4 ms·

Google’s Call Screen is a new way to thwart telemarketers (2018)

10 points by axiomdata316 7y ago

saagarjha 7y ago
Can we get a less clickbaity headline for something that was announced last year? (It's Call Screen for Pixel devices.)
viraptor 7y ago
It's 2018 rather than "just revealed": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18177145 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18177145 But since it's back, I'm curious - is anyone using it often? Are you happy with how it works?
- c0achmcguirk 7y ago
  I've been using it for a year or so and it's brilliant. I love that I can screen calls in a meeting without anyone knowing. Disclosure: I work for Google.
- thrill 7y ago
  I got 34 calls before noon a few weeks ago - all of them unknown numbers. I clicked the 'screen call' option or ignored it. One single person left his name and message - an old friend. Everyone else I marked as spam, so the next person may get a warning, and blocked. It works great.
- Urgo 7y ago
  I use it off and on and it works pretty well. Typically the caller (robot) hangs up almost right away before you get the satisfaction of screwing with them though and when that happens you don't get the easy option to block them as spam either because the screener quits right away.
tantalor 7y ago
Why does this article have no dateline?
- reustle 7y ago
  Because it's old news, but they don't want you to know that.
fourseventy 7y ago
This feature has been out for a long time, I've been using it for months...
rabidrat 7y ago
> You can also mark spammy incoming calls as "Spam." That way, if you ever get a call from that number again, it will come with a big red interface reminding you that you've previously pegged the number as suspicious. Spam callers often id as fake numbers with your area code and prefix. I've even had a spam caller come up as a friend's phone number. This feature would be all but useless for the spam calls I receive. > The caller will either hang up--in which case it's probably not important--or provide an answer, which will then be transcribed and displayed on your screen. I let unknown numbers go to voicemail, which accomplishes the same thing. I don't see how this is useful except you can choose to answer instead of call back. I guess maybe if your friend is calling from jail or a payphone (do those even still exist?).
- sebazzz 7y ago
  How does phone number spoofing work? Sounds like a leak in the system to me if anyone could just fake anyone's phone number.
  - loa_in_ 7y ago
    That's a US only thing.
mcphage 7y ago
It seems like the more damaging part for Telemarketers is not that they won't be able to reach people—if you're going to fall for their scams, I don't think this will help—it's that the calls that they get nothing out of will take more time, and therefore cost more.

10 points by axiomdata316 7y ago

Can we get a less clickbaity headline for something that was announced last year? (It's Call Screen for Pixel devices.)

It's 2018 rather than "just revealed": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18177145 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18177145 But since it's back, I'm curious - is anyone using it often? Are you happy with how it works?

c0achmcguirk 7y ago
I've been using it for a year or so and it's brilliant. I love that I can screen calls in a meeting without anyone knowing. Disclosure: I work for Google.
thrill 7y ago
I got 34 calls before noon a few weeks ago - all of them unknown numbers. I clicked the 'screen call' option or ignored it. One single person left his name and message - an old friend. Everyone else I marked as spam, so the next person may get a warning, and blocked. It works great.
Urgo 7y ago
I use it off and on and it works pretty well. Typically the caller (robot) hangs up almost right away before you get the satisfaction of screwing with them though and when that happens you don't get the easy option to block them as spam either because the screener quits right away.

tantalor 7y ago

Why does this article have no dateline?

reustle 7y ago
Because it's old news, but they don't want you to know that.

fourseventy 7y ago

This feature has been out for a long time, I've been using it for months...

rabidrat 7y ago

> You can also mark spammy incoming calls as "Spam." That way, if you ever get a call from that number again, it will come with a big red interface reminding you that you've previously pegged the number as suspicious. Spam callers often id as fake numbers with your area code and prefix. I've even had a spam caller come up as a friend's phone number. This feature would be all but useless for the spam calls I receive. > The caller will either hang up--in which case it's probably not important--or provide an answer, which will then be transcribed and displayed on your screen. I let unknown numbers go to voicemail, which accomplishes the same thing. I don't see how this is useful except you can choose to answer instead of call back. I guess maybe if your friend is calling from jail or a payphone (do those even still exist?).

sebazzz 7y ago
How does phone number spoofing work? Sounds like a leak in the system to me if anyone could just fake anyone's phone number.
- loa_in_ 7y ago
  That's a US only thing.

mcphage 7y ago

It seems like the more damaging part for Telemarketers is not that they won't be able to reach people—if you're going to fall for their scams, I don't think this will help—it's that the calls that they get nothing out of will take more time, and therefore cost more.