Need Robocall Relief? Here's How to Fight Back - Comments Page 1

I have used Hiya on my Android phone and that has blocked an incredible number of spam calls plus lets users report other spam calls.

Of course if anyone knows that this app also poses some risk such as collecting personal information from our phone and passing it on to others, let us know. :-)

In the business, land lines are known as POTS Plain Old Telephone Service.

Unfortunately, my thoughts on robo calls and phone spam in general are not printable but I'm sure you all get the message.

I do not need (nor want) to be connected at the lip 24/7 so my cell phone is a flip phone on a prepaid plan that has voice messaging and texting blocked. I keep it turned off unless I'm going to actually use it (which is rarely since I have primarily for emergencies and a backup for my home phone). Needless to say, robo calls and other despicable phone spam do not plague that phone (and run up my phone bill).

My home phone is actually a cell phone designed to be connected to conventional landline phones. I have my cordless phone base station connected to it. The "cell phone" can be taken with me on a trip or if I move and still be able to use my "home" phone number as long as I have power for the "cell phone" and I'm in the carrier's service area.

The number I use on that phone is one I had for ten years and had weeded out unwanted calls long enough I no longer got them. I pretty much get no phone spam. The last Presidential election cycle was the first one that did not bombard me with political calls day and night (I had to disable my home phones during the previous one to get any peace and quiet at home).

As far as political robo calls goes, Indiana recently had their robo call ban upheld by the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals and it appears that includes political robo calls due to the way the ban is worded (it allows basing blocking on who is called, not the content of the call).

Great information. Thank you.

I have been using nomorobo for years. It is a godsend. Set it up if your provider supports it. You will not be sorry.

I use both copper land line (POTS) service, and an android cell. Alas, about 90% of the SPAM robocalls come in on the land line, which is already registered with Do-Not-Call.

I keep the land line for business. It has much, much better voice quality, never runs out of battery, works during blackouts, and I regularly FAX documents. The need for FAX is driven by a protective order in lawsuit which says some information can not be sent through the conventional Internet. One improvement however was to drop my carrier's voicemail, and use the answering device in my home phone. While a step backwards, it seems to have eliminated the ring less voicemails I was getting.

If only there was a way to program that home phone unit not to ring during dinner hours.

I've been using the android app "MR.NUMBER" which seems quite effective in blocking calls. I also have Google Voice set up to receive any messages.

We have FIOS instead of POTS. Liked copper POTS since is was the most reliable and secure phone lines. FIOS is well just a line with limited reliability and security!
One thing that is used to resolve ROBO calls is to get your phones on the National Do Not Call list. Then complain as fast and loud to the government using this feature. This does not guarantee that the Robo Calls will stop but if enough complain with the same originating telecom number, something will be done. That's what is done and sooner or later the calls stop!

ANYONE got any ideas what this is?

We have had an interesting development since we got a new number for our POTS because of the number of sales calls and the fact we were one digit different to a busy doctor's office, and received many of their calls.

For a year now we have received no spam calls of any kind except the one, which happens on a fairly regular basis, three calls at about a ten minute interval. At all times of the day and night.

There is just a succession of beeps, long beeps like a microwave makes (not a fax whine).

Anyone know what this is? The phone company neither know nor care, just saying it is a fax machine.... it is not, we've allowed our fax machine to answer.

Speak of the devil ... there goes my phone now, complete with beeps.

We are not sure whether we prefer them to sales calls!

We keep the ringer and the volume of the messages very low so we are not disturbed too much.

easy I pick up the receiver and drop it, cutting it off, same as email is bogus

Thank you for this info. We will definitely be adding one of these services.

I tried TruCaller. Their ads were so annoying that I uninstalled it and just don't answer calls we don't recognize the number.

Android phone: I've been using Call Control for years now and it's been wonderful. I like the fact that I can 'block and report' a call so that not only I have it blocked, but the community block list gets updated, too.

Apparently, they're beta testing a Call Control Home product, too. I don't have a land line so I don't know how/if that works.

My phone announces the caller and if it is just a number (not a name), then the caller is not in my contact list and I ignore it. Simplest way to ignore robocalls, just don't answer. Real people will leave a message and I can call them back.

If the number calling me is NOT on my call list, I do not answer. If it is important, leave a message and I will get back to you. Please leave your message after the beep. 'beep'

My old landline phone has the ability to block numbers (alas only up to 30 numbers at a time). When I receive these annoying calls,which tend to be repeaters, day after day or even hour after hour, I add the number to the block list, deleting one of the earlier ones. This seems to keep the a**hole calls own to almost none.
The old blocked numbers never seem to come back, so it appears that these scum of the earth callers move on from their old numbers regularly

One thing I have tried with some success is to answer my phone and walk away with it off hook while the recording does it's thing. When there is no response at the end of it's spiel, it hangs up on its own. No more calls from that scam. It seems to have worked best on calls that I repeatedly get, even though they are from different numbers.

Thanks Ron for writing about TruCaller's ads. I was about to give them a try but that's all I need-more ads.

It is important to not even answer the phone on these calls since the scammer's computers log the time that the phone is answered and then one is more likely to get a "human" caller around that time. They figure that's when the target is most likely available.

For a while I had a robocaller that kept calling me telling me that I was approved for a Government loan that I didn't need to pay back (a LOAN that i didn't need to pay back? sounds fishy). At one point I got fed up with them and devised a plan for the next time that they called.
The next time they called I asked "You're from the Government?" and he said "Yes" so I replied "Okay. Send me a check". He went on saying he needed some info from me so I told him that the Government already knows where I live (they know everything, right?) and he could just send me a check. At this point they usually just hang up out of frustration. I used this tactic for the next few times they called and eventually they just stopped calling me.

I've used YouMail for eleven years, and it's incredible! The free version is wonderful and works perfectly for most people, but they offer paid programs which have cool options. Besides filtering out Robocallers, YouMail offers visual voicemail, voicemail-to-email, voicemail-to-text, and other awesome features. I'm still using the free service and I couldn't live without it -- it's the first thing I install when I get a new mobile phone.