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submitted 1 year ago by hedge@beehaw.org to c/technology@beehaw.org

How fucking stupid is that? Sorry, but not having a good morning. This is like when I found out you can't set the number of rings either. Sometimes I just want to smash all my tech and go back to rocks, sticks, and leaves.

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[-] ultratiem@lemmy.ca 71 points 1 year ago

Only your carrier has the ability to block a call. And when they do that, the caller would receive a brief message letting them know that the number is blocked.

Anything outside of that simply doesn’t answer the call. If you have voicemail active, obviously the caller will be given the option to leave a message.

There is no service that will give you a true number block outside of your carrier.

[-] stown@sedd.it 6 points 1 year ago

I believe if you use a service like Google Voice you actually can block numbers. You can even set filters and play specific messages for different numbers (I sent "unknown" numbers to a recording that told them they need to unblock caller ID)

[-] christophski@feddit.uk 22 points 1 year ago

In that scenario, Google Voice is your carrier, so it's the same

[-] ultratiem@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 year ago

You’re talking about VOIP and other such features that simply require an internet connection. We are talking about traditional cell service which can only be controlled by the line’s operator.

[-] maynarkh@feddit.nl 45 points 1 year ago

Reading the comments I'm still amazed by how big of a problem robocalls are in the US.

Here in the EU I've had around 4 unsolicited calls in 20 years. Why is it a problem there and not here?

[-] prole@beehaw.org 41 points 1 year ago

Because America is a third world country with shiny veneers

[-] CaptainPike@beehaw.org 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

shiny

The roads, the bridges, the healthcare system, the airports, the rail system, the ports, the housing system, the education system, people of color, any minorities, the electoral system, the unions, the job market, the credit rating, and any government department that isn't military would disagree with that assessment. Only thing shiny in the US is the military and the police.

It just outright is a third would country and has the obsession with state sanctioned killing to prove it.

[-] ExLisper@linux.community 22 points 1 year ago

It's actually pretty big problem in Spain. I have to keep blocking spam numbers. I think it's the same in Poland. EU is not regulating this, it's up to individual governments and some are not handling it well.

[-] SnowdenHeroOfOurTime@unilem.org 10 points 1 year ago

Don't you know that you're not free? You'd only be free if something like this went unpunished/s

[-] frog@beehaw.org 7 points 1 year ago

Here in the UK, I get one a year. I used to get more, but then I answered a couple and was deliberately obstinate in a way that seems to have gotten me added to a blacklist.

"No, you called me, so you have to prove that you are who you say you are. We'll start with your company registration number, registered office, and FCA registration number." No threats or profanity or abuse, just firm demands that they prove their identity. They always hang up, stop calling, and tell their fellow scammers not to bother with me.

I definitely don't trust the government to regulate properly, but I do trust the scammers to recognise that pestering me wastes their time and gets them nothing. While it may seem like the 2-3 minutes per year spent stubbornly refusing to give any personal information until I've done "due diligence checks" is a waste of my time, I consider it an investment, since I don't have to deal with any calls in the future.

[-] bermuda@beehaw.org 3 points 1 year ago

I stopped getting robocalls after I did the ole' trick where you stick your phone under a metal pot and then hit it with a wooden spoon

[-] MxM111@kbin.social 6 points 1 year ago

In US here. I do not remember last time I heard a robocall. A years ago? I did get one robocall message couple months back though.

[-] timo21@mastodon.sdf.org 8 points 1 year ago

@MxM111 @hedge @maynarkh I still get some robocalls, if they leave a message. Most people don't answer their phones if the calling number is not in their contacts list, so that has put a damper on the robocalls effectiveness. It also puts a damper on the effectiveness of political polling.

[-] TheButtonJustSpins@infosec.pub 5 points 1 year ago

What's the point of answering the phone nowadays?

[-] Bene7rddso@feddit.de 3 points 1 year ago

On the landline I got them all the time when I still had one, to the point that I wouldn't answer if it wasn't local. On the cellphone I had like 5 in the last 5 years

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[-] SeeJayEmm@lemmy.procrastinati.org 33 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Blocking a number on you phone just tells the phone to hide the incoming call not the carrier. The call rings through unanswered and then the carrier routes it to voicemail like any other call.

You would need to block the caller at the carrier. Most have some kind of block list you can enable. The alternative would be a non-standard dialer app that, rather than hiding the incoming call, would pick it up and drop it. I don't know if such software exists.

Edit: dialer not diaper.

[-] SnowdenHeroOfOurTime@unilem.org 10 points 1 year ago

The Pampers app does this well. First I tried Luvs and Huggies but they were trash.

[-] lemmyng@beehaw.org 6 points 1 year ago

The alternative would be a non-standard diaper app that, rather than hiding the incoming call, would pick it up and drop it. I don’t know if such software exists.

I assume you meant dialer app 😆 . But anyway, for some Android phones you can use call screening.

[-] rastilin@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago

But why does it work like that? You could just as easily make the phone silently pick up and silently hang up.

[-] BarryZuckerkorn@beehaw.org 3 points 1 year ago

That's not a complete solution, though. If it relies on the phone to implement the block, then blocking wouldn't work when the phone is turned off or otherwise unavailable (not within service range, in airplane mode on an airplane, etc.).

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[-] SnowdenHeroOfOurTime@unilem.org 26 points 1 year ago

I'm pretty unclear why you'd have this arbitrary expectation

[-] intensely_human@lemm.ee 6 points 1 year ago

You leave a voicemail by calling someone.

[-] RoboRay@kbin.social 14 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

You leave a voicemail by calling someone that doesn't answer.

Blocking the call at your phone is just not answering.

Use something like Google's Call Screening that actually answers numbers not in your contacts so they don't get the opportunity to leave a voicemail.

[-] TigrisMorte@kbin.social 26 points 1 year ago

Both of those are service related and nothing to do with Android.

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[-] Blizzard@lemmy.zip 21 points 1 year ago

Voicemail? What year is it?

[-] hedge@beehaw.org 4 points 1 year ago

Exactly. Maybe I can disable it altogether...?

[-] the_itsb@beehaw.org 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

You can reset your voicemail, which on some carriers will result in callers getting the, "This voicemail box has not been set up yet," outgoing message (which will not let them leave a message). From the quick search I did, it looks like it's a pretty carrier-specific process, though, so you'll need to search " reset voicemail" to get anywhere.

[-] skankhunt42@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 year ago

For me, Its the call forwarding option. My Cell provider has a special number in there for unanswered calls. If you forward that to a number that isn't real all unanswered (and blocked calls) will get a 'this number does not exist" message.

Be careful with this because real callers and people you know will get the message if you don't answer.

[-] ExLisper@linux.community 4 points 1 year ago

2002 called but it got voicemail.

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[-] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 15 points 1 year ago

It's 2023.

  • demand no voicemail
  • reassure incredulous carrier that no, it's 2023, voicemail is as dead as the answering machine, and that you never want to get a message beep.
  • reassure them again that their useless pork service isn't required, and that your choice is only between various plans that do not include or enable a voicemail service.

Just let it die.

[-] glibg10b@lemmy.ml 14 points 1 year ago

And blocking someone on Lemmy doesn't block them on Reddit. What did you expect?

[-] intensely_human@lemm.ee 18 points 1 year ago

Given voicemails start with a call, OP probably expected that voicemails would be blocked since you have to perform a blocked call in order to leave one.

[-] rikudou@lemmings.world 11 points 1 year ago

How could it? Calls are blocked on the OS level, but voicemails are on the carrier level, the OS has no way of affecting that. Just disable voicemail altogether.

[-] yum13241@lemm.ee 6 points 1 year ago

This is why someone should make a non-standard dialer that lets you:

  1. Pick up then hang up immediately, so they can't send it to voicemail.
  2. A button that tells the carrier "I missed the call".
[-] ram@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 year ago

Ya, I'd honestly rather an automated system that accepts and hangs up on the caller just so I don't need that stupid "YOU HAVE A VOICEMAIL" notification that I can only remove for 2 hours at a time.

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[-] Monument@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 1 year ago

I just had my carrier remove my voicemail.

I’m on iOS, and I have “silence unknown callers” turned on. I’m sure a similar Android option exists.

Basically - any number that calls me that is unknown (that isn’t in my contacts or I haven’t called/picked up before) goes right to my nonexistent voicemail, which means they’re immediately hung up on.

Auto-dialers are funny. Most are configured to redial on connection fail. Yesterday I received 38 calls in a 2 minute period. Never got a single notification about it

[-] greenskye@beehaw.org 5 points 1 year ago

What do you do for contractors, Doctors, etc?

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[-] the_itsb@beehaw.org 5 points 1 year ago

Does your carrier's online account management allow you to block numbers yourself? That will prevent them from leaving voicemails. If they don't let you do it yourself online, you'll probably have to call, and regardless, there might be a charge per number - the last time I looked into it, it was $10 to block a number for my Verizon account.

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[-] Spacegrass@artemis.camp 4 points 1 year ago

What I do is mute all calls not on my contacts and never set up voice mail.

[-] WarmSoda@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago

Yeah I hate that. It just fills your voicemail with crap and makes that useless, too.

You'd think something as simple as a phone wouldn't get so shitty... But he we are.

[-] LastOneStanding@beehaw.org 3 points 1 year ago

I don't have this problem. I think it depends on your carrier. Some carriers let the call go straight to voice mail. My blocks are a one-time thing and system-wide.

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this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2023
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