The Silent Treatment

Rgbeard

Rgbeard

En-Route
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Aug 26, 2017
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4,255
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Phoenix, AZ and Ensenada, Mexico
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Display name:
rgbeard
Today's telephone is "broken". What I mean by this is, I remember a day when the phone rang, and you just answered it.

Then came political polling and Nielsen rating calls - not often - but rarely annoying.

Then came life insurance sales people calling during dinner.

Now we don't answer our phone, but we're still annoyed as it rings with "SCAM LIKELY" on the display.

I'm trying a new approach.......

My default ringtone on my iPhone is now SilentRing. You can download these easily with a simple Google search.

I'm going through my contacts looking for: Friends, Family, Co workers and customers. Assigning a ringtone other than "default" to them.

Will report back after I've done this for a week or two.
 
TRgbeard, you have a practical approach, but it's the wrong one.

Why should we, the people paying for phone service, have to accept harassment? Yes folks, this can be considered felony harassment or even stalking at the Federal level, because the phone system is cross-state lines. Congress is finally getting the message. Continue email your congress-critter to complain about scam/spam phone calls. Even if they originate outside the US (usually India or Pakistan) using VOIP, it's still harassment because US phone system is being used.

Just because the wireless companies are doing something, the landline carriers also need to get involved, and not just charge us for call blocking.
 
murphey said:
TRgbeard, you have a practical approach, but it's the wrong one.

Why should we, the people paying for phone service, have to accept harassment? Yes folks, this can be considered felony harassment or even stalking at the Federal level, because the phone system is cross-state lines. Congress is finally getting the message. Continue email your congress-critter to complain about scam/spam phone calls. Even if they originate outside the US (usually India or Pakistan) using VOIP, it's still harassment because US phone system is being used.

Just because the wireless companies are doing something, the landline carriers also need to get involved, and not just charge us for call blocking.
Click to expand...

I appreciate your position on the matter. 100%. People that do this are helpful.

But writing to my congresswoman won’t make my life immediately more tranquil. A silent phone, ringing only for select people, does.
 
These guys call three to six times a day:

Hello, Amy?
No, nobody here by that name.
I need to speak with Amy.
You have the wrong number.
Yes, please put Amy on the phone.
Take this number off your list
We need to speak with Amy please.


Then I break into every foul word I know until they hang up.

Bock them, they return like herpes on a new number. Currently using 3202075847

https://www.midlandcredit.com/contact/

Got a legit call, of course I did not answer. researched the number, was a local name I recognized. Has it really come to this people?
 
My phone is set to only ring if the number is in my address book.
I feel sorry for folks who have to answer all calls because their business depends on it.
 
Unit74 said:
These guys call three to six times a day:

Hello, Amy?
No, nobody here by that name.
I need to speak with Amy.
You have the wrong number.
Yes, please put Amy on the phone.
Take this number off your list
We need to speak with Amy please.


Then I break into every foul word I know until they hang up.
Click to expand...

Have you tried saying "yes, this is Amy" and seeing what happens next?
 
murphey said:
TRgbeard, you have a practical approach, but it's the wrong one.
Continue email your congress-critter to complain about scam/spam phone calls.
Click to expand...
That should work, but it unfortunately doesn't. I called mine, and his office told me to put my phone on the "Do not call" list.

They are completely out of touch. Don't seem to know about scammers that simply call everyone. Next election, I'll vote for the other party.
 
Unit74 said:
These guys call three to six times a day:

Hello, Amy?
No, nobody here by that name.
I need to speak with Amy.
You have the wrong number.
Yes, please put Amy on the phone.
Take this number off your list
We need to speak with Amy please.


Then I break into every foul word I know until they hang up.

Bock them, they return like herpes on a new number. Currently using 3202075847

https://www.midlandcredit.com/contact/

Got a legit call, of course I did not answer. researched the number, was a local name I recognized. Has it really come to this people?
Click to expand...

It’d be a lot simpler if you’d just hand the damn phone to Amy.
 
Cap'n Jack said:
That should work, but it unfortunately doesn't. I called mine, and his office told me to put my phone on the "Do not call" list.

They are completely out of touch. Don't seem to know about scammers that simply call everyone. Next election, I'll vote for the other party.
Click to expand...
Ask them how many spam calls they get even with their number on the DNC list.
 
Unit74 said:
I don't answer anything not IDed in my phone from my contacts. Period. Send me a text first and I'll answer an unknown number.
Click to expand...
As a small business owner whose primary number rings on my cell, that doesn't work for me. Oddly, I've noticed that Mondays are the worst day for spam calls.
Caller ID isn't even worth a darned, with ID spoofing.
 
murphey said:
Ask them how many spam calls they get even with their number on the DNC list.
Click to expand...
Robocallers aren't using that list, obviously, but there's still no agreement on a certificated caller ID verification system, and it will take years to implement.
 
Kenny Phillips said:
Robocallers aren't using that list, obviously, but there's still no agreement on a certificated caller ID verification system, and it will take years to implement.
Click to expand...

'Years' as in 'two weeks'?

Phones have gotten useless because the telcos make more money on spam calls than on legitimate voice business. If they didn't make money on annoying us, they would put an end to the spoofed caller-id problem next week.
 
I have over 400 numbers blocked on my cell, still get annoying calls and keep blocking.
I'm wondering how to block every one, except a few.
Also, you call the number back and get a message "this is not a working number" well if it ain't a working number how do they use it?
 
I have Google pixel. If a number calls I don't recognize, I push the screen call button and the googles asks them why they are calling and sends me a text copy of their answer. Works great.
 
Tom-D said:
I have over 400 numbers blocked on my cell, still get annoying calls and keep blocking.
I'm wondering how to block every one, except a few.
Also, you call the number back and get a message "this is not a working number" well if it ain't a working number how do they use it?
Click to expand...
I have entire area codes and prefixes blocked... and even entire area codes. Oh, you're in DC and want to call me? Well, sorry. Sucks to be you.

The number you see on your caller ID is -- unless it's someone you know or a legitimate business -- virtually NEVER the number actually being used. As I explained to my mom several years ago when the "IRS" called her threatening to have her arrested if she didn't send them the numbers from Wal-Mart cash cards or some such nonsense, the old way phone calls were handled in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s are long gone. Doesn't matter what you have hanging on your wall or sitting in your kitchen counter, the calls are routed as digital data over the Internet. I, or virtually anyone else on the planet, can place calls anywhere in the world at no cost to myself, and make the caller ID say anything I want it to say, and do so in a manner that's virtually impossible to trace back to me. The robocalls are done by computer, with randomly selected phone numbers for the caller ID. The people responsible are thieves, hucksters, con men and all manner of criminals.

Everything you ever knew, or thought you knew, about how the telephone network operates is completely out of date, trust me. even more out of date than a cassette answering machine.
 
Unit74 said:
These guys call three to six times a day:

Hello, Amy?
No, nobody here by that name.
I need to speak with Amy.
You have the wrong number.
Yes, please put Amy on the phone.
Take this number off your list
We need to speak with Amy please.


Then I break into every foul word I know until they hang up.

Bock them, they return like herpes on a new number. Currently using 3202075847

https://www.midlandcredit.com/contact/

Got a legit call, of course I did not answer. researched the number, was a local name I recognized. Has it really come to this people?
Click to expand...

Mine is Keith Tilley. I even get alerts when his daughter misses school.
 
iOS 13 will have a spam mode. Any call not already in your contacts will be automatically sent to your VM.

Perfect? Probably not. Spammers will initially adjust by leaving you messages on VM. But I suspect they will also start spamming spoofed phone numbers until they land on on that rings for you. Then they will save it and keep using that one for ever.

If the phone companies let them do it. Will be horribly intensive either way - lots of storage taken up by spam or lots of calling and keeping circuits busy to find the number that works to ring you.
 
Fiveslide said:
Mine is Keith Tilley. I even get alerts when his daughter misses school.
Click to expand...
Every couple of years we start getting calls for Calvin Jones, of whom we have never heard and who has never had our phone number. They are difficult to get rid of. Turns out they are scumbags that buy up long ago written off debt and try to harass someone - anyone - into giving them money. Why they keep calling our number I cannot figure out.
 
I just blocked Blue Cross/Blue Shield and Accordant Care, which BC/BS apparently has an arrangement with to pitch something or another. They hit my land line several times a day for a week. Updated my phone number with them to a bogus number. . .
 
Rgbeard said:
Today's telephone is "broken". What I mean by this is, I remember a day when the phone rang, and you just answered it.


My default ringtone on my iPhone is now SilentRing. .
Click to expand...

You are doing it wrong. You can set your iPhone to only ring for anyone in your contact list. All other calls go automatically to voicemail.
 
Settings -> Do Not Disturb, Allow Calls From ->All Contacts
 
Datadriver said:
You are doing it wrong. You can set your iPhone to only ring for anyone in your contact list. All other calls go automatically to voicemail.
Click to expand...

That works well, unless your phone number is a business number where every inbound call is potentially a new and profitable customer.

-Skip
 
Skip Miller said:
That works well, unless your phone number is a business number where every inbound call is potentially a new and profitable customer.

-Skip
Click to expand...

In which case they should leave a voicemail. If they don't leave a VM they are not going to give you $.
 
Datadriver said:
In which case they should leave a voicemail. If they don't leave a VM they are not going to give you $.
Click to expand...
Incorrect. If there is more than one company I can call for X, one doesn't answer the phone, and the other one does, the one that answers their phone will probably get my business. ESPECIALLY if the voicemail is obviously a cell phone. For anything bigger than a lawn service, I expect something more than that. Either you're running a business, or you're not.
 
Rgbeard said:
My default ringtone on my iPhone is now SilentRing. You can download these easily with a simple Google search.

I'm going through my contacts looking for: Friends, Family, Co workers and customers. Assigning a ringtone other than "default" to them.

Will report back after I've done this for a week or two.
Click to expand...
Can't you just set your phone to block any calls that aren't in your contacts?
 
Juliet Hotel said:
Can't you just set your phone to block any calls that aren't in your contacts?
Click to expand...

I wish it was that easy. If it was, I'd have done this.

Seems silly that 12 iterations into the OS on Apple iPhones, and this isn't yet a "thing".

I can by enabling the DND settings, as described in post #30. But that'll shut down alerts from txt and other apps, that I value as much, if not more, than rings from the phone.
 
Blocking all calls except those in your contacts won't work fully either. The spammers are making up the headers on the caller ID to spoof numbers from your local area code. They will hit numbers on your contact list as well. In fact, I've gotten spam calls from my own phone number.
 
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