- Jan 17, 2018
- 5
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I know I am not the first to ask, but none of the previous questions match mine and the solutions certainly do not apply.
I know I am not the only one and other people are looking for a solution to the latest scourge on this planet. The non-stop, scam marketing calls. This disease has progressed and changed to the point that most tools against it no longer work.
The problem is they keep calling. Since I have a google number as well, I get twice as many calls. From 2-5 calls a day. The spam calls outnumber my real calls 4:1 and I have gotten use to simply ignoring my phone ring.
Some versions of android have the setting to do what I want, but I am not finding this on the LG flavor of my G6.
Here are the things that don't work and why:
I am hoping that there are settings I can fix, or future updates of android, where we have the option to "Ignore all calls from non-contacts". But until then any app that [actually] blocks calls will be great
I know I am not the only one and other people are looking for a solution to the latest scourge on this planet. The non-stop, scam marketing calls. This disease has progressed and changed to the point that most tools against it no longer work.
The problem is they keep calling. Since I have a google number as well, I get twice as many calls. From 2-5 calls a day. The spam calls outnumber my real calls 4:1 and I have gotten use to simply ignoring my phone ring.
Some versions of android have the setting to do what I want, but I am not finding this on the LG flavor of my G6.
Here are the things that don't work and why:
- Setting default ring tone to silence and setting a ringtone for all contacts. I have 500+ contacts, associates and co-workers. That would take me 2 days of dedicated time. And I don't believe that copies well from phone to phone
- Setting the phone to DND and marking all contacts as VIP. That silences email notices, calendar alerts, app alerts, and prevents the use of an actual DND setting that I use on a weekly basis (movies, dinner).
- Apps that let it ring through, then ask if you want to block or look it up online. This feature is already built into android, why duplicate that? And the spam calls come from a new number every time. So I have a huge blocklist on my phone that isn't stopping anything. When I hit 400+ numbers on the block list, my phone would ring, then hang as it sorted through them to see if the call should be blocked. I had to reduce the list to be able to answer the real calls.
- Call filters by leading digits. Yes, they do block local numbers that the spammers are spoofing, but in my state there are 80+ local codes (231, 248, 269, 313, 417, 616, 810) - (214, 241, 244, 247, 356, 432, 450, 455, 498, 504, 550, 554, 656, 669, 836, 885, 974, etc) - xxxx. That's 120 filters just to start! And they don't always spoof just a local number either.
- Apps that users haven't actually used but are recommending. I'm asking because I don't have time to test the 400 apps on the market claiming to do this. I have already tried 8 so far based on previous recommendations and wasted my time.
- Apps who's bug is to block all calls, no matter what. Especially if they don't send it to voicemail. What's the point of having a phone if I can never receive a (legit) call?
- Apps who have the setting that seems to do what I want, but don't. Hiya, CallControl, etc. I can set it to "Block Calls from Unknown" and they let it all through anyway.
- Apps that don't block but actively filter by text (Hiya). They block the call (maybe) but send a challenge text message to the caller. Hey, either that number is a real telemarketing land line which costs me $.25 on every challenge (lose money to telemarketers!) or its a spoofed local number, which has a real but unsuspecting person on the other side who then replies to the text message "wtf is this bout?"
- Of course any malicious app that pops up ads while I am using the phone and beings downloading and installing any apps they recommend in the background with or without confirmation. If I have to say "no" to an app 4+ times a day... I'm in no better position than when the spammers were calling me. At least the spammers don't get control of my phone and use up my storage space.
I am hoping that there are settings I can fix, or future updates of android, where we have the option to "Ignore all calls from non-contacts". But until then any app that [actually] blocks calls will be great