To enable it, just pick up your phone and press "*77.” You should hear three short beeps to let you know it's activated, and then you can hang up. If you’re not sure what you have, call your phone company.Īnother freebie helper for ridding robocalls is anonymous call rejection. It does not work however, on traditional "analog copper" phone lines. The catch is that it only works with VoIP phone service, so if you get your phone through an internet or cable provider like Charter, AT&T U-Verse, Verizon Fios, Comcast Xfinity, Vonage, or several others, you're good to go. It automatically blocks nearly 500,000 confirmed robocallers and doesn't use annoying ads or any other goofy tricks to get money out of you - it's just plain free. On mobile it’s a paid subscription, but it's free for landlines. Other concerns: they can be difficult to set up and yet still easy for savvy scammers to workaround.Īn app called Nomorobo was one of my top recommendations for stopping robocalls on your smartphone and it's just as great for blocking bad callers on your home phone. The boxes range anywhere from $30-$150 dollars. The boxes “could present problems in emergency situations or when it comes to "legitimate" robocalls (school snow days, product recalls, etc.),” says Tim Prugar, who sits on the Communication Fraud Control Association’s consumer education committee and is an executive at Next Caller, which provides caller ID services to businesses. One concern: One of the biggest reasons people keep landlines is for emergencies. He said his parent's phone went from ringing more than 10 times a day with political polls, solar panel and security system sales, to remaining blissfully quiet unless a “whitelisted” number comes through. Then there are "robocall blocker" boxes. I have a friend who swears by the $100 CPR V5000 Call Blocker he picked up for his aging father, who suffers from dementia. “These aren’t perfect solutions, it’s like bringing back the 80’s and 90’s, but it goes a long way to solve the problem.” He also told me that he convinced his mom to do this, too (and it’s working). If they do, he can still grab the phone while the caller is talking, or call him or her back. If the caller doesn’t leave a message, he doesn’t worry about it. Quilici said he turned his landline ringer off altogether, and all calls go through an answering machine with caller ID. “If I’m going to scam you to buy a fake cruise or install fake virus software, I need you to answer the phone so that I can pitch you.” “If no one ever picked up the phone when it rang, robocalls would stop,” says Alex Quilici, CEO of YouMail, a visual voicemail and robocall blocking service. As rudimentary as it seems, one the most effective deterrents is to screen your calls. I interviewed a half dozen of the nation’s top experts, getting advice from everyone from the Federal Trade Commission and Better Business Bureau - to a former robo-caller himself. Hundreds of people emailed with complaints, comments, and the same question asked over and over: How can I end those infuriating calls on my home phone, too? Superstar screening A few weeks ago, I did a story on how to stop annoying, endless robocalls to your smartphone.
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