Your government at work.

Evidently, the feds think your cell phone should be a marketing tool for sellers - at your expense.

REMEMBER Cell Phone Numbers Go Public this month. 

All cell phone numbers are being released to telemarketing companies and   you will start to receive sales calls. 

  

....  YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR THESE  CALLS 

  

To prevent this, call the following number from your cell phone:    888-382-1222. 

It is the National DO NOT CALL list It will only take a minute of your time.. It blocks your number for five (5) years. 

You must call from the cell phone number you want to have blocked. You cannot call from a different phone number. 

  

HELP OTHERS BY PASSING THIS ON. It takes about 20 seconds. 

 

https :// www . donotcall . gov /default. aspx  

  

Please forward to family and friends.  

 

It would have been so easy for the FCC to rule that INCOMING calls to mobile units would be paid for by the CALLER, just like any phone call before in history - but no, crony capitalism and lobbyists ensured that YOU have to work to remove your number from the lists - and calls from "charities" and "political action committees" are exempt from the "no call" list.

AND, you have to renew this every five years or you get more phone spam.

Another thing I've ranted about in the past is caller ID - it is trivial to come up with a system that can't be hacked, and even easier for CONgress to pass a law making foxing Caller ID a felony - but no, again, the phone company wanted to leave wiggle room for telemarketers and scam artiists.

I'll shut up now - but remember to call and get your cell on the no-call list!

Unknown caller

Finally slept in - woke at 8 AM. First time in YEARS I've slept in.

As I was getting out of bed, the phone rings. "Private caller". I pick up.

"Hello?"
"Hellloooo?"

*sounds of a computer dialer passing a live call to the boiler room*
*Thick accent, possibly (East) Indian* "Is *stumble* Charles *stumble* *badly mispronounced* there?"

Standard reply: "Who's calling?"

"This is John *mumble* from *mumble* Indian Nation."

Now I get into it. "You do realize this is a 'no call' number? That it's early on a Saturday? I don't know what you are selling or representing, but you've just lost me. Never call here again. Got it?"

I hung up.

I wonder if it did any good. Sure felt good.

Insane pollsters

Insane, stupid, or some horrible ulterior motive?

I have had a full dozen computerized survey calls now from some outfit called "Independent Voter Research", at a "private" number. The computer asks for my sex, age, race, and political party - then asks if I am likely to vote or not, and if I would vote for Romney or Osama, and for Thompson or Tammy Gay Baldwin. Then they give their number as 866 540-3140 - which when called tells me they wanted to get my opinions, apologizes for missing me, and hangs up.

What earthly good is it for a survey to call the same phone number twelve times over three weeks, asking the exact same questions?

After the second call, I've been giving random answers. Or, you can keep the computer on the line possibly forever by repeatedly giving an invalid response.

A little Google research turns up this, amongst other hits. There are claims the Romney campaign is responsible for this, but WHY would they? It's certainly not going to convince anyone to change their vote, and I bet lots of people getting these calls are screwing with them like I am.

What good are they?

No-call lists, I mean. I signed up for both the federal and state lists, and I got ten calls from GOP hopefuls yesterday.

A no-call list with exemptions is useless. Like all too many politicians.

In response to calls from Gingrich, Romney, and Santorum, I voted today - for Ron Paul.

A tactic for handling dunning phone calls

and anyone else you would rather not talk to. You will need a speakerphone to do this right.

Have Pandora set up on your computer, ready to play some of your favorite music. Pause it at the start of a favorite track - something nice and long like 'Inna Gadda Da Vida" is always good.

When the bill collector / political pollster / irritating charity calls, simply say "Hello", so the computer picks up the call and hands it off to the human operator. When they start their spiel, ask them to hold a moment, and un-pause Pandora.

Enjoy your music, and when the caller hangs up in disgust, simply hang up the speakerphone.

Works well with loud TV shows, too.

So far, only one guy who called had a sense of humor, and commented on the music before hanging up. Most just hang up after a few minutes - the record so far is just over five minutes.

I figure if they are going to bug me, they might as well pay more of a phone bill in the process, and in the case of robocallers, it ties up a line on their system for as long as possible, perhaps saving someone else the irritation of receiving the next call.