Posted on 06/06/2022 5:12:21 PM PDT by Jim Noble
I would say get rid of the landline and use your cellphone only.
You still get junk calls but there are software tools you can use to minimize them. Additionally, there area couple of other capabilities:
1) you can block numbers that were junk calls.
2) if you get a call from a number you don’t recognize, you can just hit the hangup button and don’t have to tolerate the warranty spam. Just dump it to voicemail
3) most phone networks have an ability to transcribe voicemails to text so you can look at the message rather than having to listen to it. (On t mobile it’s called “visual voicemail”. Don’t know about other carriers)
I dumped my home phone a few years ago and never, ever regretted it.
get caller id...
“don’t have to tolerate the warranty spam”
My car has been expiring soon for the past several years.
My car warranty
I got rid of Spectrum cable and the phone a couple of weeks ago, after my youngest son came to stay with me. He had asked if I could add the NFL Red Zone to my channels. I figured it would be something easy to do, but I ended up having to speak to three different people who couldn't help me, but would have to transfer me to the sales department to complete the order. I was on the phone for a total of 3 hours. The last time, for 45 minutes, waiting for sales. I finally hung up, unplugged my DVR and 2nd cable box, and drove over to the Spectrum office, and turned everything in. And just last week, I had to call Spectrum again, because the doofus at the store never actually turned my cable or phone service off, although he documented that I had turned the equipment in. Thankfully I had an email from Spectrum that showed my change of service, to just internet, for that date, and my bill was corrected. F-ing morons.
I don’t answer the phone, but lately I’ve been getting bombarded with robo-texts, trying to tell me who to vote for.
“Those turds can ring me all the want”
Those “turds” are software. There’s no human involved.
I have an old iPhone, and use Verizon's call filter. It's set to just allow calls from my contact list. Most of the spam calls are automatically blocked so I don't have to deal with them. Other calls are muted, and if they are spam, I just block them.
I was still getting warranty calls about my 2004 F250 for ten years after I no longer owned it.
Spectrum had that for their landline service, but I still got multiple calls a day. I got rid of it a couple of weeks ago.
We have cell phones for 99.99% of our calls. We run our landline into our Fax machine and set it to answer all calls and the ringer is mute but the caller ID flashes on the TV screen because the Fax machine is on the network. Our family members have the landline number and nobody else. We can turn off the fax machine in emergencies receive calls normally.
Haven't gotten any political texts, but have gotten texts saying that there is suspicious activity on my PayPal account, that I don't have. I've also gotten calls/voicemails about my account with AT&T. I don't have that either. I block all that crap, but they will call/text from different numbers.
The only problem with the contact list is you forget to add the new dentist or plumber and then those calls don’t go through. I just give them the public number and they leave a voice mail and I call them back.
To quote Ronald Reagan: “The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help.”
I've been on the "do not call list" for years and I still get unsolicited spam and robo calls.
My understanding is that the fines against spammers are mostly ineffective and the government has been unwilling to place heavy CRIMINAL penalties on the spammers, i.e., putting them in prison would be a stronger deterrent than fines. Also, much of the spamming originates off-shore. We need laws that allow us to extradite spammers located in foreign nations for criminal trial here.
The robo callers usually use machines that detect a response from a human answering in response to a “Hello”, then connect to the call to the spammer. That’s why they typically don’t leave voice messages.
I’ve never used the Do Not Call list because I figured the scummy companies would buy the list and use it as a calling list.
“Also, much of the spamming originates off-shore. “
They buy the list.
Reply to those texts with STOP and they should end.
I installed FreePBX and created three lists. The whitelist rings the phone unencumbered. The yellowlist answers the call but does not ring the phone - it is used for numbers that have not yet been assigned to the whitelist or blacklist. It allows them to leave a message and possibly be promoted to the whitelist assuming I spend the time to look at yellowlist messages. The blacklist doesn’t even answer the call and the phone doesn’t ring - the call is redirected to /dev/null. When I call a number, it’s added to the whitelist. It takes some fiddling but 99.999% of the spam calls are eliminated.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.