Every time I get a call from a number I don't recognize I do this ridiculous dance where I try to Google the number (usually on my phone) before the ringing stops. If it shows up on enough spam caller sites (whocallsme, etc), I don't answer and add the number to my "SPAM" contact that currently contains about a billion phone numbers.
It's ridiculous that it took Google so long to implement such a basic feature on their phones.
I find Googling phone numbers to return nothing but junk sites trying to leach ad revenue off of those queries, with little in the way of actual information.
I just don't answer the call. If I don't know who you are, and you can't be bothered to leave a message … why should I care?
Empirically, half of upstate New York seems to think my number is the one they're looking for. Back before I stopped answering calls, I had to repeatedly tell one unknown number over SMS that this wasn't the number they were looking for. Over SMS. I hope that that number didn't have a smartphone, as my reply of "This isn't the number you're looking for." would quite probably have been right there on the screen as he typed in the next message, again to the wrong number.
I actually have a few of the more common wrong numbers in my contacts list, and some of them still call regularly. (Never leaving a message.)
> Every time I get a call from a number I don't recognize I do this ridiculous dance where I try to Google the number (usually on my phone) before the ringing stops.
Well that's just silly. If you don't recognise the number, don't answer it.
If it's someone you know, and it's important, they'll leave a message and you can call them back. If it's someone you don't know, and they leave a nuisance message, block them.
Caller IDs can be spoofed too. Around year back, I started getting calls asking me to stop calling them, when I had never called them in the first place. Then it clicked, someone had spam called by spoofing my number. What is googling going to do in this case?
Oh, I love calls from telemarketers ;) It's a sport for me, a fun pass time.
I'm trying to sell them shit before they have a chance to finish their pitch.
Or I hang up on myself (hangup when I'm speaking) and see how many times they call me back (current record is at 4 before the guy figured it out).
Or pretend that I don't own a phone while on a phonecall with them.
Or ask them for their personal cell number so I can call during lunch and discuss this.
It's sort of breathtaking to think I've gone from a time when people were suspicious about the usefulness of computers to one where a phone telling you the call you're getting is probably useless is a basic feature that it's ridiculous to not have. WTG engineering!
I think it's ridiculous you have to have a Nexus phone to get this capability. Anyone with a Google account and Android should be able to get this functionality.
Right now with Google Voice I get a dozen hang up calls per day, it's always from a different number. When I don't answer, Ive got a dozen 2 second long voice mails. I used to spend a lot of time setting these to spam or being blocked, but between Google Voice and Hangouts simply asinine and beyond incompetent integration where some calls show up in Google Voice but not Hangouts and vice versa, I'm losing interest.
So recently I just decided to make the default behavior for the Google Voice number not ring any of my phones or Hangouts, but set up contact groups where friends and family should ring through. Well that's not working, I'm still getting spam and hangup calls, and some friends ring through, others don't, and client calls don't.
Honest question: are spam calls common in the US? I don't remember when / if I got any in Spain, Netherlands or UK (places I've lived and had cellphones for a prolonged time), I do remember, however, that when I managed to score a US number with Google Voice I'd regularly get weird spammy voicemails.
I don't get talking on the phone. It's the lowest quality form of communication - it's ephemeral, and unlike actual face-to-face communications, all nuance and body language goes out the window. Not to mention the all-too-often piss-poor audio quality, mics that don't work half the time, and the "Can you hear me now? What was the last thing you heard?" and "Sorry, I was on mute" dances.
Voice is far better for bidirectional discussion, and is far faster overall. I can't stand having to wait for the other person to type in a response when I'm in a rush and not multitasking at the moment.
Texting is fine for discrete, concrete information conveyance or things that don't require an immediate response. Sometimes dragging out a low-priority conversation via text is fine, but it can also be a time sink.
And while you may lose body language, you still have all the nuance of vocal inflection in voice that is lost in text.
I gotta say, about 6 months ago I got an iPhone, after years of cheap/expensive Androids. I'm surprised, I don't know how the hardware's different, but audio quality is better. I used to tolerate talking on the phone, I actually like it now.
Besides, when I need to talk to a client, it's almost always faster and easier for me to make a call. 5 minutes of talking can easily bypass 15-20 minutes of writing an email.
I get 'em all. Almost never answer, and block every number. I've tracked the origin of a few of them down. Found the personal cell phone of the CEO of one of the companies that was behind one daily call that changed numbers everyday. That was a fu conversation, and it did stop the call, but hopefully if both Google and Apple implement this (as is planned in iOS10) it'll end this avenue of abuse.
Phone spam has all but killed phones. Pervasive surveillance has done the rest.
Maybe not for everyone. Yet.
But where a phone was for a time a liberating device, it's become what many of its early (and I'm talking about late 19c and early 20c critics said, not late 20/early 21) critics claimed: an insistant, rude, inconsiderate, and noxious nuisance.
A phone can ring at any time, from a call initiated anywhere in the world. Low (or zero) costs mean the caller has very little reason not to call, and even a very slight probability of a positive financial return can support all measure of spam.
The fact that carrying a phone subjects you to sub-minute location tracking, puts an always-on microphone in your pocket, and leaks your identity, location, habits, and interests to the highest bidder (or marginally competent hacker) makes that a non-starter.
For the past several years, I've simply not carried a phone when I could possibly manage to, and the liberation is tremendous. (The trauma of having been on-call for years may or may not have contributed to my intense distaste for the devices.)
There are other options -- virtually any modern electronic kit has multiple messaging capabilities, from email to IRC to various messaging applications to full VOIP and voice/video messaging. Carrying a non-phone Android tablet affords some utility without the tremendous disutilities of a phone.
But, and this speaks to recent pain, the device (a Samsung Tab A 9.7" WiFi-only) is itself locked down -- not rootable, bootloader locked, and so far as I can tell, no CyanogenMod images available for it. I'd bought it whilst travelling under some duress, as an affordable and, so far as I could tell, least-bad option.
But without the ability to actually control the system, I'm still subject to spam, crud, poor management tools (simply being able to allocate and manage storage rationally appears beyonds its meagre capabilities), etc.
What Google are offering is very little, very late. And the fact that other telcos are failing to step up and address the massive disutilities of their projects is another immense failing of the market. Realising these are the same unspeakable idiots who'll be shoving Internet of Shit devices down our every orifice makes me cry for the future.
Same here, does anyone know what the heck is going on? Why has there been such a surge in the past year or two?
My uncle was an early supporter of Ooma and my parents have a box that provides their landline number that they've had for 25+ years, and they don't pay anything in terms of a monthly fee.
In spite of how great of a deal it is, the spam calls have gotten to be so bad that my parents are considering getting rid of it. It's not worth the hassle, even when it's essentially free. At least half the calls that come in are spam.
(Quick aside: Ooma deserves praise for their product. I hope they succeed and can pivot properly to other products as telephones naturally die. They contribute back to the FOSS Asterisk project and their products are reliable.
Same here. I own about 50 domains and I've not had privacy on many of them. My Google voice number, which is also my business number, is listed on these domain contacts and I get more spam phone calls than regular calls on that.
Most of the calls are from "one way funding" and "this is shelly, your local yahoo and google listings specialist."
The function existed in Chinese phone/ROMs for quite some time now. Some of the intercepters will display which type of spam, place it originates and the exact business entity name of the caller.
That doesn't work (well, not reliably) in the USA because the name/number presented in the caller ID can have little relation to the actual name/number of the caller.
I wonder if Google is doing anything beyond simply crowdsourcing spam reports based on CallerID, at least for Google Voice numbers since they own that network so may have access to some data (ANI?) that's not normally available on regular phone lines?
You make a complain and Google ignores you forever, you make 10 more complains, all of them are ignored, you're frustrated so you have to change your phone number. Same procedure when Google blocks your Gmail, youtube, analytics or adwords with unpaid money on it.
But that means giving yet another company access to all of your phone call and SMS data. Since Google already has that information, I'd rather that they provide this service rather than letting a 3rd party scan my calls and SMS's.
Spam calling seems to be a big deal in the US. Not at all where I live. Is it because of different features of the network or because there are cheap English speakers in other countries?
It's because the relevant regulatory apparatus has been captured by the to-be-regulated industry in the USA. There's no technological gap that prevents us from dropping a smart bomb on telemarketers within minutes of their first spam call. We just don't care.
Google's implementation also warns you about potential spam callers. Google maintains a list of spam callers and you can report phone numbers to this list.
If you are an Android user and you like programming you MUST install Automagic. It is, by far, the most useful app in my phone. You can automate pretty much any task on your droid, like say: if number from incoming call is in whitelist send me alert, if not hang and reply with sms "Send name and number I will call back".
I use Extreme Call Blocker for Android. Best three dollars I ever spent in my life. My phone doesn't make any noise or visual interruptions unless the number is in my contacts list. Additionally, it answers the phone and immediately hangs it up, which prevents the number from going to voicemail. I adore knowing that strange numbers are essentially calling a sinkhole when they dial my number.
[+] [-] ohazi|9 years ago|reply
It's ridiculous that it took Google so long to implement such a basic feature on their phones.
[+] [-] deathanatos|9 years ago|reply
I just don't answer the call. If I don't know who you are, and you can't be bothered to leave a message … why should I care?
Empirically, half of upstate New York seems to think my number is the one they're looking for. Back before I stopped answering calls, I had to repeatedly tell one unknown number over SMS that this wasn't the number they were looking for. Over SMS. I hope that that number didn't have a smartphone, as my reply of "This isn't the number you're looking for." would quite probably have been right there on the screen as he typed in the next message, again to the wrong number.
I actually have a few of the more common wrong numbers in my contacts list, and some of them still call regularly. (Never leaving a message.)
[+] [-] scoot|9 years ago|reply
Well that's just silly. If you don't recognise the number, don't answer it.
If it's someone you know, and it's important, they'll leave a message and you can call them back. If it's someone you don't know, and they leave a nuisance message, block them.
[+] [-] jt2190|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] iamshs|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] sowbug|9 years ago|reply
Do other phone vendors do this?
[+] [-] rifung|9 years ago|reply
I'm not affiliated with them in any way; I just find it useful.
[+] [-] technofiend|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mszcz|9 years ago|reply
I'm trying to sell them shit before they have a chance to finish their pitch. Or I hang up on myself (hangup when I'm speaking) and see how many times they call me back (current record is at 4 before the guy figured it out). Or pretend that I don't own a phone while on a phonecall with them. Or ask them for their personal cell number so I can call during lunch and discuss this.
BTW Randy Pausch gets credit for most of those.
[+] [-] beedogs|9 years ago|reply
At least they've done it. I haven't heard a peep about this functionality coming to the iPhone.
[+] [-] hiou|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] oldmanjay|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] saiko-chriskun|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cmurf|9 years ago|reply
Right now with Google Voice I get a dozen hang up calls per day, it's always from a different number. When I don't answer, Ive got a dozen 2 second long voice mails. I used to spend a lot of time setting these to spam or being blocked, but between Google Voice and Hangouts simply asinine and beyond incompetent integration where some calls show up in Google Voice but not Hangouts and vice versa, I'm losing interest.
So recently I just decided to make the default behavior for the Google Voice number not ring any of my phones or Hangouts, but set up contact groups where friends and family should ring through. Well that's not working, I'm still getting spam and hangup calls, and some friends ring through, others don't, and client calls don't.
It's really craptastic.
[+] [-] saghul|9 years ago|reply
If that is the case, I wonder why that is!
[+] [-] douche|9 years ago|reply
I don't get talking on the phone. It's the lowest quality form of communication - it's ephemeral, and unlike actual face-to-face communications, all nuance and body language goes out the window. Not to mention the all-too-often piss-poor audio quality, mics that don't work half the time, and the "Can you hear me now? What was the last thing you heard?" and "Sorry, I was on mute" dances.
[+] [-] white-flame|9 years ago|reply
Texting is fine for discrete, concrete information conveyance or things that don't require an immediate response. Sometimes dragging out a low-priority conversation via text is fine, but it can also be a time sink.
And while you may lose body language, you still have all the nuance of vocal inflection in voice that is lost in text.
[+] [-] Frondo|9 years ago|reply
Besides, when I need to talk to a client, it's almost always faster and easier for me to make a call. 5 minutes of talking can easily bypass 15-20 minutes of writing an email.
[+] [-] necessity|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] FT_intern|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] uptown|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bglazer|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dredmorbius|9 years ago|reply
Maybe not for everyone. Yet.
But where a phone was for a time a liberating device, it's become what many of its early (and I'm talking about late 19c and early 20c critics said, not late 20/early 21) critics claimed: an insistant, rude, inconsiderate, and noxious nuisance.
A phone can ring at any time, from a call initiated anywhere in the world. Low (or zero) costs mean the caller has very little reason not to call, and even a very slight probability of a positive financial return can support all measure of spam.
The fact that carrying a phone subjects you to sub-minute location tracking, puts an always-on microphone in your pocket, and leaks your identity, location, habits, and interests to the highest bidder (or marginally competent hacker) makes that a non-starter.
For the past several years, I've simply not carried a phone when I could possibly manage to, and the liberation is tremendous. (The trauma of having been on-call for years may or may not have contributed to my intense distaste for the devices.)
There are other options -- virtually any modern electronic kit has multiple messaging capabilities, from email to IRC to various messaging applications to full VOIP and voice/video messaging. Carrying a non-phone Android tablet affords some utility without the tremendous disutilities of a phone.
But, and this speaks to recent pain, the device (a Samsung Tab A 9.7" WiFi-only) is itself locked down -- not rootable, bootloader locked, and so far as I can tell, no CyanogenMod images available for it. I'd bought it whilst travelling under some duress, as an affordable and, so far as I could tell, least-bad option.
But without the ability to actually control the system, I'm still subject to spam, crud, poor management tools (simply being able to allocate and manage storage rationally appears beyonds its meagre capabilities), etc.
What Google are offering is very little, very late. And the fact that other telcos are failing to step up and address the massive disutilities of their projects is another immense failing of the market. Realising these are the same unspeakable idiots who'll be shoving Internet of Shit devices down our every orifice makes me cry for the future.
[+] [-] ghouse|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nickysielicki|9 years ago|reply
My uncle was an early supporter of Ooma and my parents have a box that provides their landline number that they've had for 25+ years, and they don't pay anything in terms of a monthly fee.
In spite of how great of a deal it is, the spam calls have gotten to be so bad that my parents are considering getting rid of it. It's not worth the hassle, even when it's essentially free. At least half the calls that come in are spam.
(Quick aside: Ooma deserves praise for their product. I hope they succeed and can pivot properly to other products as telephones naturally die. They contribute back to the FOSS Asterisk project and their products are reliable.
Here's a cool blog post I've come across where someone hooks their Ooma box into a local server running Asterisk. You could probably do some really cool home-automation with this: http://www.adrianandgenese.com/blogger/2010/04/23/how-to-set... )
[+] [-] putlake|9 years ago|reply
Most of the calls are from "one way funding" and "this is shelly, your local yahoo and google listings specialist."
[+] [-] pavel_lishin|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] est|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Johnny555|9 years ago|reply
I wonder if Google is doing anything beyond simply crowdsourcing spam reports based on CallerID, at least for Google Voice numbers since they own that network so may have access to some data (ANI?) that's not normally available on regular phone lines?
[+] [-] pavel_lishin|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] akerro|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cmdrfred|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] honkhonkpants|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] givinguflac|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] blackoil|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Johnny555|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ersii|9 years ago|reply
Is this feature going to send all my incoming phone call numbers to Google - to compare it against a list of "known/suspected spammers"?
Will this only work in the United States or will it work internationally?
[+] [-] Animats|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] allendoerfer|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] honkhonkpants|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] allendoerfer|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dilemma|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] roscoebeezie|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] simula67|9 years ago|reply
Google's implementation also warns you about potential spam callers. Google maintains a list of spam callers and you can report phone numbers to this list.
[+] [-] bikamonki|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kqr2|9 years ago|reply
https://www.nomorobo.com/
[+] [-] fapjacks|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jacquesm|9 years ago|reply
[+] [-] agildehaus|9 years ago|reply
And are political calls and surveys considered spam? I certainly consider them spam.
[+] [-] Animats|9 years ago|reply