8 ms·

I have indeed tried this turn it on, turn it off, strategy. Every time it has ended because I forgot to turn it off and I ended up missing a critical phone call

I have indeed tried this turn it on, turn it off, strategy. Every time it has ended because I forgot to turn it off and I ended up missing a critical phone call; some service person called before coming for a home maintenance appointment to make sure we were present so they could enter the premises, and the call goes to voicemail which I only notice an hour later after they've decided to reschedule fixing my AC to 3 days later and now we have to endure the sweltering 98°F weather for 3 more days all to avoid the nuisance of robocallers.

jchw 4y ago
If you have something that urgent it's better to preemptively turn it off. Yeah yeah, easier said than done, but as a habitual Do Not Disturb user, this has worked well for me.
- coryfklein 4y ago
  What's the connection to Do Not Disturb? I still haven't explored that functionality fully, and it seems Apple has built it out significantly. I suspect I could benefit by using it better to establish a "at work mode" and a "at home mode", in addition to my current simple usage of "you sure as hell better not wake me up at 3 AM with a notification".
  - aaronbeekay 4y ago
    That’s exactly what they’ve been adding, actually. You can also set a schedule for which mode is active or trigger them with automations.
  - ryandrake 4y ago
    I do "Do Not Disturb" 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. No calls, no texts, no notifications, no nothing. Yes, Apple has indeed built it out recently. At least on iOS, you can add exceptions if you want, like your favorites, or your contact list, or even specific people. You can also put it on a schedule if you think 24/7 is too extreme. Honestly, I don't worry about the "urgent call from the doctor" scenario, and I have a family. If it's important, whoever is calling will leave a voicemail. For 99% of the calls I get, it's not even remotely important. I don't structure my life around outlier scenarios. Not having a phone constantly dinging and buzzing for my attention is worth missing the extremely rare emergency.
    - paul7986 4y ago
      You can also have all numbers (calls) not in your contacts just go straight to voicemail via the "Silence Unknown Number," feature within the phone settings.
    - ysavir 4y ago
      > If it's important, whoever is calling will leave a voicemail. How do you test for this?
      - Arrath 4y ago
        Why, if they don't leave a voicemail, it must not have been an important call!
      - amerkhalid 4y ago
        I don't know if this is some sort of convention or just a lot of coincidences but it seems when it is an urgent call, everyone calls twice. And they leave voicemail on the second call. This includes stuff like people running late, calls from daycare, etc. For non-urgent matters like payments, they call once and leave a voicemail.
        golem14 4y ago
        I think that depends on the greeting. If it doesn't clearly say your name (and or the LLC you're owning), they might not be sure it's the right number and not leave a message for privacy reasons.
ghaff 4y ago
SPAM calls are annoying but not to the point where I'm willing to basically significantly reduce the utility of owning a phone. I get that some people basically don't take phone calls. But others have elderly relatives, service people for their house, etc. and "just make them leave a voicemail" isn't always a satisfactory solution.
- lazide 4y ago
  I personally get 50+ spam calls on some days. I’m not in the parent posting chain, but what other option do I have?
  - gnopgnip 4y ago
    The law changed around a year ago with shaken/stir authentication being required. You can enable call filtering with your carrier to block most robocalls based on this data. There are iphone and android app based solutions that will block more, based on previous reports, on information about the number, the timing. Like HIYA. You can configure all unknown callers to go to voicemail. Setup an exception if the same number calls you twice. If you are getting 50+ spam calls a day changing your number is another option. And if you change your number you can more easily block caller ID spoofers that use a very similar number that isn't really local.
    - munk-a 4y ago
      While I agree that this might be a practical and effective step... changing my number costs me a lot of money in terms of lost revenue and expenses, I have business cards to reprint and contacts (business and personal) that I'll need to update. Considering phone companies could simply block these calls if they so desired I don't see why I, the customer, need to absorb such a large cost just to keep my life sane and, after absorbing such a cost the robo calls might just find me again. I receive more spam calls than spam emails and, being familiar with the underlying technical details of each system, that is absolutely ridiculous. Email was built in a time of pure optimism, there is no central switching authority for emails and there is no cost to sending an email other than jiggling some electrons - telephone calls are highly metered and monitored, they generally pass through several organizations that have been endowed with a high measure of trust to police and shepard them to their final destination. There is no reason other than the monetization of the system that these spam calls are allowed to exist.
paul7986 4y ago
Try to see if they can text you instead
- notyourwork 4y ago
  So let’s not use a phone for calling anymore?
  - paul7986 4y ago
    sure just not the old telephone system (especially for inbound calls) rather text me or audio or video chat with me through an app where I've added you as my contact. Ive never received a spam call through a chat app like Messenger before. I have to add them as a contact first. In 21st century the old telephone system doesnt work anymore.
  - lazide 4y ago
    That’s basically where we are at, with the exception of big businesses and institutions often refuse to deal with you except for in-person or over the phone.
  - Arrath 4y ago
    Can we? Sometimes a conversation can be handled in a couple succinct texts without the need to be dragged out vocally. Other times it can't and by all means call, but do I ever get tired of the awkward chit chat that some people insist on.
  - tshaddox 4y ago
    That was probably supposed to be sarcasm, but yes, absolutely, let's not use a phone for voice calls anymore. That nonsense should have sailed 10 years ago.
    - notyourwork 4y ago
      I personally have found interfacing with businesses dysfunctional at best today. Auto-mated prompts that send you in infinite loops, email and text services that create async communication making it 10x as long to address my query. The idea that speaking to someone on the phone should cease is laughable.
dapearce 4y ago
I wish you could apply it to specific area codes. The area code of my phone number is not an area I have lived in for several years now. 98% of my spam calls are from this area code but none of the important unknown callers are calling from this area code.
- xigency 4y ago
  I tried to do this manually for a filter on the last four digits. Phones don’t really handle a 10,000 number blocklist well.
- supertrope 4y ago
  Switch to a SIP VoIP provider with a powerful control panel. Create a rule that same area code callers have to press a digit to ring through. Since spam comes from random area codes I have this applied to all non-contact list callers.

jchw 4y ago

If you have something that urgent it's better to preemptively turn it off. Yeah yeah, easier said than done, but as a habitual Do Not Disturb user, this has worked well for me.

coryfklein 4y ago
What's the connection to Do Not Disturb? I still haven't explored that functionality fully, and it seems Apple has built it out significantly. I suspect I could benefit by using it better to establish a "at work mode" and a "at home mode", in addition to my current simple usage of "you sure as hell better not wake me up at 3 AM with a notification".
- aaronbeekay 4y ago
  That’s exactly what they’ve been adding, actually. You can also set a schedule for which mode is active or trigger them with automations.
- ryandrake 4y ago
  I do "Do Not Disturb" 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. No calls, no texts, no notifications, no nothing. Yes, Apple has indeed built it out recently. At least on iOS, you can add exceptions if you want, like your favorites, or your contact list, or even specific people. You can also put it on a schedule if you think 24/7 is too extreme. Honestly, I don't worry about the "urgent call from the doctor" scenario, and I have a family. If it's important, whoever is calling will leave a voicemail. For 99% of the calls I get, it's not even remotely important. I don't structure my life around outlier scenarios. Not having a phone constantly dinging and buzzing for my attention is worth missing the extremely rare emergency.
  - paul7986 4y ago
    You can also have all numbers (calls) not in your contacts just go straight to voicemail via the "Silence Unknown Number," feature within the phone settings.
  - ysavir 4y ago
    > If it's important, whoever is calling will leave a voicemail. How do you test for this?
    - Arrath 4y ago
      Why, if they don't leave a voicemail, it must not have been an important call!
    - amerkhalid 4y ago
      I don't know if this is some sort of convention or just a lot of coincidences but it seems when it is an urgent call, everyone calls twice. And they leave voicemail on the second call. This includes stuff like people running late, calls from daycare, etc. For non-urgent matters like payments, they call once and leave a voicemail.
      - golem14 4y ago
        I think that depends on the greeting. If it doesn't clearly say your name (and or the LLC you're owning), they might not be sure it's the right number and not leave a message for privacy reasons.

ghaff 4y ago

SPAM calls are annoying but not to the point where I'm willing to basically significantly reduce the utility of owning a phone. I get that some people basically don't take phone calls. But others have elderly relatives, service people for their house, etc. and "just make them leave a voicemail" isn't always a satisfactory solution.

lazide 4y ago
I personally get 50+ spam calls on some days. I’m not in the parent posting chain, but what other option do I have?
- gnopgnip 4y ago
  The law changed around a year ago with shaken/stir authentication being required. You can enable call filtering with your carrier to block most robocalls based on this data. There are iphone and android app based solutions that will block more, based on previous reports, on information about the number, the timing. Like HIYA. You can configure all unknown callers to go to voicemail. Setup an exception if the same number calls you twice. If you are getting 50+ spam calls a day changing your number is another option. And if you change your number you can more easily block caller ID spoofers that use a very similar number that isn't really local.
  - munk-a 4y ago
    While I agree that this might be a practical and effective step... changing my number costs me a lot of money in terms of lost revenue and expenses, I have business cards to reprint and contacts (business and personal) that I'll need to update. Considering phone companies could simply block these calls if they so desired I don't see why I, the customer, need to absorb such a large cost just to keep my life sane and, after absorbing such a cost the robo calls might just find me again. I receive more spam calls than spam emails and, being familiar with the underlying technical details of each system, that is absolutely ridiculous. Email was built in a time of pure optimism, there is no central switching authority for emails and there is no cost to sending an email other than jiggling some electrons - telephone calls are highly metered and monitored, they generally pass through several organizations that have been endowed with a high measure of trust to police and shepard them to their final destination. There is no reason other than the monetization of the system that these spam calls are allowed to exist.

paul7986 4y ago

Try to see if they can text you instead

notyourwork 4y ago
So let’s not use a phone for calling anymore?
- paul7986 4y ago
  sure just not the old telephone system (especially for inbound calls) rather text me or audio or video chat with me through an app where I've added you as my contact. Ive never received a spam call through a chat app like Messenger before. I have to add them as a contact first. In 21st century the old telephone system doesnt work anymore.
- lazide 4y ago
  That’s basically where we are at, with the exception of big businesses and institutions often refuse to deal with you except for in-person or over the phone.
- Arrath 4y ago
  Can we? Sometimes a conversation can be handled in a couple succinct texts without the need to be dragged out vocally. Other times it can't and by all means call, but do I ever get tired of the awkward chit chat that some people insist on.
- tshaddox 4y ago
  That was probably supposed to be sarcasm, but yes, absolutely, let's not use a phone for voice calls anymore. That nonsense should have sailed 10 years ago.
  - notyourwork 4y ago
    I personally have found interfacing with businesses dysfunctional at best today. Auto-mated prompts that send you in infinite loops, email and text services that create async communication making it 10x as long to address my query. The idea that speaking to someone on the phone should cease is laughable.

dapearce 4y ago

I wish you could apply it to specific area codes. The area code of my phone number is not an area I have lived in for several years now. 98% of my spam calls are from this area code but none of the important unknown callers are calling from this area code.

xigency 4y ago
I tried to do this manually for a filter on the last four digits. Phones don’t really handle a 10,000 number blocklist well.
supertrope 4y ago
Switch to a SIP VoIP provider with a powerful control panel. Create a rule that same area code callers have to press a digit to ring through. Since spam comes from random area codes I have this applied to all non-contact list callers.