Community Chat

[LTT1]

@June222@silkyk@dooBdoo@maryebrown@curlywhitedog

I like all of these suggestions... 

However, a question?  

not to scare anyone, but could it be someone calling to see if people are home and at what times (landlines)?

We registered our phones with the National Do Not Call register... for all this helps.  We assume the land line is being called by political orgs b/c these are the only entities that are allowed to call if you are registered.  Most of these calls leave long extended messages.

So the calls we are getting now, when no message is left, have been getting more numerous and they are bothersome.

[Nightowlz]

I cannot believe all the people that actually call back a number they have no idea who it is. I have never done that. Who cares who it is. If I don't recognize the number I don't answer. You can Google the number & generally find out who the caller is by clicking on 800notes or whocallsme. The blood institute keeps calling here plus a bunch of other yahoos. I turned off my answering machine & seem to get less calls. The calls seem to come in spurts & then slow down. I turn the ringer on the phone off when we go to back so they cannot wake us up.

[dooBdoo]

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@LTT1 wrote:

@June222@silkyk@dooBdoo@maryebrown@curlywhitedog

I like all of these suggestions... 

However, a question?  

not to scare anyone, but could it be someone calling to see if people are home and at what times (landlines)?

We registered our phones with the National Do Not Call register... for all this helps.  We assume the land line is being called by political orgs b/c these are the only entities that are allowed to call if you are registered.  Most of these calls leave long extended messages.

So the calls we are getting now, when no message is left, have been getting more numerous and they are bothersome.

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Hi, @LTT1.   I think it helps to keep in mind that the DNC registry only works with reputable companies.  It also doesn't protect us from political calls or certain charities or exempt surveys, or from companies we knowingly or unknowingly agreed to receive calls from (the fine print on websites, contests, etc., sometimes includes an agreement to accept phone calls, for example).  So it's still worth it to register, but as we all know it doesn't stop all the unwanted calls.

Just my opinion, but I don't think the calls are trying to determine when someone is or isn't home.  I say that because the proliferation of answering devices, call blockers, and systems to forward calls to a different phone which might be in a completely different location have changed things to such an extent that it would be very difficult to pinpoint which calls really did find a pattern -- and it would take a lot of technically sophisticated calls to even attempt to determine that.  Interesting question, though.

[LTT1]

@dooBdoo@Nightowlz

Thank you for the information.

We used to keep our landline on silent ringer, but now it is on due to a family "situation."  That should be a moot point pretty soon, tho.

We did get curious about the cell phone calls from strange area codes.  My phone gave the info as someone calling from a nearby municipality, so I returned the call.  Nobody answered!  LOL  (but they may have sold my #)

Since we ignore the few calls we get on our cell phones that are unknown, these calls (twice daily) have stopped.

Good info... we're not answering!

[curlywhitedog]

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@LTT1 wrote:

@June222@silkyk@dooBdoo@maryebrown@curlywhitedog

I like all of these suggestions... 

However, a question?  

not to scare anyone, but could it be someone calling to see if people are home and at what times (landlines)?

I suppose it could be the case, lovestoteach, but the likely hood of that being the case is not high enough for it to cause me to start answering telemarketing calls of which I can field a half a dozen or more every day (thank goodness for my call blocker). 

Anyone who wants to check out my house when I'm not home is going to have to get past my security system and curlywhitedog.  Lots of luck with either. 

Maria

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[60sgirl]

looking up cell phone numbers on google has only gotten me information as to the location i.e, from what city that call was made, however, if I use my cell phone while traveling and I am in another state, looking up my cell phone number might tell you the location of where the tower is generating my phone's power but it doesn't tell you that I was in a different state when I made the call.,

I don't answer strange numbers either but this leads to other problems too. When I am waiting for a contractor to call me about a job I want done, or a carpet installer might call to tell you when they are coming, numbers you don't know, you don't pick up the phone, miss the call, and either listen to see if they left a voicemail and try to play catch up at that point, or they don't leave a message for whatever reason and you end up having someone arrive at a time when you are not at home. I was told recently that I will get a call from a technician in about a week who is going to start a remodel job in my house and that person will let me know the date he can come. I won't know the phone number because the company employs lots of people so they don't know who will be calling you. If I miss the call and can't reach that person right away, my job could get delayed because they gave away that date to another customer.

Trying to out-trick tricksters on the internet, cell phones, and all the other tech stuff we use these days can be a real PITA. 

[maryebrown]

If I don't recognize the number, I don't answer it. I dumped my landline 3 years ago, so my cell phone is my home # and it is unlisted. I google the number and if it's legit I call them back. I do not have voice mail on my cell, I would get charged minutes for looking (Nokia tracfone).

[curlywhitedog]

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@maryebrown wrote:

If I don't recognize the number, I don't answer it. I dumped my landline 3 years ago, so my cell phone is my home # and it is unlisted. I google the number and if it's legit I call them back. I do not have voice mail on my cell, I would get charged minutes for looking (Nokia tracfone).

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I totally agree with not answering a number I don't recognize, as a matter of fact, first thing I do when a strange number appears on my caller ID is to hit call block which disconnects the call and gives the calling party a dial tone.  Next thing is I Google the number to find out who it was. Only once in a year and a half have I ever had to re-instate a number that called and was blocked. 

I've been thinking of getting rid of my land line but it's so hard to cut that umbilical.  My number (landline) is also unlisted but that doesn't deter robo-dialing which works on a progressive pattern of numbers, i.e., 555-0000 and then onto to 555-0001.  It's all automated now.

Maria

[Nightowlz]

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@curlywhitedog wrote:

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@maryebrown wrote:

If I don't recognize the number, I don't answer it. I dumped my landline 3 years ago, so my cell phone is my home # and it is unlisted. I google the number and if it's legit I call them back. I do not have voice mail on my cell, I would get charged minutes for looking (Nokia tracfone).

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I totally agree with not answering a number I don't recognize, as a matter of fact, first thing I do when a strange number appears on my caller ID is to hit call block which disconnects the call and gives the calling party a dial tone.  Next thing is I Google the number to find out who it was. Only once in a year and a half have I ever had to re-instate a number that called and was blocked. 

I've been thinking of getting rid of my land line but it's so hard to cut that umbilical.  My number (landline) is also unlisted but that doesn't deter robo-dialing which works on a progressive pattern of numbers, i.e., 555-0000 and then onto to 555-0001.  It's all automated now.

Maria

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We have been debating on getting rid of our home phone also. We have had the same number for 40 yrs. I need a new phone. I don't like the DECT 6.0 technology phones because they emit radiation 24/7 where a regular cordless phone only emits it while you are using it. When I use my cellphone I use speakerphone as I do with my home phone.

[2blonde]

If you have AT&T U-verse as your telephone provider you can sign up for Nomorobo.  It stops all robo calls after the first ring.  You go to the Nomorobo website and it will tell you what to do there, then it gives you directions on how to set it up on your AT&T account online.  It was pretty easy, and I couldn't believe it when it started working!  There may be more phone carriers with it by now, so you'll need to check.  I actually found out about it from someone on these boards.  BTW, it's totally free!