FCC Authorizes Carriers to Block Robocalls by Default But Now You Still Need to Request It

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The FCC voted to authorize carriers to block robocalls by default. However, currently you still have to call your cellphone carrier to activate scam blocking.

T-Mobile charges $4 per month to get telemarketer and survey calls sent to voicemail. They do provide free protection against pure scam calls but only if you request it.

Americans got more than 5 billion robocalls over month which is about 16 for every man, woman and child.

There is a free app called YouMail, which provides superior screening than what is provided by the carriers.

AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon offer free services that monitor network activity and use crowdsourced reports to block suspected fraudulent calls. The monitoring services are outsourced to Hiya, First Orion and TNS.

If you are on AT&T. Download an app called AT&T Call Protect. A free level of service will label suspected spammers and gives you the option to automatically block calls that are a fraud risk. You have to pay $4 per month to block telemarketers, political calls and surveys.

Verizon users should download an app called Verizon Call Filter. There is free basic screening. If you pay $3 per month, you’ll also get caller ID.

The FCC says it is committed to doing what they can to protect you from robocalls and is cracking down on illegal calls in a variety of ways:

Issuing hundreds of millions of dollars in enforcement actions against illegal robocallers.
Allowing phone companies to block certain types of calls that are likely to be unlawful before they reach consumers.
Empowering consumers to use call blocking or labeling services for calls to their telephone number.
Urging phone companies to implement caller ID authentication to help reduce illegal spoofing.
Making consumer complaint data available to enable better call blocking and labeling solutions.

21 thoughts on “FCC Authorizes Carriers to Block Robocalls by Default But Now You Still Need to Request It”

  1. I personally get 3-5 calls from spammers daily, and almost all of them using robocalls. I’m glad to hear that more and more telecommunication companies are trying hard to help us in fight against these robocalls. These spammers are never getting tired. You can read hundreds of reports filed at http://whycall.me everyday about these spam calls.

  3. I think you misunderstand. The phone company knows the true originating number, so when they mention identifying misbehaving numbers, the caller ID spoofing won’t fool the phone company’s identification of the bad guys. It is true that you cannot be very effective at avoiding spam calls using blacklists or whitelists on your own, because you have only the (likely spoofed) caller ID to go on.

  4. I think one way to deal with it, is to fine everyone involved with the call and make those fines draconian!
    That means:

    1. Communication companies are to lose all revenue made from robocalls.
    2. The advertising companies that use robocalls are to be fined for _all_ their revenue.
    3. The companies hiring the robocall companies are also to be fined for _all_ of their revenue.

    Then watch the “free market” sort out the rest.

  7. How long do use suppose it will take robo-callers to acquire the contact information for your circle of friends and family so that even using a whitelist won’t work? Are we going to have start using encrypted point to point software communications just to get some peace and quiet?

  11. One fun tricks is to sound interesting, then say something like “one minute please”. Put the phone down or simply mute it and wait 10 minutes 🙂

  12. Till you stated labeling and placing blame on somthing that has been going on long before the Trump administration you sounded almost creadiable.

  13. None of this protects land line users. And unless you have an active phone use business, the majority of your incoming calls are likely to be robocalls. My phone is practically useless now, as I’m sure are many American’s phones. I have no confidence corporate shill Ajit Pai, like all Trump appointees, will do anything to protect the consumer. It’s one reason I don’t even use my cell phone except for emergencies. I don’t even leave it on to answer.

  14. Not a good analogy, I think. I think a fairer analogy would be a landlord charging you extra for not selling spare keys to your apartment to burglars.

  15. To be fair, any security guard, alarm installer or locksmith also charges you money to prevent something from happening that is illegal in the first place.

  16. That… that was almost coherent, on-topic and actually an original contribution to the thread. This robot is learning by leaps and bounds.

    Just needs to restrict itself to the actual letter keys and it would be indistinguishable from many posters.

  17. Call business is prioritized by instigation of return activity, adurationof response forhow any keyed response… the robocalls’ can monitor & look at the recipient in real time through the viewing screen…robo activity is handled by emotional response…if the call time and number is recorded with pen and paper, eventually robocaller will see this record, and robocaller in certain instances will be able to monitor the activity upon call monitoring a recipient viewed through cell phone screen real time.^.

    There should be an algorithm which info-repeats number sequences back to the robocaller, (stinky the numbers are visible on the cell call, although each call signal is protected by privacy, the catch 22 to adversely impact; a robocall cannot be augmented without infinite number sequences which would be reversed to robocaller, number sequences ^.^ which would jamm…input and output sequences…robocalls occupy a certain sequence of time-minutes which capture for a business (ivalue) recipient which benefits (percent) areturned to call activity…returned calls are protected by privacy…intervention algorithms are excluded from consumer protections..figure$$$$Con.

    Congress believes at some point the link of endless number sequential calls are traced to a human initiating these robocalls – what is the purpose of the task for robocalling…in other words, who is the beneficiary for robocalling for how the dollar count is actuated in robo- comprehensive,input,output?~.~buz

  18. Caller ID spoofing can’t easily be fixed because there are numerous legitimate uses for it. Distinguishing the legitimate users from the scammers is where the difficulty lies.

  19. it doesnt help… i have people who act like robots calling me from socket puppet voip phone numbers… not robocaller software calling me…. what gets me is why they can never 100% fix caller id spoofing… its like a game of wacka mole… the boring robot people keep calling me from a different voip sock puupet number… you cant block every mole holes in the ground for robot people to pop out of? but its always the same robot person… i;ve been blocking “e-team IT staffing” for years.. .i’ve begged them many times to stop calling me and even filled complains with company and police department… nobody cares…. they just keep changing their numbers every day… i’m not ever sure they live in the united states…. its probably voip from india…

  20. I really like the no call number spoofing feature!

    Whether we like it or not, we lose a little of our privacy everyday. While there are many cons to that loss there are some pros. Those con artists that hide behind the anonymity of the internet and voice calls will all be outed. Both past and present con artists will be found out and prosecuted.
    For example I got a call today from a spoofed number about purchasing car warranty protection. The woman talked for maybe 30 seconds. Now her voice profile is on record and when enough of our privacy is lost she will be identified and outed by a very reliable super quantum computer using voice print analysis. And then hopefully prosecuted.

  21. Wait, T- Mobile charges 4 dollars to prevent something from happening that is illegal in the first place?! Talk about ripping off your customers!

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