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What I suspect the phone companies didn't plan on is the complete devaluing of one of their only distinguishing features (over cable/ISP), the ability to delive
by kurthr 7y ago
What I suspect the phone companies didn't plan on is the complete devaluing of one of their only distinguishing features (over cable/ISP), the ability to deliver phone calls reliably. Nobody wants to get a phone call now... they are 90% spam!
I wonder if in the future people will wonder why they are called phone companies? Maybe this is all part if their plan to move us to paid SMS or some other thing, but it seems more like an oops.
- shrimp_emoji 7y agoI no longer use phones to call people except the odd family member through WhatsApp (which is only because they're too old to use something more civilized, like Discord rooms). The telephone network just seems like some vestigial leftover only used by pollsters to scare us with 80-year-olds' candidate picks in midterm elections.
- licebmi__at__ 7y agoIt's pretty weird to see discord rooms being called "civilized".
- slouch 7y agoPeople may be starting to realize it's better than slack
- standardUser 7y agoI'm intrigued by the idea of simply not having a phone number, but it doesn't seem like we've reached that era yet. My grandparents would have no way of contacting me, nor the doctor's office or any number of other businesses. But it's still a nice dream.
- fossuser 7y agoA contact based whitelist would solve this immediately for personal phone use. There was a single throw away line in WWDC that suggested they may have finally added this (depending on what they mean by “unknown” caller). All I want is a contact based whitelist with an API endpoint that allows calls for a small time window (for doordash and Uber to use). This would solve 99% of the spam issue. All other calls can go straight to voicemail. Allow an option for repeated calls to get through if you must. Apple’s current call kit api only allows blacklists which work poorly and are a lot less elegant.
- cameronbrown 7y agoThis isn't really feasible right now. Your bank, your doctor or a potential employer may all have different numbers each time they call you. Some critical calls may be unexpected and need the immediate attention a phone call gives (example: friend on somebody else's mobile)
- cheerlessbog 7y agoI let them leave a message, then skim the transcript. So far it's 100% spam, but I only lose 5 seconds checking and if it's important, I'll see it. I never pick up unrecognized numbers.
- rossdavidh 7y agoYou are not alone.
- soulofmischief 7y agoIf you are receiving transcripts it means your private voicemail data is being harvested. Even if you may not care, this is a violation of privacy for your friends and family.
- cheerlessbog 7y agoIs that fundamentally different to the calls running over someone else's network in the first place? But, good point.
- soulofmischief 7y agoYes, I long for encrypted voicemail built into Signal et al. One can only hope.
- nugget 7y agoI (and many other people, I suspect) don’t pick up unknown numbers, so whether it’s critical or not is besides the point.
- dredmorbius 7y ago...not having a phone number... I know people who are already there. When that notion grows, even slightly, it will be the instant death of PSTN (public switched telephone networks), due to negative network effects. A huge question will be the fight over standards to replace this, and what capabilities (to communicating parties, initiator, receivers, carriers, vendors, third parties, criminals, law enforcement, intelligence agencies) are and are not afforded, intentionally or otherwise.
- ehnto 7y agoI have my phone on silent permenantly now, and block all numbers not in my contacts. Bliss.
- thwarted 7y agoPhone calls need the equivalent of SPF and DomainKeys.
- majewsky 7y agoNo, you just need an FCC that's not a joke. This whole robocall shit is only a problem in the US. On my German phone, 100% of incoming calls are legitimate.
- mikorym 7y agoAn aside: AFAIK there is still not a way on an iphone to block all "unknown" calls without at the same time using a contact white list (e.g.: putting the phone on "do not disturb").
- WorldMaker 7y ago> I wonder if in the future people will wonder why they are called phone companies? Similarly, I keep wondering if the word "phone" might annex the word "computer" entirely. If most people call their day-to-day pocket computer a "phone", what's to stop people calling every computer a non-pocket phone? Some classic "futurism" ads of AT&T from back in the monopoly era (50s/60s) always had that interesting assumption that phones would be everywhere and do everything. We seem to have brought that future about ironically enough, just that the definition of "phone" is changing so drastically, and also that there are a lot fewer AT&T logos on everything.