4 ms·

It already takes me 45 minutes of my time to get a hold of a support person of my own carrier and I'm a paying customer. I commend the effort, but getting a hu

by jupp0r 3y ago

It already takes me 45 minutes of my time to get a hold of a support person of my own carrier and I'm a paying customer. I commend the effort, but getting a human to answer a support hotline call in order to report a spammer number is so comically difficult and ineffective that I can't see a significant amount of people participating. Why doesn't my carrier have an automated system allowing them to communicate with the originating carrier, triggered by the "report spam" button in my telephone OS?

viraptor 3y ago
Because contrary to the page, they don't really care about the spam that much. Now, if more people started calling the support for every spam they get... that would translate to some real cost.
- sk0g 3y ago
  Who would bear that cost though? My prediction would be the customers again, because they would make the phone support harder to reach than it already is as a "solution" to the increased demand for phone support.
  - viraptor 3y ago
    Partially yes, longer support waits. But there's a threshold where the agents either need to be available or the reviews / opinions about a telco go too low, so it can't be just ignored. I just don't have sympathy though - ideally people would DoS all the telco and local government lines until the issue is fixed. It's just stupid how many years this exists without obvious solutions.
  - imacomputertoo 3y ago
    Now if someone were to make one of those pizza ordering LLM agents do the calling for them... I suppose that would be like spamming the carriers. Not sure that's better, but it might make them act.
- zx8080 3y ago
  All costs by customers: support increase from 45 mins to 4.5 hours would be one one those. Also, the more spammers reported the less to bill for the calls. As less spam calls.
adhesive_wombat 3y ago
In the UK, you just forward the text to "7726" which is SPAM on a keypad. It's a requirement from the regulator. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/advice-for-consumers/scams/7726-reporting-scam-texts-and-calls https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/advice...
- screamingninja 3y ago
  Does a forwarded text retain the envelope?
  - o11c 3y ago
    Presumably they can compare the message body against recent text messages they've given you. (also, this works in the US too)
    - crtasm 3y ago
      If memory serves, it replies asking for the sender's number when necessary.
- troydavis 3y ago
  In the US, 7726 just goes to the receiving carrier (that is, your wireless provider), not the sending carrier. It can help your carrier filter the messages (eventually, sometimes…), but it doesn’t actually stop them.
- kwhitefoot 3y ago
  In Norway it is an offence with penalties per infringing call to cold call anyone who has registered their number with the Brønnøysund registry more than 30 days ago (the equivalent of the Telephone Preference Service).
  - sentientslug 3y ago
    The US has the same thing for a very long time with the National Do Not Call registry: https://www.donotcall.gov/ https://www.donotcall.gov/ The problem is that it's nearly impossible to enforce this. Would be curious to know if Norway has had any better luck.

by jupp0r 3y ago

viraptor 3y ago

Because contrary to the page, they don't really care about the spam that much. Now, if more people started calling the support for every spam they get... that would translate to some real cost.

sk0g 3y ago
Who would bear that cost though? My prediction would be the customers again, because they would make the phone support harder to reach than it already is as a "solution" to the increased demand for phone support.
- viraptor 3y ago
  Partially yes, longer support waits. But there's a threshold where the agents either need to be available or the reviews / opinions about a telco go too low, so it can't be just ignored. I just don't have sympathy though - ideally people would DoS all the telco and local government lines until the issue is fixed. It's just stupid how many years this exists without obvious solutions.
- imacomputertoo 3y ago
  Now if someone were to make one of those pizza ordering LLM agents do the calling for them... I suppose that would be like spamming the carriers. Not sure that's better, but it might make them act.
zx8080 3y ago
All costs by customers: support increase from 45 mins to 4.5 hours would be one one those. Also, the more spammers reported the less to bill for the calls. As less spam calls.

adhesive_wombat 3y ago

In the UK, you just forward the text to "7726" which is SPAM on a keypad. It's a requirement from the regulator. https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/advice-for-consumers/scams/7726-reporting-scam-texts-and-calls https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/advice...

screamingninja 3y ago
Does a forwarded text retain the envelope?
- o11c 3y ago
  Presumably they can compare the message body against recent text messages they've given you. (also, this works in the US too)
  - crtasm 3y ago
    If memory serves, it replies asking for the sender's number when necessary.
troydavis 3y ago
In the US, 7726 just goes to the receiving carrier (that is, your wireless provider), not the sending carrier. It can help your carrier filter the messages (eventually, sometimes…), but it doesn’t actually stop them.
kwhitefoot 3y ago
In Norway it is an offence with penalties per infringing call to cold call anyone who has registered their number with the Brønnøysund registry more than 30 days ago (the equivalent of the Telephone Preference Service).
- sentientslug 3y ago
  The US has the same thing for a very long time with the National Do Not Call registry: https://www.donotcall.gov/ https://www.donotcall.gov/ The problem is that it's nearly impossible to enforce this. Would be curious to know if Norway has had any better luck.