I just read this article: Spam has taken over our phones. Will we ever want to answer them again?
We knew spam calls could be a potential problem when we got our cell phones, so we never answer voice calls. (The reception is so poor up on the land that trying to talk to one another doesn’t work.)
We use the phones primarily to text one another and don’t give out our numbers when companies ask for it. At home we have an answering machine and while the phone rings quite often during the day, it’s only two rings at a time — our answering machine picks up and asks them to leave a message. Most don’t, and if it’s someone we want to talk to we have enough time to do it.
So having a landline and an answering machine solves the robocall problem for us. Do you ever have any problems?
March 26, 2019
Have answerphone with landline at home but usually hang up on selling calls, nothing has occurred on smart phone YET!
That’s good about your cell phone. Fingers crossed it continues!
We don’t have a landline anymore, just cell phones. It’s not unusual to get one or two spam calls a day on each. Sometimes, we don’t get any. We don’t answer numbers that aren’t in our contact lists, which now, because of all the spam includes our doctors, dentist, pharmacist, auto service dept, etc. If they really want to talk to us, the can leave a message in voicemail.
Supposedly there is new app from Verizon coming out this week that will block a lot of the nuisance numbers. The other major carriers are supposed to also have similar apps in development.
That’s good that they might be finally working on it. We don’t use caller ID on our landline, just let the answering machine take care of it. The best part of the answering machine is it stops the ringing after only two rings — we get enough calls that the noise was getting annoying.
I haven’t had a landline for years so all I have is the cell phone. If I don’t recognize the number I rarely answer it. I figure if it’s important or someone who really knows me, they will leave a message. Most of the calls I get on my cell are ones I don’t know. I mostly text back and forth with people instead of calling
Cell phones make a lot of sense for a lot of people. And texting rather than talking also makes sense. I’m mostly home so email instead, and we do like our land line even though it’s expensive.
I have a landline and cell phone but I really don’t like using the cell phone…holding that shape is awkward and I can’t hear on it as well as I do the landline and I don’t like carrying a cell phone around like so many people do. If it’s five o’clock I can count getting 1-2 spam calls on my landline and now I’m starting to get them on my cell as well. I have a ‘block caller’ feature on my landline and I enjoy using it.
How does “block caller” work? Do you have to put in individual numbers? If so, is there a limit? We occasionally get spam calls on our cell phones but never listen to them.
We get the odd cold call (or spam call). It’s obvious straightaway it’s not legit and we cut off the call. BT has a call vetting service which blocks calls from any number you report to them, so I use that service as well.
As I understand it, the robocallers keep changing their numbers so blocking them doesn’t work. Certainly signing up for the Do Not Call list didn’t. We get quite a few spam calls during the day, so it’s easier not to answer unless we hear it’s someone we know. I’m guessing we get a lot more unwanted calls than you do. I’m glad your system works so well for you.
We don’t have a landline. We each have a cell phone. We have a pretty comprehensive list of contacts so we simply don’t answer calls from unknown numbers. You can put your phone number on a do not call list but politicians are exempt. We get lots of junk calls in the months before an election.
A lot of people save money by ditching the landline, so it’s clearly the smart thing to do for them. It sounds like it works just fine for you. That’s great.
We are on the Do Not Call list, but it doesn’t keep our phone from ringing so much. There are ways for them to get around it.
If a company can claim a previous connection to you they can call you. I’m beginning to think that means if they’ve ever sent a mailing to you they can claim that as a previous connection. Then our health insurance outsourced one of their programs so now we get calls from a company with which we did NOT have a previous connection. Aaargh!