TeleZapper - A Way to Avoid Telemarketers? 688
VeniDormi asks: "While watching TV on my TiVo, I actually stopped to see an ad for a device called 'The TeleZapper', which claims to foil tele-marketers by convincing their auto-dialers that your number has been disconnected. The FAQ is light on technical details, only mentioning that the device 'emits [a] tone briefly when the line is answered'. I'm hoping Slashdotters with more telecommunications expertise can enlighten me as to: how/if this might work and whether or not it is something I could reproduce with a sound card, say for recording at the beginning of my voicemail message. Could it be as simple as playing back the three shrill tones I hear when I dial a wrong number?" Ah, the telephone equivalent to SPAM. Too bad phones don't have the equivalent of procmail filters.
I use PacBell's Privacy Manager (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:I use PacBell's Privacy Manager (Score:3, Funny)
Works fine...except when I get calls from Qwest asking me to upgrade my service or notify me of special offers.
Unbelievable.
RB
It's hasn't been much of a problem lately... (Score:3, Informative)
2) I use an answering machine with a "voice mailbox" capability--mine was made by GE and cost $40. We don't assign anyone to Mailbox 1. Intro message says "Press 2 for Dan, 3 for [my wife]." Those few outfits that use automated equipment to leave message end up in mailbox 1. (But some real messages from baffled people end up there, too, so I still do need to listen to it).
3) On EVERY call I do get, my first words are "I don't want to be called, take me off your list." I believe this really does have some effect.
I currently get less than one solicitation per week.
4) If, for some reason, you're like me and have trouble being rude, a technique that it quite effective with phone solicitors and door-to-door salespeople is to say, politely, but firmly, "No, no, no, no, no, no, no." The person who gave me this tip said that many salespeople are specifically trained NOT to break off the conversation or go away until they have heard "no" seven times. Give them their seven noes and they'll break off gracefully. I don't know if that's the explanation, but it does work.
Re:It's hasn't been much of a problem lately... (Score:5, Informative)
I've found that this is the single most effective way to cut down on telemarketeing calls (aside from hunting telemarketers for sport, of course). I started doing this about a year and a half ago. At the time I was getting 2 to 3 calls per night (and about a dozen during the day judging by the caller-id box). Now I get one call maybe every six weeks or so. That I can handle.
When I do get a call, I just interrupt them as soon as it's clear that they are a telemarketer. I always use the phrase "place me on your do-not-call list". If you just say "take me off your list", they will - but as soon as they buy some more numbers that happen to include yours your're back on the list. The "Do Not Call List" is different, as once you are on it, you should never get an unsolicited call from that organization again (and all telemarketers are required by law to have such a list).
junkbusters.com has lots of good info on the subject.
Re:It's hasn't been much of a problem lately... (Score:4, Interesting)
By some amazing coincidence this almost always happens with blocked caller ID information. I could probably call Qworst and ask them to trace it, but I know that it's a dead end.
I only happened once, years ago, with valid caller ID information. For a long distance carrier. I couldn't reach the same department, but I reached another department and had a chat with the supervisor about the consequences of hanging up on people exercising their legal rights to stop solicitations - something that was especially pointless in this case since they were trying to sell me business services for "distinctive ringing" on my home phone number, not a separate business line! She couldn't give me the name and numbers I requested, but did promise to forward my demand (not request, demand) that a senior manager contact me on the following Monday about their violation of federal law. They never called me back, of course, but they never called me back *at all* so I let it slide.
The other scam some have tried is to claim that it could take "up to 90 days" for the DNC order to be processed. I tell them I didn't care, if they call me again they can tell it to the judge. They try to insist that the federal law permits this, I repeat that I don't care - if they call me again they'll be explaining it to the judge.
I'm sure that the law *does* allow a "reasonable" time for the DNC order to be processed, but that should be a few weeks at most with a manual system that depends on paper forms physically mailed to a central site, then physically mailed to each site in an update list. With a computerized system, the DNC order should go live either immediately or some time during the middle of the night.
Re:It's hasn't been much of a problem lately... (Score:2, Funny)
Why would you want to talk to anyone that dumb? In fact, I would simply add a third option, "Press 1 if your I.Q. is less than 80."
Re:I use PacBell's Privacy Manager (Score:4, Funny)
Re:I use PacBell's Privacy Manager (Score:3, Insightful)
If you've never been out of a job, looking, and needing money yesterday to buy food and pay bills, you simply can't comprehend what that's like. If you're threatened with homelessness, you'll take jobs like this, and they suck. They suck bad. They suck bad because of people like that. Are you allowed to be upset that they're bothering you at home? Yes, of course you are. Are you allowed to vent at them? Yes, of course you are. But should you at least take a minute to think that the person on the other end of the phone may not be any more happy about having to bother you at home than you are to be bothered? Yes, you should.
Don't like being bothered by them while you're at home? Politely say "I'm not interested, please remove me from your list." It has exactly the same effect as emotionally breaking them down, because you know what? The person you're speaking to isn't the owner of the telemarketing company, the owners, and source of the problem are completely insulated from this because they're sitting in their offices with their blinds drawn, wondering if it would be more effective to get a large bald shirtless guy in there beating an onorous rhythm on a drum. Don't think to yourself "I wasn't really that terrible, just swore at him/her a few times," because if all you do all day is take a small amount of abuse repeatedly, it will break you down.
Don't assume that because you've never been in that situation, that others don't have to be. Don't think that because you have skills and talents to market that will be snatched up immediately, making you never in need of a job that other people have the same advantage. You hear the horror stories of IS related job hunts. People looking for *gasp* 6 to 10 months!! Guess what? That's still better than a lot of industries where that could well be considered a short job search! Try to find a terratology or zoology job, and you'll know what a long job search is. And in five years, when there's a honest glut of competent computer technicians, and you're spending 18 months looking for a job, do you seriously think that you'd rather starve to death living on the streets than telemarket? Placed in that situation, you'll be there filling out a job application just to stay alive. Don't know if you have kids, but I'll tell you that when I do, there isn't a job in the world I wouldn't take to make their and my wife's life as good as possible. When it's a choice between my whole family starving, or being the scuba diver who scrubs the bottom of septics with a toothbrush, I'll use my own if I have to.
Just because you don't understand it doesn't make it wrong.
the racket (Score:3, Insightful)
Privacy Manger is extortion (Score:5, Insightful)
2) Phone company sells your information to other companies.
3) You tell phone company to make your number unlisted.
4) Phone company sells your information anyway.
5) Telemarketers start calling you.
6) You get "unknown caller blocking" and caller ID to stop telemarketers.
7) The phone company sells a service to the telemarketers that allows them to get around the unknown caller blocking.
8) You're getting telemarketing calls again, so PacBell says to you: pay us some money and we'll protect you from those telemarketers.
9) You send them their $3 a month and you're safe again, until the next time PacBell sells the telemarketers a service to let them get around the privacy manager.
It's a fucking extortion racket.
What's the point? (Score:5, Insightful)
Seems like a much less troublesome and a much more effortless solution to me!
Re:What's the point? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:What's the point? (Score:5, Funny)
Hey, let 'em call back if they like - see how much of their time you can waste!
Re:What's the point? (Score:2)
Now only if Qwest would stop bugging me about custom choice(I must have a certain set of features turned on to provoke them to bug me abuot it) since I wouldn't use half of those features anyway.
Re:What's the point? (Score:2)
Wouldn't it just be a lot easier if, for example, when you hear a telemarketer on the phone just say "get bent" and then hang up on them?
Seems like a much less troublesome and a much more effortless solution to me! :)
You must not get many telemarketer's calls then. They are incessant. Many times an hour. I have caller ID, and never pick up the "Number Unknown" calls. But, already, that annoying ringing coupled with having to go over and look at the box is a hassle. No, not a big deal once or twice, but when it's all the time, it gets hard to have a conversation, or be able to think for any sustained period of time.
If the Telezapper really reduces the number of calls you get, that would be great. If it just disconnects that call, and doesn't delete you from databases, then it won't do much for me.
Already, most of the time, I just let the answering machien field the calls. I'm seriously considering turning off the ringer on my phone, and only having the answering machine answer calls. Of course, the problem with that is that as soon as somebody I actually want to do it uses the same telemarketer solution, it becomes nearly impossible for us to reach each other on the phone; we just get each other's answering machine....
To my mind, phone telemarketers are way worse the spammers. With spam, a quick delete gets rid of it, and it's faster than dealing with telemarketers. Plus, I get to choose when to read my E-mail, and so I can steel myself for it. I don't get to choose when my phone will ring.
-Rob
"Get bent" does not work (Score:5, Informative)
Junk Busters [junkbusters.com]
Use Enigma to log the calls [verinet.com]
See if the FCC is already after them [fcc.gov]
I have already been offered $250 from one telemarketing firm - but I want to go to trial. Also, since I have used the JunkBuster anti-telemarketing script, I am lucky to get any calls at all. The last call was from Qwest on last month - a month after I was sent a letter from one of their lawyers explaining I was on their "do not call list". That call will make me $500 to $1500 when we go to court
It's kinda simple (Score:3, Redundant)
How it works (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:How it works (Score:5, Informative)
Unhelpful telco messages (was Re:How it works) (Score:3, Funny)
I seem to remember some human-interface type praising that message because it apologized for the problem, and didn't blame it on the user, and otherwise didn't hurt the user's sensitive feelings. If they just tell me what to do so that the call does go through, I'd put up with them calling me a blithering idiot....
Re:How it works (Score:4, Insightful)
Good luck.
Better Idea (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Better Idea (Score:5, Funny)
"Yes, this is so-and-so from such-and-such a company, may I speak with Jessica?"
To which I replied in my gravely, gruff, I-smoke-2-packs-a-day-and-you-just-woke-me-up voice, "Yeah, this is her."
The part that really cracked me up was when the perky telemarketer went on to give me the sales pitch.
I just hung up. I have found that to be a very effective method in ridding myself of telespammers.
Oddly enough (Score:5, Funny)
His phone rings. I watch him pick it up and say, "I'm sorry, Mr. Moreland passed away yesterday."
Then he says, "No, Mrs. Moreland is in custody as the prime suspect."
I nearly pissed myself.
Caller ID (Score:2)
Viola.
Re:Caller ID (Score:2, Interesting)
Shrill tones (Score:3, Funny)
Careful. Those may be copyrighted by your local telephone company.
Re:Shrill tones (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Shrill tones (Score:2)
Why waste it?! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Why waste it?! (Score:4, Funny)
Now his favorite routine is to try to "convert" them.
"Have you taken our Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior? Have you welcomed him into your heart? For LO! He is coming. Coming to cast all vile sinners into the firey pits of..." And that's about as far as he's ever gotten before they hang up. Pity, he's got about a 10 minute routine worked up. Funniest thing about it is when he receives one of these calls on his cell phone in a restaraunt. You should see all the other diners shut up and listen in, then nervously go back to their conversations.
Re:Why waste it?! (Score:3, Funny)
The following phone conversation really happened, but I'm having to recreate it pretty much from memory so the wording is probably not exact...
THEM: Hello, I'd like to tell you about our Vinyl Siding... (rest of sales pitch here)
ME: I don't need Vinyl Siding. I live in a doghouse.
THEM: Oh really?
ME: Are you calling me a liar?
THEM: Uh, no it's just...
ME: It's just what? How many people do you know who put vynil siding on their dog houses?
THEM: (click)
My solution to telemarketers (Score:5, Interesting)
My solution: I don't have a home phone. Whenever I am forced to give out my telephone number, I give the number to my cell phone. In my locality (Virginia, US), it is illegal for a solicitor to call a cell phone. This is because if a solicitor were to call my cell phone, *I* would be the one paying for their call.
I'm not sure if this is a nationwide law, or just a local one, but it's certainly worth looking into. Many cellular service providers are now offering unlimited local plans for around $50 US, so the cost is close to that of a regular land line.
Re:My solution to telemarketers (Score:2)
Adam, this wont work and here's why: (Score:2)
There's no getting around it: you must have a local home number.
Re:Adam, this wont work and here's why: (Score:3, Interesting)
I've got a home phone line that I use for my home alarm system. It's also the number I give out to the average Joe who wants "my home phone number", but never anyone I'm interested in talking to (for them, I give them my always-on-my-belt cell phone). I have one ringer on in the very far end of the house. I hear it ring occasionally (when the DVD player isn't on), but I don't answer it. I couldn't care less. It's like having a lightning rod for useless calls. {grin}
Re:Adam, this wont work and here's why: (Score:2)
Re:Adam, this wont work and here's why: (Score:2)
Looks to be a national law... (Score:5, Informative)
"No person may
-- Initiate any telephone call (other than a call made for emergency purposes or made with the prior express consent of the called party)...To the telephone line of any guest room or patient room of a hospital, health care facility, elderly home, or similar establishment; or
To any telephone number assigned to a paging service, cellular telephone service, specialized mobile radio service, or other radio common carrier service, or any service for which the called party is charged for the call."
It looks like you can also receive up to $500 in damages if they do call your cell phone (though I don't know if they can be held liable if you claim it is your home phone number.)
Re:My solution to telemarketers (Score:3, Interesting)
Do it even if they call your land line.
Re:My solution to telemarketers (Score:2)
Certain information is able to be discerned based on one's telephone exchange (the first three numbers, e.g. xxx-1234). Each locality is issued an exchange, and cell phone companies are issued different exchanges. For example, if your number is 123-4567, most of your neighbors would also have the 123 exchange, but if your number is 987-6543, other cell users who obtained their phone through the same vendor as you would have the 987 exchange.
Re:My solution to telemarketers (Score:3, Informative)
It is a nationwide law, and THANK GOD FOR THAT!
Re:My solution to telemarketers (Score:3, Informative)
Seems to me like more states need these laws, write your state legislator. I know I am on the list, and my parents and we never get any telemarketer calls.
This will work great! (for about a week) (Score:2, Insightful)
A better solution would involve telepone companies getting involved - say you get such a call, you could dial *TELEMARKETER or something, and the number that just called you would be added to a blacklist - when enough people blacklisted the number, that number would be prevented from making outgoing calls for a set period of time.
Ahh, if only the telephone companies didn't make so much money off telemarketers, think of how quickly they would be gotten rid of.
(naive mode off) oh wait... we still have spam... scratch that last bit of wishful thinking then.
Re:This will work great! (for about a week) (Score:2)
Uhhh, Telemarketing is LEGAL. Unlike spam, these are (quasi) legitimate companies. You can't just block their phone access for telemarketing.
Even easier (Score:5, Informative)
Phone answering machine (Score:2)
Personally, I've not even bothered with doing that. During the time that telemarketers call (before 9pm weekdays/Saturdays) I just let the answering machine do the screening. All my friends know I'll pick up as soon as I hear them speak.
A fun site to visit is Antitelemarketer [antitelemarketer.com]. Has some interesting telemarketer tormenting tricks
A polite but firm... (Score:5, Informative)
Cuts right through their spiel. They have to honor your request: it's the law.
I cut my telemarketing calls down from four daily to once every two months. It worked a hell of a lot better than "So, what are you wearing?".
k.
Just hang up... (Score:4, Funny)
Advantages:
1) FREE
2) Causes confusion (always a plus)
I'll save you all money! (Score:2)
After about a week you may get 1 stray spam call once every 3 months. If its someone you already talked to, depending on your state, you can usually sue them for a good sum of money.
You can thank me and send me all that extra money you were about to spend
Why? Telemarketers provide hours of free fun! (Score:5, Funny)
1: "I'd like to ask you a few questions for a survey..."
you: "Sure, hold on a second, I'll be right back" (put phone next to stereo playing Cindi Lauper, for about an hour).
2: "May I speak to the man of the house?"
you: "Define 'man'..." (rant and rave about sexual discrimination until they hang up)
3: "I'd like to offer you a free..."
you: "Where is it made? Does it contain asbestos? Is it compatible with Linux? Were any animals harmed during it's manufacture? How much does it cost anyways? What do you mean free? Oh, sorry, I can't afford free."
4: "Hi, is this Mr. _____?"
you: "Sorry, he died this morning.... (boo hoo...)"
5: "We're going to be in your neighborhood..."
you: "Can you help me with something first... I gotta finish this math homework before I do anything else... What's the cube root of 42? How do you calculate the inverse tangent for triangle A?"
You get the point... it's amazing fun actually, you don't have to make any sense either! Annoy them enough, waste their time, they'll never call again, and be less apt to annoy your neighbors! If everyone used up their time, telemarketing would cease to be profitable, and would then stop happening!
MadCow.
Re:Why? Telemarketers provide hours of free fun! (Score:5, Funny)
ring ring
Hello, this is ABC company. Is Mr. Caner in?
[imagine his deep voice] No, Mr. Caner is not in.
Oh, then can I speak to Mrs. Caner?
Speaking
[caller gets perplexed, always hangs up]
thad
Re:Why? Telemarketers provide hours of free fun! (Score:2, Funny)
Why not take it one step further and make a career of it, like this guy did [tommabe.com]?
Related question (Score:2)
I have been told that this is a telemarketing system seeing if my number is "good". Is there any truth to this?
Finally, I want to allow telemarketers to call me, but I want a $0.50 credit on my phone bill for each minute (partial minutes should count too, just like when the phone company charge me) that I spend listening to them. Let them pay to bother me. In fact, there should be a message that plays when a telemarketer calls:
"For a chage of 50 cents a minute this line will accept you telemarketing call. Press '1' to accept, otherwise please disconnect and remove this number from your list."
Re:Related question (Score:4, Interesting)
I have been told that this is a telemarketing system seeing if my number is "good". Is there any truth to this?
Most likely... they program their computers to try a number several times. If someone answers it gets flagged as "active" and you go into the caller databse.
The same thing happened to my parents last month. Every day for a week they get ghost calls (no one on the other end), then a week later someone calls to ofer them a credit card, carpet cleaning, etc.
Re:Related question (Score:5, Informative)
Telemarketers don't dial the phone at all. They are repeatedly presented with calls that a computerized system has made. The system is tracking calls and knows "how long an average call takes", "how long it takes on average for a called-party to answer", etc.
So telemarketer is talking on the phone to you for 30 seconds. The system knows that "60 seconds is an average call" and it takes 15 seconds for a called-party to answer. So, when you reach 45 seconds, it dials the next number, figuring that "on average" you [or one of your cow-orkers] will be ready for the call when they answer the phone.
What you're seeing is that the calls in the call center are taking longer than average (which is actually sorta unusual because the more calls they make, the better the sample-rate is, and from the experience I had deploying two of these systems, they're REALLY good at it). So, because there's no telemarketer "Ready for your call", you're getting silence... the dialer is "hoping and praying" (so to speak) that one of the marketers gets off the phone quickly so it can hand you over to them.
Re:Related question (Score:3, Informative)
In the event that you pick up the phone after 3 or so rings, and hear nothing on the other end, you'll typically have your number placed right back into the queue. Expect another phone call within 5 minutes or so.
I consulted for a company that used these in their AR department (read: collections), and they apparently saved the company an incredible amount of money.
...at your time/expense, of course.
Re:Related question (Score:2)
D
Re:Related question (Score:2)
Guess I should pay more attention and maybe see if there is a pattern. Maybe the next day at the same time I think... anyone know anyone who works for one of these companies that wants to clue us all in about how they really work? Might be interesting if not usefull.
Don't have that problem (Score:2)
Re:Don't have that problem (Score:2)
Re:Don't have that problem (Score:2)
Re:Don't have that problem (Score:2)
Do have any resources related to that law that you wouldn't mind sharing?
--
Garett
Other "Opt-Out" Strategies (Score:2, Funny)
We haven't had ANY such calls since.
Of course, this might not have been as convincing if he had tried it with a man...
This give me an idea... (Score:2)
I'm sure this violates some federal law (Score:2)
Or it will--as soon as their trade ass'n (Direct Marketing Assocation?) convinces Congress that it may cut revenues. It is technological circumvention after all, and this is apparently the season for draconian income-protection legislation.
How long before they drop the ruse and just take our whole fuckin' paycheck? They can split it up among the federal government, the RIAA, the SPA, the MPAA, and--of course--the Big Five Media Companies.
This used to be illegal (Score:2)
This was to prevent the device from interfering with call setup/billing info, which used to be sent in-band (blue boxing).
Those regs were in force as of ca. 1983. I don't know if they were ever repealed.
- SWM
But that's no fun.... (Score:3, Funny)
Telemarketer: Sir, would you like to know how we can help you save money on your telephone bill?
"Uhhhh, actually, I've been trying to spend more money lately."
Telemarketer: But Sir! We know for a fact that you are spending too much money on your long distance service. We can help reduce your rates by....
"See, that's just the thing. I've been making a concerted effort to start spending *more* money these days. I've been a pretty cheap bastard in my days. Do you have any programs where I could spend more on my long distance calls?"
"Hello?"
Seems a little expensive doesn't it? (Score:2)
#1 - Why is it so expensive? ($75 Cdn (or was that US) that I saw it advertised for) Surely someone else can make a tone-generator for much less than that.
#2 - It doesn't work for direct-dialed numbers. Surely there are a number of telemarketing firms out there that dont use computer-dialed lists, in which case a tone-generator would be useless.
I use a cell phone and while I do get the occasional wrong number I have never received a call from a telemarketer. My parents do though, and they'd love a way to get them to stop.
What a waste of money (Score:2)
The commercial is hilarious because it shows a rather wealthy individual who's home is invaded by a telemarketer, and then it proposes the "Telezapper". The reality is that there isn't probably a "upper-crust" person on this planet who would expect their callers to listen through the 3-tone disconnected tone so that they can avoid telemarketers. Personally I'd be very irritated if everytime I called a friend I had to listen to that.
Having said that I get very few telemarketer calls and I presume it's because I'm hostile: For instance if I get a call with the "Please wait for an important call" I've usually hung up by "Pl...". If I get a call and there is a delay I hang up immediately. Quickly I seem to get removed from the sucker lists.
In a related story... (Score:2)
no call list (Score:2, Informative)
The only thing I miss is getting to pick on the poor telemarketers. Oh well.
Legislation - There's some Hope (Score:2)
Try calling your Rep and ask for similar legislation!
The cynic in me now says that numerous Slashdotters will now come up with hundreds of silly reasons why this will be useless and/or not work. Still, I hope they're wrong, because this will be a great relief if it works.
You should ask them not to call (Score:4, Informative)
I registered quite some time ago and almost all of my sales calls went away. Just the little local people an newspapers were still calling.
You might also check with your state. In Missouri you can sign up here [state.mo.us] and it becomes illegal for people to call you (with some exceptions for people with powerful lobbies.) I am on this list as well and can't remember the last time I got a sales call.
You people are getting it all wrong... try (Score:5, Funny)
Use caller-id and whenever you see a number that does not appear, answer the phone with "Thanks for calling the (whatever) residence. Because of the increasingly large amount of time taken up on the phone I am having to start charging a fee for those who wish to speak to me. By staying on the phone you acknowledge and aquiesce to the fact that you will be held responsible for a 5 doller/minute cost to speak to me. If you do not agree to this, please hang up now" -- since most telemarketers are under strict policies that they can not hang up on customers.. well, it worked for the software industry, right?
Re:You people are getting it all wrong... try (Score:2, Interesting)
Sort of...
Actually, that's what led to the invention of Unix. It replaced MIT's Multics, which had some sort of pay-per-use license.
That's the way I remember it anyway...
The only thing to do... (Score:3, Informative)
1. If you get a telemarketer on the phone, all you need to say is "Please put me on your do not call list." Thats all, nothing more. If the telemarketer says anything else to try to get you to buy, ask to talk to their supervisor. After a few months you won't receive any more calls. Telemarketing houses buy lists of names from distributors and are required by law to keep you on a permanent do not call list of you ask for it, and are also required to pass that list back to the distributor.
2. Be careful when you sign up for Magazines, credit cards, etc. Businesses will sell their subscriber's info to telemarketing houses.
3. Look up your state's Public Service Comission. In some states, it's illegal to contact a person that has been put on the state's do not call list. In some cases you can sign up over the Internet.
4. If the phone rings and you get dead air, it's probably a telemarketer. Don't hang up!!! Wait for them to come on the line and follow #1
Re:The only thing to do... (Score:2)
I work for a company that (among other things) sells predictive dialer systems to telemarketing services.
No offense, but...
...can you sleep at night?
-Rob
disappointed (Score:5, Funny)
TeleZapper
Aww, shucks, I saw this and I thought it would be some clever system that involved high voltage.
...and why it DOESN'T work.... (Score:5, Informative)
This is all well and good, execpt that my answermachine is pretty smart. It can sense when an extenion picks up the phone, and the the answering machine will stop and hang up it's extension.
So, follow along:
1) Telemarketer auto-dialer dials a number
2) No one is home, so the answering machine picks up.
3) The telezapper, seeing an extension pick up, also picks up, and plays it's little tones.
4) The answering machine, realizing that 'someone' picked up an extension, stops the playback of the outgoing message, and hangs up.
5) The telezapper, having played it's tones, also hangs up.
Now... in that process, when was an ACTUAL caller allowed to leave a voice message?
That's right. Never.
Pretty severe logic flaw, IMHO.
OH CRAP (Score:5, Insightful)
Our dialer has the ability to detect tritones - the "doo dee dii, the number you have reached...". There are several different tritones, and our dialer can distinguish between a "Changed Number" tritone, and a "Bad Number" tritone. I suppose that if this device sends out a tritone that matches the "Bad Number" tritone, our dialer wouldn't call it. You can, however, set your dialer to do whatever you like with those "dispositions". An unscrupulous company may set their dailer to pass those calls to the reps instead of dropping the line (We don't do that).
However, i happened to catch that commercial too, and it also says that it "...will automatically delete your name from their database". Of course, that's horse shit. It'll just dispo your record as bad number, what the company does with those is up to them.
Naturally i encourage everyone to check out their states' Do Not Call registry and add your name if you don't want to be disturbed (BTW, the laws about DNC'ing don't apply to things like election polling and charitable organizations - funny huh?)
So that's that!
The Telltale Pause (Score:2, Informative)
When I receive a call that I suspect is from a telemarketer, I pick up the phone, say my greeting, then listen for a pause. If there is a pause, I hang up the phone right away.
Occasionally this catches people making legitimate calls offguard, but they usually call back. Telemarketers, because they're on a round-robin dialer, won't call back right away. Unfortunately this really doesn't solve the problem because (as I understand it) your phone number just gets put back in the dialing queue.
If you really want to get rid of the telemarketers, you need to put your phone number and address on a Direct Marketing Association "blacklist".
I believe there are other resources similar to this.
NOTE: I have not tried either of the above, but I've heard of others that have used it successfully.
See also the Telephone Consumer Protection Act [google.com] and this Anti-Telemarker / Anti-Spam [netmegs.com] web page.
Why this wouldn't work (Score:2, Insightful)
Telemarketers (Score:2)
Plus.. when you move, you keep your phone.
If you want a landline for cheap LD or dialup.. turn the ringer off.
Try to get the telemarketers to quit (Score:3, Insightful)
Remember, these are real people with feelings and they like to be treated like humans. I always ask for their name and ask if they ever get really rude comments when they call people. Normally, they say they do, and then I ask them if they understand why people are rude to them. Usually they start dancing around the issue of how their actions are the cause of other people being rude to them, and you have to firmly but politly talk to them about the issue. Tell them that you don't think they are they are the type of person who likes to be rude to people. You can also ask them how they feel about getting telemarketers at their home.
They will often bring up the subject how "this is just my job". To this, you have to explain that everyone is responsible for their own actions. Ask them if their employer asked them to steal from somone or to hurt someone, would they do it?
You can also bring up why so many of their coworkers quite after such a short period of time. Obviously, other people realize that what they are doing is wrong. The reason why the pay is "high" (for unskilled labor, but I don't say that) is because so few people want to be yelled at all day long.
Try to keep mentioning their name, try to connect with them. Try to get inside their minds and find their soft spots.
If nothing else, you have made the telemarketers waste a lot of time on a long distance call.
If you live in Connecticut... (Score:2)
there's a state no-call list [state.ct.us]. While there has been a few wide-spread violators, my personal experience is that we went from averaging one telemarketer a day to two violators since January. The state has been quite rigorous about following up on complaints. I guess it helps to have a state Attorney General who is very pro-consumer.
I'm not sure about the status of this sort of thing in other states, but as usual, it doesn't hurt to contact your rep.
-Jennifer
Fun telemarketers story (Score:5, Funny)
Now, I must admit I don't get that many calls. However, they still get to me. At any rate, a friend of mine was over at my place and my roommate was home when I got the call...
Drone: Hello, I'm calling from etc. you know the drill
Me: Well, I can't say I'm terribly interested...
Drone: pitch continues
(At this point, my friends realize I'm on the phone with a telemarketer. They decide it's time for fun.)
Roommate: (bellowing) Junior! Get back in that box!
Friend: (timidly, in child-like voice) No daddy! No! I don't want to go back in there!
Roommate: I told you to get in that box! Do as you're told or you got a beating coming!
Friend: (crying sounds)
(All this time, I remain pretty silent, although trying very hard not to laugh.)
Drone: Uh, is everything OK?
Me: (flatly) Yes. Everything is fine. It's the TV.
Drone: (slight pause) Well, I'll be going now.
(hangs up)
--
Woz
The short answer is yes. (Score:5, Informative)
Believe it or not, this is exactly how simple it is. For your enjoyment here is a list of the four SIT's, with the frequencies and the length of each tone, and their meaning:
Not being a phone company myself, I cannot guarantee that the above tone sequences will always work, but they are the published values.
In case anybody's interested, a recent issue of Poptronics Magazine had an article about SIT's and how they could be used to defeat telemarketers. Sorry, I don't recall the month, but it was quite recent... a perusal in the library through this year's issues should turn it up, if you are curious.
Missouri's telemarketer problem is solved! (Score:3, Interesting)
Attorney General Jay Nixon implemented this program this summer and I've only received one telemarketer call since compared to the 10+ a week I was receiving before.
I highly recommend that you try to convince your state reps to mimic this program.
wisconsin (Score:2, Informative)
Phone telemarking E-mail (Score:2, Funny)
ENLARGE YOUR PENIS 3 INCH++
FYI: Canadian regulations (Score:5, Informative)
How some telemaketing systems work... (Score:3, Informative)
The actual tones in question... (Score:3, Informative)
Error tone:
0 330ms 950Hz -15.0/-15.0/-15.0 dBm0
1 330ms 1400Hz -15.0/-15.0/-15.0 dBm0
2 330ms 1800Hz -15.0/-15.0/-15.0 dBm0
3 5000ms Silence
(source: 'show call progress tone usa' on a Cisco 5340)
Second, a story from about 5 years back about telemarketers:
My mom received a call from a telemarketer (well, looking back, probably someone involved in a telemarketing scam) to which my mom politely replied "Sorry, I don't buy things through telephone solicitations." At this point, the telemarkter got really indignant and my mom simply hung up.
Several times during the nights following this, we started receiving several "ghost" calls with nobody on the other end (this was rare happening for us) which my mom deduced to be the evil caller from a few nights before. What I especially love was her response to this: At the time, the local telco switch was rather broken (don't ask me how, exactly, I don't know much about telco switches) in that if anyone in our town didn't hang up the phone, the other caller *could not* hang up their phone. One night, my mom received one of these calls again and simply left the phone off-hook for about an hour, which basically made it impossible for the offending party to hang up their phone (probably running up a nice charge for whoever was calling.)
We never received another ghost call.
My favorite tactic. (Score:5, Funny)
Back in the day when I still lived with my parents, there was a 6 month period where we were receiving an average of 3 telemarketing calls per night from long distance phone service carriers.
Smile. My father's an engineer with AT&T.
I think the record for the longest I kept 'em on the phone was something like 45 minutes. They'd give me the standard pitch about how much money they could save us over AT&T, and I'd politely insist that there was NO WAY that was possible...
Of course, I had to be nice to them, so I always asked them to go into detail on every plan they offered. This takes quite a while, needless to say, but I didn't care (watching TV, using the bathroom, whatever while they yapped).
You see, their call success averages depend on their ability to sign up a certain number of customers within a given period of time. I was *bad* for their numbers.
They just loved it when I finally got around to giving them a boarding pass to the Clue Train, inscribed with the message "Our long distance is free... my dad works for AT&T... he might quit soon though." I suppose my sense of humour is a bit sick, but they deserved every ounce of it.
Credit Bureaux (Score:3, Interesting)
Then I made the mistake of buying a washing machine from Best Buy on its 'interest free credit'. The scumbag finance company deliberately credited the final payment to the account late so they could claim a huge interest penalty. I pointed out that NACHA credits take hours to clear, not 10 days. We had the scumbags calling up every day for months trying to get us to pay $650 that was definitely not owed.
Interesting fact was that sending the original finance co a cease and desist had no effect. When they put the alleged debt out to a third party collection agency they stopped calling almost imediately they recieved my cease and desist.
It seems that a lot of Americans just pay up when faced with this type of fraud - which is why the stores can offer 'no interest' credit I guess. If you need credit (which I don't) then they can get you blacklisted with Equifax or TRW. In Europe the directors of the companies concerned would be sitting in jail, in the US they purchase legislation.
My success story.. (Score:3, Funny)
My best success came with Omaha Steaks. They called one night at dinner. I told them not to call me anymore, and told them that I was writing down that they called. They called a week later:
TM: Hello sir, this is Omaha Steaks.
me: Oh, cool!
TM: Wow, I've never heard that before.
me: I told you guys not to ever call me again just ONE WEEK AGO! Now I can collect $500 under federal law! I'm saving up for a big tv.
TM: um, uhh, um, we don't have any record of that.
me: Obviously not, because you called me again.
TM: So sorry sir, it'll never happen again.
Never heard from them again. Also, the *only* purchase my wife made off of QVC that was worth anything was a phone with built-in caller ID filtering. It beeps in between the 2nd and all additional rings if the caller is in the "priority" or "normal" list.
Sometimes I've been known to say, "oh shit I thought you were someone important
me: "Hey! Sounds great! In fact, I'll transfer BOTH of my cellphones! All you need to do is pick up my early termination fees."
them: "Well, how much is it?"
me: "$175 per line"
them: "Oh, uh, I don't think we can do that."
me: "Yeah, I didn't think so.
Re:seems simple enough (Score:2, Funny)
"You could have avoided this call if you
Not sure if I understand what you mean.. but... (Score:2)
That doesn't mean the phone company doesn't know who it is. If you dial the call-trace number, the call info is immediately logged and made available to telco security personell. THey just won't tell YOU the number.
Get a cellular phone instead. They can't telemarket to cellular phones, it's illegal. Plus you get caller-ID automatically.
Re:simple solutions also work (Score:5, Insightful)
For a few months the result was a lot of messages saying "Hello . . . Hello . . . Are you there?" But the telemarketers then think it is a "broken" line, take the number off the list, and soon there are fewer telemarketers.
Simple and free.
Some details on this sort of thing are at http://www.scn.org/~bk269/bug.html
--mdp