Unwanted phone calls

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gar

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Ann Arbor, Michigan
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220916-1324 EDT

Do you answer the phone if you do not recognize who is the caller?

I now never answer an incoming call unless I know who is the source. Just recently I have been getting a lot of unknown incoming calls. The area codes are not very consistent, and I expect the entire phone number including area code is fake.

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Unless I'm expecting a specific call I never answer the phone if I don't recognize the caller. Even when I do recognize the caller I only answer the call about 50% of the time. If it's important they can leave a voicemail or call back.
 
We don't answer a lot of calls, if they're legit they'll leave a message. I did feel bad the other day though, I refused to answer a call coming from my number, I will always wonder what I wanted.
 
roger said:
We don't answer a lot of calls, if they're legit they'll leave a message. I did feel bad the other day though, I refused to answer a call coming from my number, I will always wonder what I wanted.
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Rather bizarre to receive a call from your own number, at least I am not the only one.
 
gar said:
220916-1324 EDT

Do you answer the phone if you do not recognize who is the caller?

I now never answer an incoming call unless I know who is the source. Just recently I have been getting a lot of unknown incoming calls. The area codes are not very consistent, and I expect the entire phone number including area code is fake.

.
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We used to get quite a few calls from India getting us to update our bank details and other things. I just put the phone down. They stopped People can be devious and can be persuade. These junk mails have more or less stopped.
 
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If you don't have a "call blocker" app on your phone, I would suggest you get one, even it it's a free app (i.e HIYA). It will block at least some portion of the calls. By the same token, take the time to "BLOCK" the sender on your phone. It's an annoying process but you'll eventually get to a point where the calls will diminish considerably. I don't know how these marketing companies are able to do this but today they'll call you from 123-555-0000. The next day they'll call you from 123-555-0001, then 0002, etc. You have to keep blocking them.
 
I love getting calls from folks asking why you called them and than having to explain you didn’t.
 
goldstar said:
If you don't have a "call blocker" app on your phone, I would suggest you get one, even it it's a free app (i.e HIYA). It will block at least some portion of the calls. By the same token, take the time to "BLOCK" the sender on your phone. It's an annoying process but you'll eventually get to a point where the calls will diminish considerably. I don't know how these marketing companies are able to do this but today they'll call you from 123-555-0000. The next day they'll call you from 123-555-0001, then 0002, etc. You have to keep blocking them.
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The're computer generated.
 
goldstar said:
If you don't have a "call blocker" app on your phone, I would suggest you get one, even it it's a free app (i.e HIYA). It will block at least some portion of the calls. By the same token, take the time to "BLOCK" the sender on your phone.
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That's a losing game. The spammers hop from number to number and the next time they call you it will be from a different one. You'll probably never get another call attempt from the number you have blocked.
 
When I get a call I don't talk until whoever talks to me. If it is somebody with legitimate business then fine. If it is spam I hang up with no word spoken.
 
Besoeker3 said:
When I get a call I don't talk until whoever talks to me. If it is somebody with legitimate business then fine. If it is spam I hang up with no word spoken.
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I listen for the little "bloop" that indicates an autodialer, too.
 
220917-1731 EDT

I remember the days when we had a candlestick phone with a separate ringer box on the wall. This had an earphone hanging on a hook switch on the side of the candlestick, and a carbon microphone at the top of the candlestick.

To answer an incoming call you picked up the earpiece which released the hook switch, and you held the ear piece to your ear, and you positioned your head close to the mouth piece.

To place a call you simply lifted the ear piece and shortly a female voice would say "number please".

To get the lowest rate you would sign up for a party line, and be limited to possibly 50 calls per month. Long distance was a big deal, and costly. Also long distance might be just a few miles. It was a big procedure to make an inter city call.

My first phone number was 317J.

Before rotary dialing became available the instrument changed to a handset that combined the microphone and ear piece in the single handset. At some point the phone number changed to something like DE-1372, later it changed to 371-1372, and finally area codes were added creating the ten digit number.

Touchtone dialing evolved about the late 1950s after transistors became a viable product.

Telephone voice quality and equipment quality improved over the years under the old Bell system. Today voice quality is quite good at times, but much worse many times than in the 1920s and 1930s.

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goldstar said:
I don't know how these marketing companies are able to do this but today they'll call you from 123-555-0000. The next day they'll call you from 123-555-0001, then 0002, etc.
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Decades ago, when the Caller ID protocols were being defined, it was naively assumed by those writing those specifications that every entity that would use them would be trustworthy and honorable. Of course today that's not the case. If you're motivated to do so, you can spoof caller ID to report anything you want.
 
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