---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message-ID: <lvb9fd1867cbq7ddbpfhbdijml28i0ldpa@4ax.com> Date: Thu, 10 May 2018 16:49:35 -0400 From: Pete Cresswell <PeteCress@invalid.telecom-digest.org> Subject: Re: Yes, It's Bad. Robocalls, and Their Scams, Are Surging. Per Dave Platt: > Certainly seems intended to help get by any "accept local calls but > reject calls from out-of-state" phonespam blockers. I figured it was intended to defeat crowd-sourced solutions like NoMoRobo: spoof a different number on each call stay ahead of the reports to the NoMoRobo DB. -- Pete Cresswell ------------------------------ Message-ID: <1277EF34-4E79-440F-98FC-3590974D383E@roscom.com> Date: Fri, 11 May 2018 09:35:33 -0400 From: Monty Solomon <monty@roscom.com> Subject: Don't Skype Me: How Microsoft Turned Consumers Against a Beloved Brand Don't Skype Me: How Microsoft Turned Consumers Against a Beloved Brand Since buying the internet phone service in 2011, Microsoft has signed up corporations like GE and alienated long-time Skypers. By Dina Bass and Nate Lanxon It's relatively easy these days to find critics of Skype, the popular online calling service that Microsoft acquired in 2011 for $8.5 billion. Former devotees routinely gripe on social media that the software has become too difficult to use. On the Apple App store and Google Play store, negative reviews of the smartphone app are piling up, citing everything from poor call quality to gluttonous battery demand. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-10/don-t-skype-me-how-microsoft-turned-consumers-against-a-beloved-brand ------------------------------ Message-ID: <f9805db8-2c9a-4f11-8a74-470a3bf7cbef@googlegroups.com> Date: Thu, 10 May 2018 13:42:45 -0700 (PDT) From: HAncock4 <withheld@invalid.telecom-digest.org> Subject: Re: Yes, It's Bad. Robocalls, and Their Scams, Are Surging. On Thursday, May 10, 2018 at 11:50:51 AM UTC-4, Barry Margolin wrote: > I've noticed the same thing. These days I mostly get robocalls on my > cellphone. Most are in the same exchange, and many of the others are in > the same area code. Would anyone know accurately what the current laws are regarding all unsolicited phone calls? It was my understanding that unsolicited calls of _any_ type were prohibited to cell phones and nursing homes because of the cost and disruption they cause. There may have been other protected recipients as well. I know a number of people who have pay-as-you-go cell phones and such calls cost them money*. It was also my understanding that commercial sellers were prohibited from using the do-not-call list for cold calls. However, it seems that law now seems to be disregarded. Sadly, the do-not-call law exempted political calls, survey calls, and non-profit calls. Personally, I get tons of those on my landline. Indeed, now that it is election season, I get several polling and candidate calls every day. A nuisance. Personally, I usually have my cellphone off, but when it is on, I am getting unsolicited calls. One had an obviously spoofed area code "023". * Some people suggest merely not answering an incoming call if the number is not known. But that is a bad solution because: 1) As we know, caller-ID is widely spoofed. 2) An incoming come from an unknown number may be legitimate, indeed, even an urgent call. For example, it could be from an health care provider or a business about a matter that has come up. Or, it could be a friend or family member in a difficult situation where they had to borrow someone else's phone. A lot of people find themselves with a dead cell phone battery or lost handset when they need the phone the most. 3) A person sleeping or otherwise indisposed is still disturbed by an incoming call. They have to check the caller ID (assuming the telephone set has caller-ID and a lot of older sets still in use do not have it). If a person has an elder parent, they must answer all incoming calls just in case there is an emergency--for instance, suppose a parent's neighbor is calling to report a problem. ------------------------------ ********************************************* End of telecom Digest Sat, 12 May 2018