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Old 08-06-2015, 09:29 AM
 
5,718 posts, read 7,201,081 times
Reputation: 10797

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I picked up a Zenith ZEP 100 at a flea market for a buck. Works great.


http://www.amazon.com/Accessories-22.../dp/B000055YX6
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Old 08-06-2015, 09:33 AM
 
Location: Mid-Atlantic east coast
7,055 posts, read 12,560,065 times
Reputation: 15842
If it just me, but isn't it interesting that we citizens have to spend money and/or time to fend off telemarketers from our phones -- and lives?

Why is that?

Why don't we have protection in preventing these annoying, harassing and time-consuming calls from coming into our homes -- at all?
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Old 08-06-2015, 12:03 PM
 
10,923 posts, read 21,868,138 times
Reputation: 10562
Quote:
Originally Posted by eggalegga View Post
I use a feature provided by my local phone company called selective call forwarding. After a someone I don't recognize calls, I add their number to my selective call forwarding list. What's great is I can add just the area code & prefix & that will block all of the numbers from that prefix. I set up the forwarded calls to go to another telemarketing number that harassed me for months & months.
I do the same for work, we get probably 10 new spam calls a day, I forward them to 631-265-0000 (yes it's safe to call if you're interested)
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Old 08-06-2015, 12:05 PM
 
10,923 posts, read 21,868,138 times
Reputation: 10562
Quote:
Originally Posted by oldtrader View Post
We did the ultimate way of getting rid of calls we do not want.

We went from Century Link to VOIP, which means Voice Operated Internet Protocol.
VOIP actually stands for Voice Over Internet Protocol.
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Old 08-06-2015, 12:11 PM
 
Location: Austin
15,573 posts, read 10,279,647 times
Reputation: 19339
I use the free service NOMOROBO.https://www.nomorobo.com/ and have used it for about a year. We've gone from 6 or more telemarketing calls a day, to maybe 3 unsolicited calls a week. I could kiss the guy who invented it!

I read about nomorobo in the NYTimes last year. That's how I originally found it.
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Old 08-06-2015, 12:17 PM
 
Location: Denver CO
24,204 posts, read 19,014,407 times
Reputation: 38265
I changed my phone number for my landline. The only people who have it are family members and very, very close friends. No one else. I've never given it out to any type of company. I guess an autodialer could randomly dial it but so far, it's been wonderful to know it's a legitimate caller every time it rings.
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Old 08-06-2015, 02:08 PM
 
Location: Southern New Hampshire
10,009 posts, read 17,911,869 times
Reputation: 35685
I no longer have a landline, but on my cell phone, the default ringtone is SILENT. Friends and family members have their own ringtones so I never miss THEIR calls (unless I want to ) -- this takes care of the problem of needing to remain "open" for SOME people's calls.

Whenever I check my cell phone and see an unfamiliar number, I google it. Virtually always it's a telemarketer/scammer. I add that number to the F***ING ILLEGAL CALLS contact (yeah, it's called that) in case they call again (but they switch numbers so often that the contact has dozens and dozens of numbers on it).

And yes, the Do Not Call list DOES work -- just not for scammers (they are trying to scam you -- why would they follow the law about not calling?). Law-abiding telemarketing companies follow the list; scammers don't. (I know this from my own experience -- i.e., the calls I get that I can check on, which is 99% of them, are clearly scammers, as some posters write about the type of call they got from a particular number, e.g., "I am calling from Microsoft to fix your computer, it has a virus." Yeah, right.)
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Old 08-07-2015, 09:22 AM
 
Location: Southern California
12,713 posts, read 15,393,156 times
Reputation: 35511
What is this "land line" you people speak of?
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Old 08-07-2015, 10:57 AM
 
Location: Mid-Atlantic east coast
7,055 posts, read 12,560,065 times
Reputation: 15842
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr_Geek View Post
What is this "land line" you people speak of?
<grin> Touche ... I glory in being an old school Luddite..it's cheap, it's fun and it's retro!
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Old 08-07-2015, 10:11 PM
 
13,041 posts, read 20,698,725 times
Reputation: 21219
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sherifftruman View Post
Did the same thing. Saves us more than $50 a month since we never really use our home phone anyway. I thought about totally getting rid of it, but got the Ooma device on Woot for a good deal and the taxes and whatnot are like $4 a month. That way, if I do get a call I want, I will be able to get the message at least, even though we never hear the ring.
Besides the money (can't beat $3 - $10 monthly nationwide calling) I love the blacklist service. Not only can I stop a number from ringing through to me, but Ooma's "bouncers" are constantly adding numbers from customer reports or identified by their research. I don't have to take steps like turning off the ringer to have peace. I also like that as elections near, you can sign up for blocks on all those "exempt" political calls just like you do with charities and surveys. The phones remains as it should; just without the annoying calls.
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