Dually
FL USA
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Joined: 09/17/2001
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There are two things you can do to combat unwanted phone calls. The first one is to use Vonage for your home phone they do not list or sell your number with anyone so no sales calls not even political calls. Now even with my vonage number I did have problems with the former owner have unpaid debts and such. The calls were few and I was able to resolve the problem quickly by explaining the situation to the caller. I also got a Google Voice number. This service is free and u can ban individual numbers from calling you. When they call they will get a number disconnected message. The google number will also call any number of telephones at the same time. I now give everyone my google number and it calls both my cell and house at the same time so I never miss a call.
While my system is not perfect and I had to give everyone the new number for vonage and then google I rarely get calls from anyone that I don't know.
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Just Bob
Connecticut
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Tell us more about the google phone #...how to get it, etc.
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Code2High
Ridgecrest, CA
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I was reading last night some stuff on this, and it turns out there is precedent in court for relief under the "do not call" registry laws, for this type of problem. So it may be possible to turn this into a money making opportunity.
susan
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Chrisatthebeach
Carrollton GA
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A few years ago I was covering a vacation in an office of ours out of town. One of the ladies working there was in her last weeks of pregnancy and had from years back some debts and had been paying them off as she was making decent money. She got a very rude threatening call from a lawyer or lawyer want to be in New Orleans that was stupid enough to give me his name after she became so upset by his threats and verbal abuse she handed the phone to me. It turned out it was an old phone bill that she had paid and this nut was one of those phantom debt collectors, when advised this debt was taken care of and she had the documentation to prove it he flat out called her a liar, this resulted in the call being terminated. We looked up on the internet white pages and got his home phone number and let his wife know how he verbally abused a very pregnant woman. By the end of the conversation with her, a very decent person we concluded after our long conversation with her, we were pretty sure this moron got the cold shoulder at home that evening. It is more fun to get even than to argue with an idiot.
Chris
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Dually
FL USA
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Just Bob wrote:Tell us more about the google phone #...how to get it, etc.
Just Bob Google Voice is a free service from Google.com It is by invitation only. You can request an invitation by clicking this link Google Voice It took me about 3 months to get the invite.
Here is a little about what you get. And remember it is free.
Google Voice is only available for users in the United States.[5] Users may select a single U.S. phone number from various area codes. Incoming calls to the number may ring simultaneously any, all or none of the user's configured phones. Based on the calling number, or contact group (e.g., Family, Friends, Work), or on time of day (e.g., disabling a home phone during business hours and routing calls to mobile or business number), individual numbers may be configured to ring. The service also features centralized voicemail and indexable, automated voicemail transcription, accessible by PC or phone. Google Voice provides automatic blocking of known numbers, e.g., telemarketers, the ability to switch lines in mid-call, differentiated voice mail greetings based on caller, SMS forwarding, and call recording. Additionally, customers of Gizmo5, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) service vendor, may forward calls to their Gizmo service which may be answered using a free computer application (or a web application[6]) or forwarded to any GoogleTalk, Skype or other SIP service.
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Mandrake
Seattle
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Joined: 03/22/2005
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Dually, is there an English version of that.............?
he he he....
Mandrake
he ain't heavy..........he's my brother....
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Just Bob
Connecticut
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If I tell them I know Mandrake, will that speed up the process  
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BCSnob
Middletown, MD
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Joined: 02/23/2002
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Phone via the internet may not be useful for us. There isn't cable (too few potential users to run cable), DSL, or FIOS in our part of the county; our choices are dial-up, cellular, or satellite (which we have and can be blocked by rain).
Mark
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T bone
Top O Texas
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How about after the first call and you tell they have the wrong person just give a long blast on your whistle into the phone.That will make them think.
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1492
Virginia, USA
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Joined: 04/08/2005
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BCSnob, if you have a desktop or laptop computer which you don't mind keeping on 24 hours a day, then there is a freeware call management utility that will pre-screen all your calls, and only allow those through that you have authorized to do so. For unwanted callers, it will automatically play a message, standard or custom, then disconnect the line. For instance, it will automatically disconnect all "unavailable" callers. You can also have the utility disconnect future specific callers once they call you the first time, or just add the phone number manually into the "Privacy Manager" screen. You will need:
- Caller ID activated from your phone company.
- A modem which supports Caller ID, either a PC Card or USB modem stick.
- Download the freeware utility PhoneTray Free.
PhoneTray Free will keep a detailed log of all calls that you receive, which can be a valuable record should you need it to prove abusive practices by these debt collectors. You can also set "Quiet Time" where it will play a custom message and disconnect the line during a specified time period. It will still log the calls so you will know who called. You can also continue to use your present voicemail setup as it doesn't effect callers who you've authorized to contact you.
PhoneTray Free works remarkably well, and just as good as similar paid shareware utilities from Imptec, which I had used previously for six years. I have mine setup to automatically disconnect "unavailable", "anonymous", and "toll-free" callers. Basically, if you don't identify yourself, you're zapped! It also gives you an option to search the specific caller on the net from within the utility, though I prefer using 800notes.com. PhoneTray Free comes with a selection of its' own standard greetings, but I chose to make my own using text-to-speech voices, a few samples here: "Unavailable" Caller ID. "Do Not Call List" Telemarketers. Blank Caller ID. Anyone is welcome to copy and use these. 
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