Author Topic: Annoying caller blocking....  (Read 10525 times)

Offline B.D.F.

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Annoying caller blocking....
« on: July 03, 2017, 12:05:07 PM »
Hey, any of you folk know how to screen callers on a landline before it gets to my house? I am using VOIP via COX communications. And if at all possible, I would like to screen calls before they hit my house because I also have call- waiting (AKA Call Annoying) and so would like to stop the annoying and unwanted 'beeps' from that same group of bottom- feeders. If not, then something in the house would still be worthwhile.

It has gotten so bad here I have turned off all the ringers in the house. I do have call block on my answering machine / cordless phone system and that works fine but it seems this new and exciting breed of bottom feeders has grabbed entire blocks of phone numbers and when one (or 3 or 9) are blocked, they just skip to the next one and hammer away.

Also, I am not sure what the mechanism providing the information is but there is no doubt that the bottom feeders have information about my phone use habits; I receive several telephone calls in the same time band, and the bottom feeders are calling in this exact time band. For example: I get calls from 'real people / businesses' between, say, 4:00 and 5:30 commonly. The bottom feeders call in this exact same time- band each and every single day. It cannot be a coincidence and the only way to align these...... harassing calls with times I normally do get calls is if the bottom feeders have that data. Now I am not much of a believer in conspiracies and really do not go for ideas based on some (it seems to me) basically random people forming a group to do anything evil (I base this on the fact that not many conspiracies are known / documented and the fact that given endless time and money, we (humanity) do not do very well pulling off desirable conspiracies to accomplish anything at all) but in this particular case, it is far too regular to be any kind of random events.

But anyway, looking for a method to basically go back to 1965.... when the phone rang, it was because someone wanted to talk to someone on the receiving end (Easy Boys! although it DOES kinda' feel like being on the receiving end of..... THAT). All help appreciated.

Brian
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Offline maxtog

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Re: Annoying caller blocking....
« Reply #1 on: July 03, 2017, 12:38:47 PM »
I wish I had some magic solution to share with you, but I don't.  I am not sure what has happened the last few years, but you are correct that it is crazy.   Very few people have my land line number (or cell number for that matter), and I NEVER give it to any companies.  On top of that, it has always been unlisted (yep, I PAY for it to be that way).  Same phone number for at least 28 years.

In the past, I would get the occasional serial-dialing machine spam call; perhaps once a month or so.  But now I am getting several calls a week.  The situation is beyond annoying and unacceptable.  It is an invasion of privacy and peace.  For me, screening would be useless.... the damage is done the moment the phone rings.  Similar rate on my cell phone; so now that doubles the annoyance.

I really think all such calls should be illegal, criminally, and enforced through use of some instant reporting mechanism.

Since that will never happen, what I would like to do would be to have something that answers the phone line(s) without it ringing and challenge the caller to answer a question or press a certain button.  If they don't, it holds the phone forever, or enters into a machine banter to confuse their machines and make it harder for them to annoy anyone else.  If they do answer, then it rings through as normal.  Such a concept would be very difficult without it being arranged by the CO (the phone carrier).  To do it without the CO at home would mean having a box in front of the connection to the rest of the house.  And to do it on a cell phone, it would require sophisticated rooted software of some type.

There are things like this:

https://www.ringcentral.com/office/features/call-screening/overview.html
Or better yet:  https://www.nomorobo.com/

The latter might work for you, being that it is VOIP (and theoretically free) . But none of them seem to be quite "there" for my use.
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Offline mikeyw64

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Re: Annoying caller blocking....
« Reply #2 on: July 03, 2017, 12:50:23 PM »
what's a landline?

the only reason there's copper coming into the house is to provide my (fibre!) broadband :D
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Offline maxtog

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Re: Annoying caller blocking....
« Reply #3 on: July 03, 2017, 12:59:33 PM »
what's a landline?

You know, the phones that:

1) Are in all rooms at the same time
2) Can be used by more than one person at the same time
3) Ring through the whole house so you can hear it
4) Work when the cell towers are down
5) Work without batteries (unless cordless)
6) Have vastly superior voice quality
7) Have cordless handsets that are comfortable to hold and use
8 ) Work with fax and alarm hookups
9) Don't get lost or easily damaged
10) Don't cost $400 to $900 each (or tie you into a contract)
11) Are predictably where you need them when you have to dial 911

You know, those
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Offline maxtog

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Re: Annoying caller blocking....
« Reply #4 on: July 03, 2017, 01:03:56 PM »
The latter might work for you, being that it is VOIP (and theoretically free) . But none of them seem to be quite "there" for my use.

You might also be interested in something like these:

https://www.amazon.com/CPR-V5000-Call-Blocker-Robocalls/dp/B0191XMBV2
https://www.amazon.com/Tel-Lynx-Guardian-Personal-Telephone-Assistant/dp/B014WPXJ0G

The Tel-Lynx is particularly interesting, since it is a white-list device that is similar to what I was looking for... so you don't really have to program it.  And it is packed with features across three different models.  So many features, it kinda makes my head hurt :)

http://www.tel-lynx.com/html/manual.php
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Offline mikeyw64

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Re: Annoying caller blocking....
« Reply #5 on: July 03, 2017, 01:28:55 PM »
You know, the phones that:

1) Are in all rooms at the same time
2) Can be used by more than one person at the same time
3) Ring through the whole house so you can hear it
4) Work when the cell towers are down
5) Work without batteries (unless cordless)
6) Have vastly superior voice quality
7) Have cordless handsets that are comfortable to hold and use
8 ) Work with fax and alarm hookups
9) Don't get lost or easily damaged
10) Don't cost $400 to $900 each (or tie you into a contract)
11) Are predictably where you need them when you have to dial 911

You know, those

999 not 911, bloody colonials ;)

we introduced 999 in 1937, 911 didn't come into use until 1968 :p
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Offline B.D.F.

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Re: Annoying caller blocking....
« Reply #6 on: July 03, 2017, 01:57:35 PM »
Clearly, you are a man who does not watch 'The Simpsons', an educational television program in the US (and I believe, vast other areas of the planet). If you did watch it, you would know from the 'Stonecutters' episode that the REAL emergency number in the US is 912; they gave that number to Homer once he was a member of the 'ancient and mystical association of Stonecutters'. There is no part of life one cannot navigate, with at least some hope of success, if one has been educated by 'The Simpsons'.

 :rotflmao: :rotflmao: :rotflmao:

But yeah, I think the US was late on that one and it is worse than just appearing in 1968- we did not get it in the area I live in until the late 1970's or the 1980's.

Brian

999 not 911, bloody colonials ;)

we introduced 999 in 1937, 911 didn't come into use until 1968 :p
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Offline Ron Dawg

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Re: Annoying caller blocking....
« Reply #7 on: July 03, 2017, 02:13:56 PM »
I have an app called NoMoRobo that Xfinity (Comcast) turned me onto. There's an account set up at Xfinity that has my landline and cell numbers in it with the calls forwarded to my cellphone. When a robo call comes, it shows up  in the app and the app kills it. On the other hand, I can see who's calling and if it's family or friends, I can pick it up on my cellphone. It freaks people out to call the house and when I answer then tell them I'm in another town.

It's not perfect, but helpful. There's some scumbag companies out there who are porting their robo calls through local numbers, like cell phones that show up somehow on my caller id as local. If I let it roll over and then hit redial, I get some poor schmuck whose phone has been hijacked.

NoMoRobo works for me. Probably a similar app for your VOIP set up if you call Customer Service and ask.
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Offline B.D.F.

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Re: Annoying caller blocking....
« Reply #8 on: July 03, 2017, 02:14:27 PM »
I am in a similar boat, landline with the same number for 35 years or so but use it exactly the opposite way you do: the number is listed, I freely give it out and do not have a problem with anyone calling other than the 'bottom- feeders', in fact, my landline is the 'Rostra help line' and the 'KiPass help / bitch line' and the 'General C-14 chat line'.  ;D  And I have never, ever had a problem with that.... I do not mind even a casual caller on that line.

My cell phone number is a closely guarded secret; and I almost never get calls from unknown persons.

Several calls a week, huh? Well I am getting several calls a DAY and it got old long, long ago!

The problem with doing it with any in- the- house service, or really anything beyond COX's service, is that nothing on my own end can block calls when the phone is actually in- use; and because the annoying calls occur in narrow windows when the landline is more often used, I actually catch a large number of the Call Waiting 'dropouts', which of course no device can fix on my end, that is done on COXs' level.

Brian


I wish I had some magic solution to share with you, but I don't.  I am not sure what has happened the last few years, but you are correct that it is crazy.   Very few people have my land line number (or cell number for that matter), and I NEVER give it to any companies.  On top of that, it has always been unlisted (yep, I PAY for it to be that way).  Same phone number for at least 28 years.

In the past, I would get the occasional serial-dialing machine spam call; perhaps once a month or so.  But now I am getting several calls a week.  The situation is beyond annoying and unacceptable.  It is an invasion of privacy and peace.  For me, screening would be useless.... the damage is done the moment the phone rings.  Similar rate on my cell phone; so now that doubles the annoyance.

I really think all such calls should be illegal, criminally, and enforced through use of some instant reporting mechanism.

Since that will never happen, what I would like to do would be to have something that answers the phone line(s) without it ringing and challenge the caller to answer a question or press a certain button.  If they don't, it holds the phone forever, or enters into a machine banter to confuse their machines and make it harder for them to annoy anyone else.  If they do answer, then it rings through as normal.  Such a concept would be very difficult without it being arranged by the CO (the phone carrier).  To do it without the CO at home would mean having a box in front of the connection to the rest of the house.  And to do it on a cell phone, it would require sophisticated rooted software of some type.

There are things like this:

https://www.ringcentral.com/office/features/call-screening/overview.html
Or better yet:  https://www.nomorobo.com/

The latter might work for you, being that it is VOIP (and theoretically free) . But none of them seem to be quite "there" for my use.
Homo Sapiens Sapiens and just a tad of Neanderthal but it usually does not show....  My Private mail is blocked; it is not you, it is me, just like that dating partner said all those years ago. Please send an e-mail if you want to contact me privately.

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Offline B.D.F.

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Re: Annoying caller blocking....
« Reply #9 on: July 03, 2017, 02:17:10 PM »
Then wait until you get electricity- you are in for a REAL treat! Good stuff, them there ampons..... (Easy Boys! I said "ampons", like "voltons").

And you spelled 'fiber' incorrectly. Wow, just how strong is that 'emulsion' you drink?

Brian

what's a landline?

the only reason there's copper coming into the house is to provide my (fibre!) broadband :D
Homo Sapiens Sapiens and just a tad of Neanderthal but it usually does not show....  My Private mail is blocked; it is not you, it is me, just like that dating partner said all those years ago. Please send an e-mail if you want to contact me privately.

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Offline B.D.F.

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Re: Annoying caller blocking....
« Reply #10 on: July 03, 2017, 02:49:36 PM »
After thinking about this for a minute, I think this is actually a pretty good idea Max. No, a great idea; it could be a voice version of the 'Prove you are not a robot and enter the numbers from the box below' thingy a lot of log- in pages now have all over the 'Net.

So the 'magic' box answers the landline BEFORE it gets to anything that rings or lights up, answers the line, and a voice asks the user to press 2 or 3 numbers to 'be connected'. A small inconvenience for those calling me but really, nothing atrocious, and I believe it would virtually eliminate the bottom feeders.

Thanks for that Max!

Brian


<snip>

Since that will never happen, what I would like to do would be to have something that answers the phone line(s) without it ringing and challenge the caller to answer a question or press a certain button.  If they don't, it holds the phone forever, or enters into a machine banter to confuse their machines and make it harder for them to annoy anyone else.  If they do answer, then it rings through as normal.  Such a concept would be very difficult without it being arranged by the CO (the phone carrier).  To do it without the CO at home would mean having a box in front of the connection to the rest of the house.  And to do it on a cell phone, it would require sophisticated rooted software of some type.

<snip>

Homo Sapiens Sapiens and just a tad of Neanderthal but it usually does not show....  My Private mail is blocked; it is not you, it is me, just like that dating partner said all those years ago. Please send an e-mail if you want to contact me privately.

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Offline B.D.F.

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Re: Annoying caller blocking....
« Reply #11 on: July 03, 2017, 02:53:39 PM »
Interesting, and Max mentioned this also a post or three ago. Will look into it, mostly how it works. Not interested in porting anything to my cell phone but perhaps this will work on a stand- alone line. The price is attractive at $0.00 / month for VOIP too. Thanks.

Brian

I have an app called NoMoRobo that Xfinity (Comcast) turned me onto. There's an account set up at Xfinity that has my landline and cell numbers in it with the calls forwarded to my cellphone. When a robo call comes, it shows up  in the app and the app kills it. On the other hand, I can see who's calling and if it's family or friends, I can pick it up on my cellphone. It freaks people out to call the house and when I answer then tell them I'm in another town.

It's not perfect, but helpful. There's some scumbag companies out there who are porting their robo calls through local numbers, like cell phones that show up somehow on my caller id as local. If I let it roll over and then hit redial, I get some poor schmuck whose phone has been hijacked.

NoMoRobo works for me. Probably a similar app for your VOIP set up if you call Customer Service and ask.
Homo Sapiens Sapiens and just a tad of Neanderthal but it usually does not show....  My Private mail is blocked; it is not you, it is me, just like that dating partner said all those years ago. Please send an e-mail if you want to contact me privately.

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Offline Rhino

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Re: Annoying caller blocking....
« Reply #12 on: July 03, 2017, 03:40:45 PM »
"landline"? I know not what that is.

Offline B.D.F.

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Re: Annoying caller blocking....
« Reply #13 on: July 03, 2017, 04:20:02 PM »
Well, without an emoticon I cannot tell if you are serious or not. I <believe> you are old enough but am not sure.

For the pups out there, a landline is a telephone service hard- wired to a building. There are still two or three left in the US although I think one may have died, leaving only two of us who have them. I like mine a lot: I can use it without any spotty coverage, it works better than my cell phone, and anyone / everyone can have that number 'cause it never, ever makes anything ring when I do not want it to do so. When riding my bike, for example: I can make and recieve phone calls but <almost> everyone that has my landline cannot call me because they do not have my cell number.

Brian

"landline"? I know not what that is.
Homo Sapiens Sapiens and just a tad of Neanderthal but it usually does not show....  My Private mail is blocked; it is not you, it is me, just like that dating partner said all those years ago. Please send an e-mail if you want to contact me privately.

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Offline B.D.F.

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Re: Annoying caller blocking....
« Reply #14 on: July 03, 2017, 04:26:12 PM »
OK, looked at NoMoRobo and that may be the magic bullet I have been looking for. The bad news is that apparently COX will not allow me to use it. Hmmmmm

OK, I just switched back to COX after Verizon jacked my subscribtion prices by over $100 / month. That said, it has been more than 90 days and Verizon is calling, mailing and so forth with superb offers so perhaps it is time to 'jump' ship yet again.

I could go with something like Vonage but the price of three COX services (ought to be a joke in there) is as cheap as two, so Vonage would just raise the overall price for phone / TV / cable.

Unless I chuck two COX services and use alternative methods for TV programming...... Lot to think about here.

Brian
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Offline Rhino

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Re: Annoying caller blocking....
« Reply #15 on: July 03, 2017, 04:35:05 PM »
Well, without an emoticon I cannot tell if you are serious or not. I <believe> you are old enough but am not sure.

For the pups out there, a landline is a telephone service hard- wired to a building. There are still two or three left in the US although I think one may have died, leaving only two of us who have them. I like mine a lot: I can use it without any spotty coverage, it works better than my cell phone, and anyone / everyone can have that number 'cause it never, ever makes anything ring when I do not want it to do so. When riding my bike, for example: I can make and recieve phone calls but <almost> everyone that has my landline cannot call me because they do not have my cell number.

Brian

I actually remember when as a kid we got our first rotary dial phone. But haven't had a landline now for 5 years. I do know how to block a number on my iPhone, but I don't think I'm helping at all.

Offline B.D.F.

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Re: Annoying caller blocking....
« Reply #16 on: July 03, 2017, 06:35:46 PM »
Spent a few minutes looking around and there are some OK pieces of hardware that would work but all seem to have quirks that would be troublesome for us.

The best solution, strictly from a logical level, would be to have something that screened all calls through a huge data base of 'bottom- feeders' and let everyone / anyone else through. The best service does seem to be nomorobo but as I said, COX does not support it.

We have reached a state of OK in that all ringers are off, so a caller either has to talk to my answering machine, or when I get the chance and look at missed calls, I can call back whomever I choose. That will have to do for the moment.

Funny comment: right now, both Fios and COX connections are attached to a temporary power 'TeePee' in front of my house, After the power co. makes the mounting on the house, I will have to remove both Fios and COX from the 'TeePee' and do something with them; I was planning on having COX come by and re-string the cable to the house and just cutting off the Fios connection and stapling the dangling end to the telephone pole in front of my house. Now maybe I will call them and see if they want to re-string the cable and check on how much Fios will be for the next 2 years as I am a Verizon 'virgin' again (apparently, virginity is re-established after 90 or 180 days and I have both covered). That said, COX really does have the better video quality.

But just to reiterate, I am really cranky about having to deal with any of this: my phones are devices I pay for, both the hardware and usage fees. And it really rubs my fur the wrong way that others are using my own purchased devices to torture me. Not my world, I just live here.

Brian
Homo Sapiens Sapiens and just a tad of Neanderthal but it usually does not show....  My Private mail is blocked; it is not you, it is me, just like that dating partner said all those years ago. Please send an e-mail if you want to contact me privately.

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Offline maxtog

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Re: Annoying caller blocking....
« Reply #17 on: July 03, 2017, 06:56:06 PM »
Spent a few minutes looking around and there are some OK pieces of hardware that would work but all seem to have quirks that would be troublesome for us.

Not the least of which being their complexity and setup time (although some look to be pretty simply if you don't need/want all the features).  I am not sure why you are "hung up" [pun intended] on the call waiting issue, though.  If you are already on the phone, then it isn't that much of an interruption (if you have call waiting caller ID).  Worst case, just ignore it; or even disable call waiting  (*70)  (yep, I don't have call waiting because it costs money I don't want to pay... it is rare I am on the phone all that long).  In which case, the Tel-Lynx looks like it might be a great fit for you.

Quote
The best solution, strictly from a logical level, would be to have something that screened all calls through a huge data base of 'bottom- feeders' and let everyone / anyone else through. The best service does seem to be nomorobo but as I said, COX does not support it.

In my case, that wouldn't be the best, because those still allow crap through like the city "notices", political calls, etc (from what I understand).  Personally, I would never want or accept ANY robo-recording call, marketing call, political call, sales call, "notice" call, etc.  Plus, although it has honeypots, blacklists only work if people participate and mark calls as spam.

Quote
We have reached a state of OK in that all ringers are off, so a caller either has to talk to my answering machine, or when I get the chance and look at missed calls, I can call back whomever I choose. That will have to do for the moment.

Kinda selfish, though.... if the other party does the same thing, then the two of you will never communicate.  Plus it is still very inconvenient- you don't know from across the room if it is important or not until you stop, go over, and do whatever to get it playing back the message; and then delete it.  That is, if you even remember.  I get recorded voicemail from spammers, usually a partial of the recording, sometimes even a human (although that is rare).  So voicemail/answering machines do not help much with many types of phone spam.  In fact, I think it makes it even more annoying- most are calls from when I am not even home.

Quote
But just to reiterate, I am really cranky about having to deal with any of this: my phones are devices I pay for, both the hardware and usage fees. And it really rubs my fur the wrong way that others are using my own purchased devices to torture me. Not my world, I just live here.

Your crankiness about spam calls is probably only matched by mine.  And I don't even get that many spam calls.  If I were at your level, I would have changed my number or ripped the phone(s) out of the wall if I couldn't find something to help.
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Offline VirginiaJim

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Re: Annoying caller blocking....
« Reply #18 on: July 04, 2017, 07:12:59 AM »
I'm getting a lot of 'IRS' calls on my landline.  Sometimes I just listen to them for entertainment purposes.  Also get a bunch of spoofed calls that mimic local numbers.  They are the ones I want to strangle.  One would think that there is a way for the phone company (Verizon) to take care of this.  I'm probably going to change my landline vm to something that says if you don't leave a message you're going to be blocked.  My landline phone can natively block up to 250 numbers.
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Offline maxtog

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Re: Annoying caller blocking....
« Reply #19 on: July 04, 2017, 07:39:37 AM »
I'm getting a lot of 'IRS' calls on my landline.  Sometimes I just listen to them for entertainment purposes.  Also get a bunch of spoofed calls that mimic local numbers.

I had something like 16 spam calls over a three week period to my cellphone with the exact same first 3 digits as my own number (and the remainder being random).  For my number, that was a HUGE increase, then it just stopped.  This was attributed to a single spammer than made something like 200 million calls and was caught.  No doubt many on this forum, including you, were hit by that same thing.

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They are the ones I want to strangle.  One would think that there is a way for the phone company (Verizon) to take care of this.

Unfortunately, a lot of the specs and security regarding number identification were developed long before anyone had any idea how it could be abused (similar thing with Email).  So now we are stuck with rigid standards that are extremely difficult to improve or change.  Same reason we are stuck with such poor sound quality on phones (ironically, cell phones are much, much worse and yet standards were introduced a decade ago for "HD" calling which would sound even better than land-lines, but adoption has failed miserably).

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I'm probably going to change my landline vm to something that says if you don't leave a message you're going to be blocked.  My landline phone can natively block up to 250 numbers.

You sound like another candidate for the Tel-Lynx (whitelist device).  Then you can stop playing games with manually blocking numbers and forcing people to leave messages (blacklist).  I am talking to my Mom this morning, she is in a similar situation and I am going to share the idea of the device with her, too.
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