XPost: misc.phone.mobile.iphone, alt.privacy.anon-server, comp.os.linux.advocacy
XPost: comp.mobile.android

In alt.comp.os.windows-10, on Mon, 9 Aug 2021 12:08:59 -0400, "Mayayana" <mayayana@invalid.nospam> wrote:

"Lewis" <g.kreme@kreme.dont-email.me> wrote

| It is also not an indication that the call came from that city and state.
|
| Spammers spoof the caller ID to be a location near to you, hoping you
| are stupid enough to answer the phone.
|

I just no longer answer anything I don't recognize.
If it's a legit call they can leave a message. If I'm here
and I hear the message, I'll pick up and apologize,
explaining that I avoid spam calls. In almost every
case they laugh and agree, saying they do it, too.

That points to another nice thing about landlines:
Answering machines, that allow you to hear a message
as it's left and don't share your messages with Verizon.

I really dislike Verizon voice mail (and probably that of all the other internet providers) because there is no indication I have a message
until I pick up the handset, and I only do that every day or 2 or 3.

So messages would sit there for days, unanswered. So I set my outgoing
message to tell callers NOT to leave a message, but some still do for
good reason (like my machine doesn't answer) or because they ignore my
wishes.

Even when I pick up the phone to make a call and I hear beep beep beep
beep, by the time I've made my phone call, I've forgotten that there is
a message. A few more days go by.

There were devices that flashed a light or something when a message was pending, but I don't think they worked well and, regardless, they are
not for sale anymore. I think they were fairly expensive for something
that answering machines do for free.

HOWEVER, UNLIKE YOU, it doesn't bother me that that Verizon can listen
to my messages. No one who calls has anything important to say anyhow,
except my contacts at MI6 and the Mossad, and they always talk about
gardening, flowers, rakes, seeds, water, rain, frost, etc. It's a code
we use.

OTOH, you may be surprised that when I put my home address in Google
Maps, I didn't use my address. I used and still use the house two doors
away. For travel purposes it takes about 3 extra seconds to get to my
house but this way, the Google bigwigs won't know where I am going from
or to.
(At the time I was mad at the people there, who would walk their ugly
pit bulls without a leash, even though several people and the HOA
complained to them and to Animal Control. I had to go right past their sidewalk to get to my car. It took 3 or 4 years before they stopped.
Once I saw the 70-year old mother letting the dog roam free in the wild
area behind our houses, where people would not see except I was in the
back yard.)
Do you use your own address when soliciting directions in Google
Maps?

For awhile the do not call registry worked well,
both at state and Fed level. Then they just stopped
enforcing it. So I guess this is what telephoning means
today. We just have to accept it. I doubt cellphones
will go much longer without the same hassles.

You know about nomorobo, of course? Free for landlines, charges for
cells. On my home phone, I get about 5 calls a week that ring once and disappear because of nomorobo, and I get between 0 and 3 spam calls a
day, maybe 5 total a week, that ring through.

On the cell I don't have it and I get a spam call aobut once every 4
hours when the phone is on. It's on about 12 hours a week.

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