said by urbanriot:said by lugnut : I also have call screen with Bell so nobody can get thru unless they release their number so that eliminates the "unknown numbers."
It's too bad they're spoofing this number of showing their number but that's still a good idea regardless!
Actually the service is called "Call Privacy" with Bell and it comes bundled with "Call Screen." Altogether I have them bundled with 4 other Bell services for an extra $8 or so per month.
Call Screen allows me to block up to 12 numbers (Whoop de doo!) but my Panasonic Phones allow me to block another 50 numbers, so actually between the two I've got most of them covered.
As for the Call Privacy, it takes them by surprise. Yeah they may spoof their numbers, but they're usually too lazy to change it from call to call so blocking it once usually takes care of it for up to a few months. The way it works is if they call from an unlisted number, it asks them to either hit * to release their number to my caller ID or else enter a phone number manually. Either they get stupid and release the number or else they get lazy and enter an obvious bullsh*t number.
Either way, the telemarketing scum become easy to spot and block if they are persistent and otherwise if it's a family member listed in my dial directory it reads off the name. Otherwise I can pretty much tell a legit unknown caller by the area code. Chances are, if it's anyone I need to hear from in an emergency it will be a 905 area code. The rest I let go to voicemail.
And for the Coupe de Grace, if it goes to voicemail, I prefaced my outgoing voicemail message with a standard phone company SIT tone that tells the autodialers that my line is out of service before it gets to my away message. Usually at that point it drops my number from their call list.
Between all this firepower I get remarkably few telemarketing calls these days.
The only ones with incredible stamina left are the duct cleaning guys and them I just scream "F*CK YOU!" into the phone the second I hear the word "Duct" and slam it down. After a couple of weeks of pure abuse even those idiots got the message.
Anyway, I attached the SIT tone to this message in case you want to use it yourself.
At this point I have the telemarketing calls down to about one every two or three weeks now.