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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)
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.
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.
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.)
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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