.

 

[Walt34]

I'm interested in the call blockers, but I'm dubious of their effectiveness since the scammers can manipulate caller ID.

That is true, and they do change numbers. But when one comes in I only have to block it once again.For example, there's one whose caller ID says "Nashville, TN" where we don't know anyone. They'd call up to six times a day. When I block it, that's it until they change the number again and that can take several months. For us that's far less irritating than having to check the caller ID and then decide to let it go to the recorder.

As always, YMMV.

 

[kcowan]

We never answer a call from an unknown number. We have assigned all our frequent callers to a special ring. The only time this does not work is when our buddy calls on magicJack and it says Unknown Caller. Apparently this is a telco conspiracy to discourage MJ usage because it used to work.

We need the landline because our apartment uses it for the front door access. Although we can assign the line to our cell phones, it would not work when one of us is out. Plus the wife keeps hers in her purse in the closet when home.

We used to use call blocking until the telemarketers got smart about spoofing different numbers all the time. We found maintaining the call block list too much work.

I don't know who buys from these callers. Even if we need a service, we will check out Angies List or other sources rather than accept some random callers proposal.

 

[kcowan]

Now that Facebook has enabled my whole friends list to be sold, and those often include contact numbers, I am afraid that the call screening will become more complicated.

 

[calmloki]

My doctors don't have caller ID pop up when they call - I'd guess because they would like to get work done and just do calls when their schedule permits. Sending them to a message machine and then hoping they are available when I call back their contact point/flak catcher who then leaves a message for the doctor is time consuming and just plain inefficient. In my experience cops are much the same - they keep the number for the cell on their person private. This means I take the call when it comes in or I play phone tag and waste even more of my time.

Are we reaching a tipping point for the development of a new form of communication that hasn't yet been invented?