"intelligent" telephone answering machine

Not sure what you are talking about. Seems a very complicated way to force a dialing robot to listen to robot music. Actually, most of the robocalls I get are from out of state only because my phone number is from out of st ate. They even pick an exchange local to where my phone number was origina lly from. So how would this detect a spammer?

The only way to fix the spamming call problem is to force a per call charge of ALL calls like they do if you have the budget service from ma bell. Le gislate that originating companies for all calls with US destinations, rega rdless of origin, pay $0.10 into a fund to fight phone spamming. The provi ders will make it unaffordable for spammers to robocall and 99% of spam cal ls will end at the low, low cost of just one thin dime for each of your cal ls.

• NOT music; never music, machine would emit grating NOISE. Read what i wrote; all undesired calls are from a town/city and most disclose state (WA, TX, etc).

• No lawmaker is going to do that.

KC

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orce a dialing robot to listen to robot music. Actually, most of the roboc alls I get are from out of state only because my phone number is from out o f state. They even pick an exchange local to where my phone number was ori ginally from. So how would this detect a spammer?

Yes, and these calls are pretty much all from India. What's your point???

arge of ALL calls like they do if you have the budget service from ma bell. Legislate that originating companies for all calls with US destinations, regardless of origin, pay $0.10 into a fund to fight phone spamming. The p roviders will make it unaffordable for spammers to robocall and 99% of spam calls will end at the low, low cost of just one thin dime for each of your calls.

Of course not, for the same reason we are still seeing 800 deaths per day i n the US soon to be increasing. Politicians have to do the expedient thing , not the effective thing which is why they are politicians and not corpora te leaders.

I'd go for retching sounds myself.

Sylvia.

ine if

We all have different tastes in music. I'm not sure exactly what would be found enjoyable or repulsive by a robot. I think my favorite would be a bl ood curdling scream.

They won't do that because their customers don't want it (not for any silly reason based on a misunderstanding of government functions).

A solution that customers would accept is to offer an option to block any incoming number that has already been blocked by 10 other customers. Spammers wouldn't pay for new numbers that they could use only a few times.

look up " NOROBO "

Dan

Pay for numbers??? What are you talking about? I answer a lot of these ca lls to annoy them. I do whatever it takes to keep them on the line. The g uys who call me about lowering my interest rate I tell them I have to look for my card, then put the phone on mute. The guys who call to sell me a wa rranty on my car, I get to the second tier who are the ones that get paid r eal money. The ones who call to sell me pharmaceuticals, I try to offer th em a lower interest rate on their credit cards. No joke, I got the first f our digits from a guy once!

So one of the interest rate guys hangs up when I don't return with my card. Then he has second thoughts and calls me back. Same area code and exchan ge, but different number. We get cut off, but I've got this guy hooked bad , so he calls me back a third time and... same area code and exchange, but new number. They don't pay for numbers. Their equipment allows them to fa ke a number just like you can fake a return address on an email.

Lol. The only way to hold anyone responsible is to hold responsible the co mpanies that make this possible. That's the ones connecting them with the rest of the world. If you don't think people will pay a dime a call to sto p spam calls I think you are wrong. For spammers to prosper while doing th is they would need ways to get online that they can abandon when the bills come in. If the providers have to eat the bill they will quickly deal with the problem on their end. If they turn into fly by night support for the spammers, the companies connecting them to the rest of the world have to ea t an even bigger bill. So on, and so on.

One thing the government is really good at is holding people responsible... for life. Yeah, a dime a call and spam is gone faster than this damn viru s!

You could do the same thing with email, $0.001 per email added to your ISP bill (outgoing only of course) and email spam would disappear too... except there is no way to tie it to the companies in the middle. It is too easy for the spammers to hijack computers to send email. Getting a phone connec tion is not so easy as it all has to go through a phone company somewhere. It's like software for the iPhone, locked down tight.

I literally don't know anyone who would not jump at the chance of getting r id of spam phone calls.

Not sure this will work. They seem to key off the calling number and block known numbers. That's a small percentage of spam calls. Adding a number that won't be used again is of no value.

The only electronic way of blocking them is to have a voice prompt asking t he caller to punch a button or two. Like, what is 2 + 11? But how long be fore the spammers get voice recognition software to defeat that?

A dime a call enforce across the phone network is the only way and even tha t won't stop all calls. Some spammers likely call 1000 people to find one that they can con, but then would hook them for $10,000 for $9,900 profit. Well, maybe only $1,000 for $900 profit.

It's funny sometimes when you waste their time they get really pissed off a nd give you a bunch of shit for it. lol You gotta love the irony. One gu y actually wouldn't get off the phone so he could keep insulting me and my long dead mother. He was so pissed it had me rolling on the floor laughing .

Why on earth would you want to do this? Robotic dialers don't care what noises you make at them!

There are plenty of existing products that will block fake calls based on CLID or number withheld and some telcos offer a service that intercepts the call at the exchange level and asks the caller to identify themselves. WHitelisting for frequent contacts. No name or a name you don't recognise as a contact and the call doesn't get through.

I find my answerphone puts most of them off their stride but if I am expecting an incoming call and a scammer gets through then I play the answer with dead air trick which is most entertaining. YMMV

What capital letters? CLID in the UK is entirely numeric.

Only a fool.

If you want to confuse an autodialer then answering with total silence aka dead air is about as good as it gets. It is even funnier if the call gets put through to a hapless human call handler - scary silent caller in reverse. They typically go

"hello" "Hello?" "HELLO" "HELLO!!!" linedrop

The problem with blocking on whitelists and/or number withheld is that some vital calls would be blocked. I've even come across healthcare services that tell you of such problems. Grrr.

I have the bog-standard answerphone message that came with the phone. The voice is of a woman that I'd love to meet and would probably ask for her hand in marriage. For some reason that seems to deter robocallers from leaving a message.

What's the trigger for robocallers to connect with a lukewarm body at their end?

I suspect they listen for the isolated word "hello".

If I have time and am bored, I tell them that my father got up to answer one of their calls, tripped and fell, and died two weeks later as a complication of a broken hip. That's as true as their spiel.

Alternatively I try to get a salesman to call, provided they bring some turnips since I want to make some soup.

KC

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ck known numbers. That's a small percentage of spam calls. Adding a numbe r that won't be used again is of no value.

the caller to punch a button or two. Like, what is 2 + 11? But how long before the spammers get voice recognition software to defeat that?

hat won't stop all calls. Some spammers likely call 1000 people to find on e that they can con, but then would hook them for $10,000 for $9,900 profit . Well, maybe only $1,000 for $900 profit.

and give you a bunch of shit for it. lol You gotta love the irony. One guy actually wouldn't get off the phone so he could keep insulting me and m y long dead mother. He was so pissed it had me rolling on the floor laughi ng.

To use NOROBO you have to be able to set up remote ringing. And I do not h ave that. But I think it works. Surely someone here uses it or at least ha s tried it.

Dan

It's "NOMOROBO" and it comes with Cox Cable phone service. It IS really helpful, but not perfect.

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block known numbers. That's a small percentage of spam calls. Adding a nu mber that won't be used again is of no value.

ing the caller to punch a button or two. Like, what is 2 + 11? But how lo ng before the spammers get voice recognition software to defeat that?

n that won't stop all calls. Some spammers likely call 1000 people to find one that they can con, but then would hook them for $10,000 for $9,900 pro fit. Well, maybe only $1,000 for $900 profit.

off and give you a bunch of shit for it. lol You gotta love the irony. O ne guy actually wouldn't get off the phone so he could keep insulting me an d my long dead mother. He was so pissed it had me rolling on the floor lau ghing.

ot have that. But I think it works. Surely someone here uses it or at leas t has tried it.

Sorry about not getting the name right. Maybe I meet the same criteria, h elpful but not perfect.

Dan

• Maybe, and maybe not. Do not care if they come from Mars. How about that machine?

• OOooohh! Might be as effective, to get caller to quit...

Thanks.

Have been using it for months.

There are a number of callers that are NOT blocked despite DOZENS of reports.

For a while, it got so bad that i accused them of perpetrating an outright fraud.

• Please name some..

• yes, some do; Comcast offers a blocking service using *60, but it has a 25 call limit that gets filled in a few days - and then is useless.

• then, obviously i was not talking to you.

It sort-of works,sometimes. Other times it is so ineffective that one can easily call it a scam and be truthful.