Posted on 03/07/2019 10:47:37 AM PST by Coleus
How to stop robocalls, block numbers on your iPhone, Android and even landline
I use “hiya” which gets at least 80% of them
They’re the most annoying tricks and if reduce my phone’s being used only when it’s whitelisted call callers
I guess that’s racist
This crap is an invasion of privacy. Robocalls are no different than some asshole banging on your door at 2:00 am.
They are the biggest offenders!
We did this about 2 months ago. When I answer the phone now it is only someone I know and want to talk to.
Last week I called home from a number that is not on our list and it had barely rang when I heard a message that said that I am "not taking calls at this time."
When a telemarketer calls and I am busy that is like someone busting into my house, interrupting me while I am talking to someone else. I used to ream my kids for interrupting me like that.
I do not like being interrupted by someone wanting me to give them my credit card number when I did not ask them for their product in the first place.
I don’t think that it works on Comcast Business.
I have it. It works about 50-60% of the time. It's better than nothing. I am also on the gummint no call list, which helps a little.
In addition I have a specific number blocker and with all of these helpers I still get multiple robo calls every day.
The scammers are the worst. They have some very sneaky tricks, like faking that they are your cable company, or from microsoft or dell and try to get you to give them a look into your system. NEVER do that.
Solution....Get rid of your land line...that can’t be blocked.
Get a smart phone as your primary number and then get a call blocker app that stops all calls that ARE NOT ON YOUR CONTACT LIST!!!
Problem solved.
Its what I did and it worked....no more robo calls!!!
Actually, it is against the law to spoof a number
On my Android cell, I use Norton Security - they have a call blocker function. Mine is set to accept calls only from numbers in my contact list. I can still review the call log and see if I’ve missed anyone not in my list, plus they can still leave a voice message (99.9% never do).
“Landline”/VOIP - use Digitone Call Blocker. Some of the best money I’ve ever spent. There are multiple ways you can block calls with this thing. I reset it to block ALL calls, then enabled our area code, “invited” out of state relatives’ numbers. I can block annoying calls from our area code by name, by exchange, or pretty much any combination of numbers. We went from as many as 10 unwanted calls a day to maybe 3 a week ringing through & they get promptly blocked.
I’ve been getting the local spoofed number for quite a while now. I usually answer and say nothing - If I hear no background noise it is a robot. If the robot talks then I push whatever number is needed to get a human and leave it on mute just to waste their time.
I’m old enough to remember when unsolicited calls were for the purpose of getting you to buy something - now it appears that all unsolicited calls are to trick you into giving a credit card or ss number.
Is that federal or state law? I’ve always heard it was not illegal.
Last year *our* number was spoofed and I spent 6 hours apologizing to the hundreds of enraged people who called here.
Didn’t know what was going on until a nice lady from MA told me I’d probably been spoofed and what to do about it.
Took the phone company 7 hours to shut off our number and assign a new one.
I have great pity for those who get spoofed.
cripes...I knew that was doable. I didn’t know what I did wrong, so I didn’t do that.
Can you tell me how that worked ? I have VOIP ?
thanx.
“But what if it’s an emergency?”
Who am I, Batman?
With today's spoofing of caller ID, blocking numbers is a waste of time.
You're blocking randomly generated numbers.
For landlines — the best blocker is to just turn the ringer off. I only use my landline as a backup and to make outgoing calls. Anyone that wants to reach us will call or text our cell phones.
Then use apps to control spam on cell phones.
Same issue here. I automatically block any calls that have the same Areacode-prefix as my phone. I would estimate that 95% of all phone calls that we receive are junk of some form or another. It's easier to simply never answer the phone.
I block 4-5 numbers daily. They keep coming the next day from different numbers despite me having blocked probably more than a thousand at this point.
Sentry Call Blocker
https://www.telsentry.com/pages/sentry-3
While not perfect, this device will eliminate ALL robocalls. You don’t even have to specifically block them. When a call comes in that isn’t in either the black list or white list (racist terms, obviously), the device answers the call with a message to dial zero to get through. Then the ringer in the Sentry beeps, and you can answer the call. Then, if it’s a good call, you can whitelist the number or if bad, you can blacklist it. Once whitelisted, calls go through to your existing phone which rings or records, as always.
The beauty of this device is that robocallers NEVER dial zero, so neither the Sentry nor your existing phone rings, not even once (unlike some competing devices).
The downside is that the Sentry 3 has a built-in recorder which only stores the two most recent messages, so you can lose messages which could be a problem for you. The Sentry 2 doesn’t have a recorder, and it also doesn’t have a keypad to enter numbers into the whitelist. I use a caller ID spoofing cellphone app to “program” my Sentry with numbers I want to preemptively enter into the white or black lists.
Both models have a scrollable list of recent calls, and they require you to have caller ID from your phone company.
I have an earlier Sentry, I believe the first model they sold, it has performed perfectly, and has saved my sanity.
I got a Wyoming area code on my cell phone. When someone uses one of those spoof numbers to telemarket, I start by asking a Wyoming question or two about geography, rodeos, etc. When they can’t answer or admit that they are calling from California or Florida (usually), I give them a curt dismissal of “You tried to deceive me, so how can I trust what you are selling?”
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