In the summer of 2015 the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) told all of the phone carriers in the U.S. that they should start blocking annoying, illegal automated calls to their customers. So that means R.I.P. to Rachel at Cardholder Services in 2016, right? No, definitely not.
Unfortunately, even though they’ve been told to do it, most telephone companies don’t want to get on board with this movement. Many of the companies feel that they don’t have the technology to block these nuisance calls due to caller ID spoofing and they don’t feel like it’s worth the investment.
Nomorobo Presents a Solution
If you have a VoIP line though, there is hope for you. In 2013, a service designed to stop robocalls was created, called Nomorobo, it stops your phone from ringing when robodialers call.
Nomorobo works only with VoIP numbers and has been picked up by several of the major carriers VoIP offerings, like Verizon Fios, Time Warner Cable and Comcast Xfinity, among others. It works by being set up as a “simultaneous ring”, this means that when a robodialer calls you it will also be calling Nomorobo. Nomorobo will answer the call first, screening it. If it’s not a automated caller, the call will continue to ring and you can answer it. If it is an automated call, Nomorobo will hang up and let them know that they are being hung up on because they are a suspected nuisance caller.
Nomorobo maintains a database of blacklisted numbers that it has compiled on its own and with the help of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). It uses these blacklisted numbers to know which numbers it should screen and prevent from ringing.
Since Nomorobo maintains a large database of numbers that have been used illegally, it will never block an automated message that is legitimate. There’s no need to worry about notification calls from your doctor’s office, pharmacy, or child’s school being screened and blocked, these types of numbers have not been flagged as being used illegally.
In total, Nomorobo has stopped over 50 million robocalls for its users. These robocalls don’t just include telemarketers, phony IRS scams and free vacation offers, but they also block political calls. With the presidential election taking place in 2016 and the race heating up millions of calls will be made asking for support and donations. Nomorobo will stop these calls from clogging up your voicemail.
More Information About the Service
Nomorobo provides their automated call blocking service to consumers free of charge. They do charge businesses and public safety offices a fee for the use of their databases. Setting up Nomorobo on your VoIP line is simple, and you can sign up via their website. If your carrier doesn’t support Nomorobo you can call and urge them to start allowing the use of the software. Nomorobo states that the more people who call the carriers and ask for protection from robocalls the more likely the phone companies will be to take action.
If you currently can’t use Nomorobo because of your carrier or because you don’t have a VoIP line, let unknown calls go to voicemail and then check them in CallerSmart's reverse lookup phone book iPhone app for suspicious behavior. If you don't have an iPhone you can still look up unknown callers on our website, and help warn others by leaving your feedback on robocall numbers in our community phonebook and reporting robocalls to the FTC's Complaint Assistant.