A random thought: I mentioned the other day that I was switching from Comcast to CenturyLink for Internet.
C’Link will be an Internet-only contract. The Comcast package included the first land-line I’ve had in years. Didn’t really want it, but it came with the deal. I opted for a non-published number, then signed on to the national “do not call” list. I knew that list was dubious, but since it has pretty much replaced the earlier and better private “do not calls,” I went ahead figuring it would at least be of some help.
The catch is that the fedlaw governing the list specifically allows politicians, pollsters, and charities to continue calling anybody they please. And doesn’t allow the poor telephone owner to opt out.
Help? Hardly. Putting my number on the “do not call” list was like signing up to be swarmed by nuisance-call locusts. Although I don’t answer any of those calls, their ringing blasts disrupt my days and evenings. I’ll be thoroughly glad to have the pesky land-line gone.
But here’s one of those questions to ask anybody who still imagines that the fedgov serves “the people” rather than special interests. If you were designing a “do not call” list for people who really hate nuisance calls — would you assume that everyone requesting “do not call” really, really, really wants to go on hearing from political campaigns, fundraisers, and poll takers?
Would you assume people requesting “do not call” wanted so much to hear from politicians, poll takers, and fundraisers that they wouldn’t even want to have any specific opt-out options? Not even the ability to ask those particular nuisances please and pretty please not to call, just as a courtesy, even if the request isn’t fedthug-enforceable?
Nooooo, I didn’t think so.
Okay, I grant you this is hardly the most pernicious manifestation of government “help.” After all, you can put your phone number on the “do not call” list and not be murdered by uniformed thugs, “taken out” by a predator drone, jailed, or asset forfeited. That’s something. But for the people …? Huh. That depends on which people you’re talking about.
The worst have been government pollsters, federal and otherwise. My Beloved State “randomly selected” me to take part in a poll and their cloying robo-voice left messages almost daily for two weeks demanding that I go to some website and type in some code to acknowledge their persistence. You just know I’m going to do that, right?
Ahhhhh, but as of last night the Vile Instrument of the Devil is GONE! (Unfortunately, I don’t mean the vile instrument aka government. Just the telephone. But that’s progress.)
Uh. They make phones these days with ringers you can turn off.
Just because you have a phone line connected to your house doesn’t mean you have to have an actual phone instrument connected to it. No phone, no calls. Easy!
Yes, guys. I do know that. However, at first I thought the wired phone might be useful (much better sound quality than a cell, for instance) — and since I did use it for personal and business calls, some of them “right now” kind of calls, I didn’t want to turn the ring off.
In the end, turning off the ring (and finally unplugging the thing) were of course exactly what I did. But only after nudging friends and business acquaintances toward using email except for non-urgent matters.
I hate all telephones on principle — acknowledging their usefulness for some purposes.
The government could probably make a nice bit of change by charging a small “fee” to opt out of those political, fund raising and poll serving calls. It could be a nominal fee, just a few bucks every month tacked on to you phone bill. Proceeds would go to whichever political party the FCC favors at that time. When that is succesful, then a small fee could be added to everyone who is not on the list for maintaining land lines that receive calls from non-profits, to ensure all non-profits have access…. etc. Hard to believe the govt has missed this great opportunity to stick it to a few more people and line the pockets of freinds and neighbors.
Unfortunately the cell phone is no protection against these invasions either. I have a cell phone that I keep very well protected and don’t even give to all of my clients (unless they pay me for such privilege) and I STILL get calls on there from pollsters occasionally. I have no idea how they are getting the number unless some obscure government regulation of wireless companies forces them to turn it over to some government controlled database, which wouldn’t surprise me a bit.
@Matt, that is how the unpublished numbers work now. You have to pay for the privilege of NOT having your information published and sold to the highest bidder, but somehow despite paying for this “service” I still somehow get calls from some telemarketing companies who figured out how to penetrate the secret veil. I wonder if I am entitled to a refund if these pests get through?
I know this solution is not the best but it works for me. I have always used an address book for ring selection. If the number coming in is not on that list or unknown then the ring is silent or goes straight to voicemail. If it’s important they can leave a message which I may review that night or next day. I do this with the cellphone also. It’s faster to delete the spam in the voicemail box than to get aggravated answering the line. Believe it or not I get almost no spam calls. At the start of joining some org or applying for some service I’ll see the spam go up but by the second week they stop calling.
If you unplug the phone how will people reach you to tell you that they’ve been kidnapped and they need you to bring the ransom down to the station.
I use a cordless phone system which happens to allow call blocking for up to 30 numbers (wish it was 1000). I manage the list of 30 depending on which scammers are pestering me the most at the time. One ring and the call is dropped with no opportunity to leave a message. All ringers are turned off except one (kitchen) and its set at barely audible. When I get junk/scam calls on the cell, I set up a contact for them with a name that starts with zz followed by a unique number, set the ring tone for that contact to NONE, and delete any messages when they call back.
Cheer$
I have a landline for emergency purposes,and usually leave the ringer off and the answering machine on. I’ve asked friends to call my cell phone first,and landline second. I must be lucky-I put my name on a no-call list and it all but stopped,just the occasional politicobabble call. I used to get calls from a collection agency looking for someone I don’t know. They refused to believe I didn’t know this person(If I did, I wouldn’t tell a 3$*!^-eating collection agency)-so I started telling them stories..well, they didn’t believe the truth..
My first job in high school (longer ago than I plan on admitting to) was a phone sales job…..we were given a sheet with numbers in sequence, just run down the list and call ALL the numbers….so, had the opt out been available back then, it wouldn’t have mattered due to the way they listed them…..
Best time of my life was the 4 years I didn’t have a phone of any kind……
I’ve gotten so deaf that I hardly ever hear the phone ring anymore and am grateful for the answering machine. Don’t have a cell phone at all. I very seldom make phone calls myself because I can’t hear much of what the other person is saying. Maddening sometimes.
But when I do get a spam call, I simply hang up the instant I figure out what it is. The ones that annoy me the most – and what I get the most – are the recordings. They actually think I’m going to listen to it and then call THEM?
It is hard to believe that anyone does… but they must. Otherwise, nobody would set up those auto calls.
“It is hard to believe that anyone does… but they must. Otherwise, nobody would set up those auto calls.”
Amen. Those robo-calls are really like spam in that way. I hate telemarketing calls in general, but any time I hear one of those robo-voices, my automatic reaction is, “Wait. You won’t take the time to personally call me? But you expect me to give you my personal time? Blank you!”
Naturegirl — ugh. Having to take a job in phone sales. Does anybody do that because they really want to? Friend of mine managed a call operation for Time-Life Books once. I’ve had some sympathy for the telemarketers since she told me that most of her employees were severely disabled or disfigured & working there only because it was so hard for them to get work elsewhere. I imagine another contingent are, as you probably were, young and desperate. Or maybe just desperate. Still …
Claire, back in those days that was what teenagers could get (other than fast food places)….There was a lot of hesitation on hiring young people……
I lasted 3 days and then laryngitis took me right out of that “career choice”…..took another couple of weeks to get my voice back to normal, LOL…..
It’s for that very reason I won’t be rude to them….there are many who can’t do most jobs other people take for granted, these types of jobs are perfect for them…..I won’t stay on the line, but I always say “sorry not interested” before I slam the phone down……
~ sometimes they make more money than I do, LOL, and I still won’t get rude….hehe
I still somehow get calls from some telemarketing companies who figured out how to penetrate the secret veil.
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What they do is program their calling system to call all numbers in blocks. In those blocks of numbers are going to be non published numbers.
I’m on the government do not call list and I very seldom get unsolicited calls on my land line.
I enter sweepstakes as a hobby and answer all calls. This is because some judging agencies calling about a win will skip you and go to the next person if you don’t answer.
Yes I know that there are scams calling themselves sweepstakes but sweepstakes aren’t scams. I’ve been doing this since 1982 and know what I’m doing. Last month I won $3,000 cash. $1,000 from Western Union and $2,000 from Chase bank.
I often enjoy playing with the police benevolent society folks when they call. I tell them that I can’t support the police until they end the war on some drugs. Usually shuts ’em up.
I never wait for a recording to finish. Just hang up.
Before getting on the no-call list, which works very well at blocking non-political mass callers, I once got someone who said she was not allowed to end the call. “OK,” said I, “Goodbye.” Click.
One other way to get them is to put the phone down without hanging up, and walk away. Keeps their line open. Keeps your line open too, but that’s usually not a problem.
Since I’ve learned to be rude to callers who don’t know me, and are trying to sell me something, I rarely have a problem.
Has anyone else gotten those semi-robotic calls where a real live person sends you to a recording? I’ve never listened to one all the way through-I hang up at that point-I don’t know if it’s politicobabble or not.
Claire,
I hope you have better luck with Century Link than many of us here in Texas have had. I finally filed a formal complaint with the FCC as trying to deal with CL was more than a waste of time. The service (if you can call it that) is about on level with the old tin cans and string. Calling customer service can be compared to banging your head against a concrete wall and then complaining because it hurts. The problem here is they never upgrade the old antiquated equipment and the DSL is many times slower than the OLD dial up was. I am thinking maybe I need to return to handwriting letters until I can move to a place with decent internet service. Can’t tell me that CL can’t afford to update the old equipment – look a t the money they are spending in Seattle for that Ball park and road signs.
As they say – ROTSA RUCK
Jackie — When I first moved here last year, I tried to go with CenturyLink, only to end up in a total service botch. They set me up for phone service (and no Internet) when I had actually asked for Internet (and no phone). Then they took forever to recognize the problem and were in no hurry to rectify it. So I switched to Comcast, which did a great job until their price skyrocketed. Yeah, I’m not optimistic about customer service from C’Link. But the new connection seems fine, cross fingers, knock wood. Not as fast as Comcast, but decent.
I know CenturyLink is actually a Frankenstein hybrid made up of a number of different former companies. The one in this area, CenturyTel, always had good equipment and good local people. So maybe I’ve lucked out, while you guys in Texas got stuck with some other company’s obsolete equipment. Good luck dealing with the FCC …
I somehow got on the calling list of one of those Nigerian scam artists, every 20 minutes they’d call pretending to be UPS and saying i had a check for 250 million waiting. I’d hang up and they’d call right back again.
I got them to stop though. I started blowing a safety whistle in their ear. I only had to deafen 3 of them before they got the message >:)
I just turned 65, so my email, junk mail and phone calls are filled with every kind of medicare offer imaginable. I used to work in that field, but didn’t know there were medicate “providers” for quite so many different things. Did you know that medicare will pay for Viagra?
No wonder medicare is totally bankrupt.
And I had to fight with them to convince them I did NOT WANT their damned “part B.”
Ellendra, I like your spirit. 🙂
But OMG, I had NO idea the Nigerian scammers called people as well as using email. Ugh! Guess I should consider myself lucky I only had gummint pollsters and (the one that always alarmed me and made me laugh when it appeared on caller ID) Breast Cancer. “Hellllo. Breast cancer calling ….”
Medicare pays for Viagra? Hm. Wonder if it’ll also pay for enlarging parts we don’t have.
This is the trick and dont tell others I told you this. its a phone company secret.
Set an answering machine on your line. For your message record the automated three tone signal the phone company puts on lines that are disconnected. You know the Dee-Don-Dee sound. Automated robo callers are set to pick up that tone and then flag the stored number as disconnected. It may take a few times but their systems will then remove your number from their call lists.
Grenadier1 — Heh. That’s pretty clever.
On my answering machine I have recorded the fax handshake tones. Friends (and I got damn few of them) know to wait and leave a message. Everyone else just hangs up.
Only the wife and kids/grandkids have the cell #
Grenadier1 – nice. Humans will usually wait a second or so longer for the “The number you have dialed” message, so it will probably not cause difficulty.
F42 – there may be another advantage to using the fax tone. The law used to disallow robocalls to cell phones (most, like mine, charge for incoming calls), but changed recently. Yeah, supposedly for political parties and government – I’ll still get charged! But as far as I know, it remains illegal to robo-call a facsimile receiver.
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I have been thinking of a Google phone account using my cellphone number. “Free” answering-machine functions – my cell provider charges for it. Not that it bothers me that much, for $15/month (of which $5 is government fee/tax) with a month-by-month contract and a free (if old) phone I have been well-served for several years. OK, this year I had to add a bit more money: for health reasons, I have been calling various doctors, hospitals, and such in excess of the admittedly low number of minutes supplied with basic charge.
Which leads to a gripe for any medical personnel reading. Considering I can use the internet to arrange and pay for $12 fast-food delivery, why must I use snail-mail (or at best telephone) to pay a multi-thousand-dollar hospital bill and/or a less-than-a-hundred-dollar office “visit” in this century?
Oops – forgot this:
http://www.consumercellular.com/
Grenadier1: Thank you, I think I’ll use that 🙂
Grenadier1,
Do you know what keys create that dee-doo-deep sound?
That or the fax “handshake” sound sounds like the trick for me.