Blocking Robo Calls and Do-Not-Call List

Al F · October 28, 2016

The last day or two there have been news articles about blocking Robo Calls. The news makes it sound like there are new and wonderful stuff out there.

Well, not for cell phones, or at least not for AT&T and Verizon,the only two I checked.

Here is the FCC.Gov website for more info.

Basically the fcc.gov website sends you to your carrier, for us it is Verizon. At Verizon they send you to a place called NoMoRobo IF you have Verizon's digital service. For cell phones, nothing but sign up with www.DoNotCall.gov, which we did back in 2006.

The good news for us, is that it has not been a big problem, just a nuisance to answer or ignore phone call. At least they don't call in the middle of the night.

All the phone numbers calling us seem to be spoofed, not the actual calling phone number which I could program my smart phone to ignore. Most of the calls come from our home area code, but we also get calls from all over the country.

I usually just ignore the incoming call and assume that if it is important the caller will leave a voice mail.

There is a way at www.donotcall.gov to file a complaint, which I am starting to do. The complaint requires your phone number, the calling phone number date and time and what the call was about. I don't know if they will actually try to track the call, but it is worth a try, as long as I have nothing else to do at the moment.

Devilishjim · October 28, 2016

I have an app on my verizon phone from google called blacklist just enter the number you want blocked and they cant get through

coachmac9 · October 28, 2016

There is a call block function that comes on the I-phones but the problem is that the robo/sales calls seem to have endless amounts of numbers. If I don't know the number and they don't leave a message I block that number immediately but it doesn't seem to slow them down much!!

Chalkie · October 28, 2016

I have no idea if it is available for I-phone, but we use the app 'Mr. Number'. It works very well at identifying spam calls and immediately rejects such calls if that is how you have it set.

Al F · October 28, 2016

I have an app on my verizon phone from google called blacklist just enter the number you want blocked and they cant get through

Except I get the call from a different number most every time. They are spoofing the phone number.

LFDR3116 · October 28, 2016

We did not set up our voice mail, and only answer if it's a number we recognize, or after checking the number online to see who it is, and call them back. We have not talked to anyone robo or otherwise that we didn't want to talk to in 5+ years.

DuneElliot · October 28, 2016

Never had a single Robocall since I added my cell number to the DoNotCall list

chirakawa · October 28, 2016

Never had a single Robocall since I added my cell number to the DoNotCall list

You're very fortunate. I've had hundreds.

Al F · October 28, 2016

We did not set up our voice mail, and only answer if it's a number we recognize, or after checking the number online to see who it is, and call them back. We have not talked to anyone robo or otherwise that we didn't want to talk to in 5+ years.

Gee, I guess it is all my fault I am getting lots of Robo calls.

Pat & Pete · October 28, 2016

Gee, I guess it is all my fault I am getting lots of Robo calls.

Nah , they just like the sound of your voice . LOL

mscans · October 28, 2016

Have been on the do not call list for over ten years. I get many calls every day from unknowns, even if a number is listed they are spoofed. One that I got was actually the number that it called ?????

I use an answering machine with a short message, most don't bother to leave a message and when they do it is a robocall, which is illegal, there is no way to stop these slimebags if the phone company and the FCC chose not to. I will not hold my breath waiting for that to happen. These calls are free for the stalkers to use, the people they use are slaves in a boiler room but apparently it is all good for the "powers that be".

Making a complaint requires a REAL number and company that called and then a complaint can be filed. They do NOT use real numbers so that complaint is a waste of time.

End of rant, I simply do not answer the phone anymore :angry:

Dutch_12078 · October 29, 2016

NoMoRobo works fine with both our Verizon smart phones and our VOIP "landline" service, as does the "Call Control" app we installed on our phones. We very rarely get any spam calls now, although we have had a few more political calls get through lately. Given the volume of them being made right now though, that's not surprising.

Newt · October 29, 2016

On our Android phones, we use the app Whoscall. It identifies calls in its registry and will block numbers you select.

Newt

docj · October 29, 2016

On our Android phones, we use the app Whoscall. It identifies calls in its registry and will block numbers you select.

If you're not already aware, some (many?) Android phones have blocking capability built in. Just go to Recent calls and "open" the one you want to block. On my Galaxy S7 there is a MORE link in the upper right corner. Click on it and one of the menu options is BLOCK. If you make a mistake, the block can be easily removed the same way.

Al F · October 29, 2016

The blocking works fine when the call comes from the same number. With many of these robo calls, they are spoofing the phone number so it changes with each call.

Dutch_12078 · October 29, 2016

The blocking works fine when the call comes from the same number. With many of these robo calls, they are spoofing the phone number so it changes with each call.

The "Call Control" app on our Android phones uses a user community generated block list, as well as adding your own number blocks that are then added to the shared community list. It's very effective even when spammers keep changing numbers since there's a good likelihood that another app user has already submitted the number.

Dutch_12078 · October 29, 2016

If you're not already aware, some (many?) Android phones have blocking capability built in. Just go to Recent calls and "open" the one you want to block. On my Galaxy S7 there is a MORE link in the upper right corner. Click on it and one of the menu options is BLOCK. If you make a mistake, the block can be easily removed the same way.

And if your phone doesn't have a native "Block" feature, you can create a contact called "Block" or something, assign it a silent ringtone, and then add any numbers you want blocked to it. The caller can still leave a voice mail message, but few spammers bother.

Bill Joyce · October 29, 2016

The new trick is to only leave voice mail. I do not know how they do it, but the phone does not ring while voice mail is left. Happened twice and both were political robo calls. We are on Verizon and had solid cell service when the voice mail indicator lit up.

LindaH · October 29, 2016

On my android phone, I'm able to add a number to the "Auto Reject List" in the phone app. I do get a notice that the number called again, but it never rings.