Nomorobo.com

[MisterEd]

We see a good amount of calls blocked by it so it's working in general. Unfortunately no method of blocking is ever going to be 100% and it's always going to be somewhat of a cat and mouse game with telemarkters getting more creative to find ways around it.

It's just a tool to use to help reduce and block them, but no tool will never get 100%.

I absolutely agree with you. But HERE in my area maybe my calls dropped from 4-6 per day to 4-5. Very insignificant change. The spoofed calls are so obvious most with really sill CID's. I'm surprised NOMOROBO doesn't automatically block anything with those totally abnormal CID's. My "incoming routing" list is humongous and frankly is the NUMBER ONE reason I stick with VOIPO as no one else offers the ability to block a seemingly unlimited amount of numbers.

The vast majority of my calls are from drug dealers (seriously) and "Credit Card Services." I usually get at least 10 per week from them with the identical pitch but with varying phone numbers mostly marked "CELL PHONE" or some other dumb thing. There is one caller-ID with the same name but with probably 50 different numbers over the last year. It's just crazy.

When I have free time I take the calls and play with the callers. I setup appointments and give them the local PD as my address. I wouldn't care if they called once then stopped but they call over and over and over with the same pitch so I figure I'll just waste their time when i have time to waste.

[VOIPoTim]

The biggest issue I've had (other than the internal blocking mechanism seems to work better after I filter the call) is that Nomorobo seems to block people using Skype. I had to remove it from one of my lines because I have a regular Skype caller.

You might want to contact NoMoRobo support about it and they could shed some light on it. I'm assuming that some telemarketers may be using Skype too and a Skype number got caught in the mix somehow.

[OC_Carl]

NOMOROBO used known "databased" numbers. 99% of the call I get come from obviously spoofed caller-ID's. They are non-existant numbers and change regularly.

Can't imagine how the FEDS gave this their prize as it is so obvious on how to get around it. I guess I answered my own question ... it's the feds. So for me ...... bleh. Pretty useless. I'm glad to hear others get calls from folks in the database that can be intercepted but I am still being bombarded. You can't beat these folks other than to send all calls to VM.

From what I've read "NOMOROBO" technology is more than just looking up a number in a database to pass through a call. But as other have basically said "for every road block, a detour can be found". The trick is to keep setting up roadblocks on the detours. VOIPO in partnering with NOMOROBO at least is headed in the right direction, imho.

If NOMOROBO applies the "continuous improvement" model to their service, all of this is certainly better than nothing. At least some of us heave a sigh of relief. To bad you weren't one of us.

[MisterEd]

^^^ There is no way ANYONE will ever be able to decipher a "legitimate" phone number that has been hijacked or spoofed. 90% of my "bad calls" are just that. Actual ROBO (taped message) calls are one thing. Maybe they can compile a list of those from user reports, but spoofed "real" residential numbers, even randomly generated ones that start with a real number ... no way. I have already got 2 of them today and it's been a "quiet" day. Just google "spoofed calls" and you'll find dozens of "services" that will provide any phone number you like, including, if you're unlucky, your own. Absolutely no possible way to defeat that.


Here is an interesting 2yr old article about my favorite. Despite the fact this "organization" has been busted and arrests made they are still calling me and many other many times a day. I get them on 3 phone lines & 2 cell numbers. Every time with a different local area code phone number. Over 2.6 BILLION calls made (and I think I got half of them) sometimes 2-3 times a day across all my numbers.

http://business.time.com/2012/04/06/...-just-go-away/

[rcc344]

I made the mistake of enabling Nomorobo. It immediately started to block calls from a family cell phone. Disabled Nomorobo and the blocking continues. I opened a ticket to see if Voipo can manually disable the blocking. The Nomorobo WEB site is useless in helping. There is an email address to ask that a number be passed.

What happens is that I receive a 1/2 ring then my Voipo phone is silent. If I take the Voipo phone off hook, the caller is there and I can connect. The caller hears rings that are not sent to the Voipo phone. I want Nomorobo nomo !

[nobaloney]

Nomorobo seems to block people using Skype. I had to remove it from one of my lines because I have a regular Skype caller.

Then NoMoRobo may be useless for me as well; our business is International and many overseas callers call us using Skype-Out and one of our Toll-Free numbers (much cheaper for us than buying phone number in foreign companies and forwarding to us over SIP or POTS).

The reason is simple. NoMoRobo looks to see how many incoming calls come from the same number at the same time (they don't publish their threshold numbers, but they do allude to the method); if there are more than a threshold amount, NoMoRobo knows the call is from a robocaller. But Skype-Out of course has only a limited number of outgoing CID numbers to use on outgoing calls and if there are a lot of calls likely uses the same number many times.

Jeff

[sronsen]

It looks like it's been a while since anyone has added to this thread. I've been using NOMOROBO for the past 5 weeks on my two VOIP.ms DIDs. During that time, I've gotten three unsolicited marketing calls, one clearly being a robo call which I reported to NOMOROBO and which I haven't received again. The other two calls had a human caller and were from a single, clearly spoofed number. In fact, the spoofed number is that of a company with which I do business and infrequently receive calls, so NOMOROBO is right, in my view, not to block these calls. I've added a filter in VOIP.ms to block these calls until they go away. I'm assuming that the company who's number they're spoofing is large enough to do something about someone disturbing their customer base.

I am unaware of any falsely blocked calls. I have received several robo calls from doctors and pharmacies which is what NOMOROBO promises. As for issues with Skype, I don't use is or have any known friends or associates doing so either.

Addressing some other concerns, I have a VOIP.ms filter for Invalid or non US/Can CallerIDs coupled with an IVR routing for my friends who have blocked caller ids. It's unlikely robo callers will jump through the hoops necessary to ring my phone. Since this is available from most VOIP vendors, I can't fault NOMOROBO for letting such calls through.

I read somewhere that the one short ring one hears when NOMOROBO blocks a call stimulates a pleasure response somewhat akin to the kick one gets when their garden bug zapper scores a hit. Maybe, but I wish NOMOROBO could read the caller ID before the actual ring and block the ring too. Unfortunately, that's not their choice. The "system" apparently needs a ring to transmit the caller ID. Look at your caller ID display and note that you do not see the incoming number until well into the first ring whether using voip or a traditional land line. I think that cell phone lines may behave differently.

In summation, I'm very pleased with NOMOROBO's implementation and its integration with VOIP.ms. No, it doesn't block all unsolicited marketing calls (only 95% +), but if I could figure out how that could be done, I would have applied for and won the FTC competition. I would suggest that you try it. It's free and only takes a few minutes to setup. If you find it to be problematic, it takes even less time to remove it. The more users, the more analysis of calls and the greater accuracy in identifying spam callers.

[burris]

Works very well here, and I do get the CID before it hits the Nomorobo tank. Then when I have time, I also block it on VOIPo.

[Mike_TV]

Did something change this week? It was working fine with the single ring for a year or so. I'm getting completed calls for carpet cleaning and other companies this week. Something is weird.

[VOIPoTim]

Did something change this week? It was working fine with the single ring for a year or so. I'm getting completed calls for carpet cleaning and other companies this week. Something is weird.

No changes on our end that I know of.