Butch Cassidy said,
Just block the number and move on with your life.
If only it was that simple. Talking here about a plain old GSM mobile phone, with limited memory for blocked numbers. Some carriers, like T-Mob, have plans where you can block numbers on their system instead of relying on your phone to do it... but T-Mob only allows you to put 10 numbers on the list. Useless.
When I block a number on my phone, all it does is prevent it from ringing. The phone is still handling the call, and without voice mail enabled[1], my carrier actually rings the phone for the better part of a minute before giving the caller a "Subscriber Cannot Be Reached" intercept. So my phone won't actually be ringing during that minute, but it is still tied up and not available for me to place or receive calls.
This is not just a minor annoyance. When I say these callers pound my phone number, I mean they repeat call the number continuously. Basically the phone equivalent of a "denial of service" attack.
Keep in mind, these are callers that can claim a "prior business relationship" with the previous owner of my phone number. Actually calling them back and explaining that the number in their files is no good only makes matters worse: Often they will laugh in your face when you ask them to stop, then they usually turn up the heat even higher because now they know there is a live person at the calling end.
Yes, I know I should just change the phone number. How many times do I have to do that? How many times do I have to explain to elderly relatives that they need to learn yet another new number to reach me?
[1] Can't have voice mail enabled, or it fills up almost instantly with junk messages.
Butch Cassidy also said,
Or you could try wrapping your phone in tin foil. Some three-letter agency is probably out to get you
Yeah, that's it. This is all in my head.
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Jeff said,
These sales callers are getting good. I got one from some magazine and the CID spoofed our office number!
Hi, Jeff! Amazing what is tolerated now, isn't it? Apparently the FCC is more focused on helping companies build shareholder value than doing their real job.
Seriously, is there something I am not getting on this Caller ID spoofing issue? I thought that allowing fraudulent information to be injected into the SS7 system was a clear violation of the license that is [was?] required to connect to the system. Seems to me that when VoIP carriers allow this crap to go on, they should lose their connection privelages. Oh wait... that would "stifle creativity" and "discourage innovation" and all that folderol. Thanks, FCC. All of our tax dollars heve clearly been well spent.
Jim Bennett
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Babbling incoherently from a secure undisclosed location.