a vent / rant regarding my home phone and ATT

[Kimbear 53]

As most of you know we moved into our new home April 26th. For the first time in a while, we got a landline phone in case of emergencies, and ditched our cell phones were were 120$ a month for a 25$ month home phone. Seemed like a good idea at the time until we started getting calls from creditors and sales people etc, for the old people who had the number and from companies who bought a list from our Bank. Needless to say putting our name and number on the do not call registry did not help, telling these laywers creditors etc that the people they are looking for do not own this number anymore did not help. telling companies to not call again and remove us from their list did not help, so we got ATT to change our home number.

Fast forward to now and lo and behold its starting AGAIN! so i call up att only to be told they cant block half the numbers because they are being blocked by illegal computer software to change the number and not display the true identiy of the callers. We get at least 10 of these calls aday, the most recent are ones that dont even say a word its just dead air.

So after being told there is nothing att can do other than change the number again i have to go to the police. YEP thats right! ATT can't do anythign even though we have an unlisted number, have complained multiple times, tried to get calls blocked, and have been on the DNC registry. So today i called the cops, and a really nice Irish cop came to my door (loved his accent) and he was surprised ATT said they could not do anything! "usually we just call att and have them take care of it"...really..weird cuz the super told me they can't. UGH.

anyway i dont know what to do now..i'm so annoyed..that this is happening. its a huge pain to change the number again and wait again for the DNC registry to kick in since its a 30 day wait. And to notifiy soooo many people of the new number.. The officer mentioned Vonage to me..said that might be an option if i did not want to go back to a cell phone, ( i told him we cancelled it cuz we werent sure how it worked with 911 since our town is in two diff counties, not to mention the huge bill it was at the time).

Blargh! I can't recall ever havign this much issue with phone calls in Canada with an unlisted number. I mean jeez its so many hoops i have to go through to make sure i dont get theses annoying calls..OH and dont forget removing listings from search pages with google yellowpages etc!

I just had to vent..cuz its stupid att can't do anythign and wants me to have the police do their job for them..GRRR! Having to call them for this is retarded..even i know their time is better spent elsewhere!

[Que Saudade 284]

Cancel that number and get a new one.

[Krikit 1,163]

Wow. That's just crazy. And despicable.

We have Vonage and I love it. Absolutely no problems with it whatsoever. And don't worry about the 911 issue. You just enter your physical address in the 911 section so the emergency services know your location. Easy peasy. I also have the virtual number option so my friends and family can call me locally. Plus you also get the free long distance add-on (no charge) so you can call anywhere in North America or Europe from your cell phone for free. Love it.

[Ron-Tanya 23]

As most of you know we moved into our new home April 26th. For the first time in a while, we got a landline phone in case of emergencies, and ditched our cell phones were were 120$ a month for a 25$ month home phone. Seemed like a good idea at the time until we started getting calls from creditors and sales people etc, for the old people who had the number and from companies who bought a list from our Bank. Needless to say putting our name and number on the do not call registry did not help, telling these laywers creditors etc that the people they are looking for do not own this number anymore did not help. telling companies to not call again and remove us from their list did not help, so we got ATT to change our home number.

Fast forward to now and lo and behold its starting AGAIN! so i call up att only to be told they cant block half the numbers because they are being blocked by illegal computer software to change the number and not display the true identiy of the callers. We get at least 10 of these calls aday, the most recent are ones that dont even say a word its just dead air.

So after being told there is nothing att can do other than change the number again i have to go to the police. YEP thats right! ATT can't do anythign even though we have an unlisted number, have complained multiple times, tried to get calls blocked, and have been on the DNC registry. So today i called the cops, and a really nice Irish cop came to my door (loved his accent) and he was surprised ATT said they could not do anything! "usually we just call att and have them take care of it"...really..weird cuz the super told me they can't. UGH.

anyway i dont know what to do now..i'm so annoyed..that this is happening. its a huge pain to change the number again and wait again for the DNC registry to kick in since its a 30 day wait. And to notifiy soooo many people of the new number.. The officer mentioned Vonage to me..said that might be an option if i did not want to go back to a cell phone, ( i told him we cancelled it cuz we werent sure how it worked with 911 since our town is in two diff counties, not to mention the huge bill it was at the time).

Blargh! I can't recall ever havign this much issue with phone calls in Canada with an unlisted number. I mean jeez its so many hoops i have to go through to make sure i dont get theses annoying calls..OH and dont forget removing listings from search pages with google yellowpages etc!

I just had to vent..cuz its stupid att can't do anythign and wants me to have the police do their job for them..GRRR! Having to call them for this is retarded..even i know their time is better spent elsewhere!

Hi, I had the same problem and I will not change my number. I am on the DNC Reg and have more than once told the people not to call back. To no avail, so I bought a air horn and when I am sure someone is there I ask very nicely do you hear me? And then I tell them I have asked many time to be put on their do not call list and then I give them a nice long BLAST of air horn. Guess what no more calls from them. You may not want to scare someone with this method but it works for me;))

[del-2-5-2014 1,339]

Try Google voice service.

[Que Saudade 284]

Start having fun with them...

Oh no I'm sorry he can't come to the phone right now because I have him chained up in the basement with his mouth taped shut , so that he can't call out for help. It's punishment, I run a pretty tight ship around here.

Frank, Frank is that you? I haven't talked to you in ages! How have you been? How are the kids? Sorry to hear about your wife... Continue to ramble on until they hang up on you for a change.

Oh my god! I can't believe it! My psychic was right! She said that a man with the answers to all my problems would call. Well since my problem is that I am emotionally unstable and about to lose my mind from loneliness, I thought I could come live with you since you have all the answers! Once again keep on rambling till they hang up.

If they start out with, "How are you today?" say, "Why do you want to know?" Or you can say, "I'm so glad you asked, because no one seems to care these days and I have all these problems, my sciatica is acting up, my eyelashes are sore, my dog just died...." When they try to get back to the sales process, just continue on with telling about your problems.

Last but not least, Hey want to come over and help me sacrifice a goat?

[Kimbear 53]

Wow. That's just crazy. And despicable.

We have Vonage and I love it. Absolutely no problems with it whatsoever. And don't worry about the 911 issue. You just enter your physical address in the 911 section so the emergency services know your location. Easy peasy. I also have the virtual number option so my friends and family can call me locally. Plus you also get the free long distance add-on (no charge) so you can call anywhere in North America or Europe from your cell phone for free. Love it.

ahh ok so you list the physical addy on it.. neat.. see i've used 911 a few times for car accidents i've seen on the highway, or my neighbours barn that was on fire..and it freakign sent me to 911 4 towns over..needless to say her barn burned to a crist..so i'm wary of 911 with a cell phone. I"ll look into the vonage thing again. Teh officer will come back on Monday poor guys has to work on the holiday, and hell let me know if there is anything that can be done or not. Like i said, its stupid i have to get the police to do this...instead of ATT.....just so lame.

Start having fun with them...

Oh no I'm sorry he can't come to the phone right now because I have him chained up in the basement with his mouth taped shut , so that he can't call out for help. It's punishment, I run a pretty tight ship around here.

Frank, Frank is that you? I haven't talked to you in ages! How have you been? How are the kids? Sorry to hear about your wife... Continue to ramble on until they hang up on you for a change.

Oh my god! I can't believe it! My psychic was right! She said that a man with the answers to all my problems would call. Well since my problem is that I am emotionally unstable and about to lose my mind from loneliness, I thought I could come live with you since you have all the answers! Once again keep on rambling till they hang up.

If they start out with, "How are you today?" say, "Why do you want to know?" Or you can say, "I'm so glad you asked, because no one seems to care these days and I have all these problems, my sciatica is acting up, my eyelashes are sore, my dog just died...." When they try to get back to the sales process, just continue on with telling about your problems.

Last but not least, Hey want to come over and help me sacrifice a goat?

Thanks for the laugh....oh man..i should try this next time!

[Que Saudade 284]

Thanks for the laugh....oh man..i should try this next time!

Like Nike says..... Just Do It.... You will have a good time that's for sure.

[Flames9_RN 358]

We have OOMA--same thing as Vonage a VOIP!! Nice thing about OOMA is you pay the $160 (costco) up front then you only pay the tax each month (depends on which stae ur in---Ours is based in Florida--as we are in Nicaragua---and its like $3.20 a month) Its not free to call Canada--but in the last year, I think I have spent less than $20!! We like it!!!

[Hugglebuggles 60]

We have Comcast digital phone/Xfinity with our cable and internet package. The service is good, but I tend to get a lot of solicitation calls as well, mostly for the people who used tho own our home. I can't do much about that since its tied to the address, not the number. This house was a foreclosure, and apparently those people owe a lot of people money...

I know its really antisocial and senior citizen of me, but I just don't answer the phone if I don't know the number. If its an 800 number, its ignored. Our voicemail very clearly says who we are, so if its important and for us, they can leave a message. Now when I have a sleeping baby in the house in a few weeks I might start getting annoyed...

On a random note, I'm not sure how people live without cell phones. Maybe I'm a slave to technology...

[Darnell 8,478]

I offer the following:

1. ask for the fax # of the complaint department.

2. ask for the fax # of the accounts payable department.

3. fax a letter to the complaint department, clearly outlining the problem with the prior holder of that phone number, asking them to remove this number from their database, and notice them that they will receive an invoice for 125 usd per additional call into your telephone.

4. fax an invoice off each time you receive a phone call.

5. tally over 1000 bucks in invoices to one entity? File a claim in small claims court, no attorney required.

Over a year, if'n you do this, this problem goes away, and you'll get a nice chunk of change - it's almost free money, if you can handle a filing system and an accounting system.

[Kimbear 53]

I offer the following:

1. ask for the fax # of the complaint department.

2. ask for the fax # of the accounts payable department.

3. fax a letter to the complaint department, clearly outlining the problem with the prior holder of that phone number, asking them to remove this number from their database, and notice them that they will receive an invoice for 125 usd per additional call into your telephone.

4. fax an invoice off each time you receive a phone call.

5. tally over 1000 bucks in invoices to one entity? File a claim in small claims court, no attorney required.

Over a year, if'n you do this, this problem goes away, and you'll get a nice chunk of change - it's almost free money, if you can handle a filing system and an accounting system.

I like that idea but it wont help if they a) immediately hang up on me when i say no such person, and b) when i call back the number it shows up as disconnected. Also some of these calls spoof the numbers so i can't even call them back and att can't tell me what the number is. I think we're just going to end up cancelling the hosue phone. as soon as i use up that 300$ credit i had to fight for with ATT. thats another vent..lawl.

And yeah like huggles said i have anonymous call blocking so alot of the calls dont get in anymore now but its still annoying. This robo calling or w/e it is has to stop. I can't be the only one with stupidity happenign like this on a daily basis, and iknow at least here in Illniois its illegal.

[warlord 72]

Isn't there something you can buy to block calls? It would mean of course having to get each call first, but then you could just block them from ever contacting you again. And like most do with cell phones (I know yours is a landline), call display and if the number doesn't come up with a valid recognized number, let them leave a message and then block it if needed. If they don't leave a message, block it etc. Eventually that should weed out the majority of them...

[Rob & Monika 87]

I have a skype line, $90/yr ($60 for the number and $30 for outgoing calling) and calling Canada is free. I use it all the time to talk to my sweetie. It has a little echo sometimes, but other than that it has worked great. You can buy handheld phones that work with skype too.

Google voice is also a good choice, it will at least filter out the dead air calls. I use it for voicemail, since it attempts to transcribe what the person is saying to text and emails it to me.

[Kimbear 53]

Isn't there something you can buy to block calls? It would mean of course having to get each call first, but then you could just block them from ever contacting you again. And like most do with cell phones (I know yours is a landline), call display and if the number doesn't come up with a valid recognized number, let them leave a message and then block it if needed. If they don't leave a message, block it etc. Eventually that should weed out the majority of them...

if they spoof the number with a computer it can't be blocked whatsoever, thats the issue. ATT can't even block it on their end when i called the supervisor. I had to call the cops first so they can do an investigation to get a warrant to get the number or something like that. ONLY then with an active investigation can ATT trace the call and do something about it. Well thats how it was explained to me anyway.I can't even use call return or w/e its called on these numbers cuz the number doesn't exist technically that even shows up. and they are getting very creative with it.

One of the numbers i have blocked now gets through again as the caller display sees it as an international number with 11 before the 10 digit number now. The other time they do it it shows up as just 1 on the caller ID. Both i've tried to get blocked but ATT says its impossible to do and the robo computer will just randomly generate new numbers to try and get through with. The only info we have is that its originating from Washignton.

Edited August 31, 2012 by Kimbear