FTC Do-Not-Call web page redesigned [telecom]

ref: FCC regs from

Know Your Rights: The Rules on Robocalls and Robotexts

1. Telemarketing calls can be stopped by consumers through the Do Not Call registry which protects both landline and wireless phones.
2. All non-emergency robocalls, both telemarketing and informational, require a consumer's permission to be made to a wireless phone. These calls can include political, polling, and other non-telemarketing robocalls.
3. Robocalls either use a technology with the capacity to autodial or utilize a pre-recorded or artificial voice.
4. Calls and text messages have the same protection under FCC rules.
5. Phone companies face no legal barriers to offering consumers the use of technologies that block robocalls to any phone. The FCC encouraged the companies to offer this resource.
6. Consumers can take back their permission to be called or texted in any reasonable way. A calling company cannot require someone to fill out a form and mail it in as the only way to revoke consent.
7. An existing commercial relationship does not constitute permission to be robocalled or texted.
8. Consent to be called or texted cannot be a condition of a sale or other commercial transaction.
9. Callers are allowed to call a wrong number only once before updating their list. This most commonly comes up when one person consented to be called or texted but then they gave up that number and it was reassigned to someone else. Callers have resources available to them to help them know ahead of time if a number's "owner" has changed.
10. Urgent calls or texts specifically for health or fraud alerts may be allowed without prior consent. They must be free, and consumers can say "stop" at any time.
11. Congress gave consumers a private right of action against callers that violate the TCPA. The Commission has also enforces the rules proactively, often stemming from consumer complaints.

===snipped===

What I know is that the current Do-Not-Call laws do not work because I get 5-10 robo calls a day. Fortunately, I get rid of them using

This service intercepts all calls after the first ring. If the incoming call is on nomorobo's do-not-call list, it is intercepted by their computer which sends some kind of answer and hang up signal.

All I have to do is put up with a bunch of single ring calls every day. This will only work if you have a digital voice calling service e.g Verizon FiOS which permits simultaneous ring to two numbers.

Per Arnie Goetchius:

Post-election, I've had it up to *here* with robocalls.... It even occurred to me to vote for the party that inflicted the fewest robocalls... (just kidding....)

Now I'm torn between spending the big bucks on CallerID/Simultaneous Ring/NoMoRobo and moving my incoming calls to the VOIP service I already use for outgoing and implementing Challenge/Response ("Press 1 for.....") on same. With a GoldList, of course, for known CallerIDs of frequent callers.

I am thinking that challenge-response on the VOIP service will do the job for now - until the robocallers get up to speed on voice recognition and AI... which might not be *too* far in the future.

But the deal breaker/maker for me is going to be whether-or-not I can still have the local telco's hard-wired 911 service. I am put off by the additional layers that must be involved in a VOIP provider's 911 implementation. It would be a major kick in the butt for somebody in the house to have major chest pains and wind up talking to the emergency response center in Glacier, Montana because of an incorrect row in some lookup table somewhere.

I haven't ever used it (there is a test number to call, and that says it works ok), but my VoIP vendor (voip.ms) provides 911 service referencing the physical address I provide them. Cost $1.50/month (it's optional), which they say is what it costs them.

Another possibility which does the same thing and is a lot cheaper is Phone Tray Pro at

It costs $30 for the software and $10 a year for updates. You build your own black list as they come in and can also add known good numbers to a white list. You need a fax modem with caller ID support.

I started with Phone Tray Pro a couple of years ago and it still runs on one of my computers. No need to switch to a VOIP incoming service if you use this software with a fax modem. You do have to spend some time adding the bad guys to your black list but it works just as well as NoMoRobo.

[Moderator snip]

This seems a little overthought. What's wrong with using an answering machine to pick up the line, recite the number reached and invite the caller to leave a message? If somebody hears a recognized caller, they can always pick up. One does have to delete the recordings, but that's relatively easy, as very few robocalls actually leave a message.

bob prohaska

[Moderator snip]

I have a neighbor who does that, and I consider it to be rude behaviour on his part. If I call him, I have to keep yelling "Hey Lou, pick up the phone!" It puts all of the work on me, but if /he/ calls /me/, I always pick up right away. He never hears my answering machine unless I'm not home.

Per Bob Prohaska:

We have to listen to 4 rings of the phone - basically stop whatever we are doing, listen for the pickup, and then decide.

May sound trivial, but try going through that a dozen or more times per day. Maybe I'm just another closet Type-A.... but that's a non-starter for me.

Also, it imposes a burden on legitimate callers because they have to wait through all that.

- - Pete Cresswell

***** Moderator's Note *****

It is time.

We have waited long enough.

We have suffered more than enough.

We don't have to take it anymore, and we should not have to.

The Telecom Digest readership has the expertise, the tools, and the will to create a solution to this problem. WE CAN DO THIS!

I think we should design and manufacture and sell an electronic butler which will demand a security code from any calling number which is not on a whitelist.

Who's with me?

Bill Horne Moderator

My VoIP service throws that in for free, along with a spam scroring feature you can use to decide whether to ask for the security code.

The code is only a random digit ("Press 3 to complete your call") but that's plenty to defeat the predictive dialers and robots. The spam calls get forwarded to Lenny.

R's, John

***** Moderator's Note *****

Thanks for the info: please tell us more about it.

1. What's their name?
2. What is the usual price for a single line?
3. Can they serve phone numbers outside their own LATA?
4. Do they charge extra for long distance or voice mail?
5. What equipment would someone need to make it work?

TIA.

Bill

Bill Horne Moderator

Per John Levine:

Which service?

I am using CallCentric and I am pretty sure they have some features along that line - but haven't doped out the specifics yet.... and it would be good if I had some alternatives.

Callcentric,

It's a la carte. I pay under $10/mo for an incoming number and a modest bundle of outgoing minutes.

It's VoIP, they can get numbers anywhere you want. I got an Italian one for the week my wife was on vacation there.

Nope.

An Internet connection, and a hardware or software terminal adapter. I use a cheap Sipura SPA-1001.

R's, John

Per John Levine:

Thanks for the validation - sounds like I'm on the right path already.

FWIW, I use a LinkSys SPA-3102 and I've managed to make it dial all outgoing 800-series and 911 calls on the copper POTS wire instead of VOIP.

I might do the cutover even if the 911 issue is not resolved for me.... but if/when I find out that discontinuing my Verizon phone service still leaves the copper POTS line available for 911, that will be a slam-dunk and I'll cut over ASAP.