[EdFNJ]

Originally Posted by Stu from NYC

It is the emergency call or a useful call from someone not in our directory which causes us to answer the phone.

I do have the option of getting the crook on the phone and engaging in a silly conversation asking questions while walking around my house getting exercise.

Those devices generally send not whitelisted calls DIRECTLY to voicemail which is why I don't find them safe. Also how do you know that odd number is not an "emergency or useful" call unless you answer it? I too love playing with the spam callers. I have spend upwards of half-hour with the credit card people telling them I have $40,000 in balances. Their drool comes right through the handset.

[davephan]

Originally Posted by EdFNJ

That's it "SILENCE UNKNOWN CALLERS." Sorry, didn't have my phone with me when I posted that. I have had G.V. since it's beta days but you still need a device to use with it as you do with OOMA (or you can take calls on your phone).

Detect and block spam phone calls - Apple Support

I checked the OOMA web site. The monthly cost is free for the phone line, but you have to pay taxes and fees. I checked for my area, and the taxes and fees are $6.12 per month, which is $73.44 per year. There is zero monthly and zero yearly cost for Google Voice after paying a one time cost for the Obihai OBi200 or OBi202. I bought the two line OBi202 years ago for about $70. I can setup two Google Voice accounts with that one box. The single line OBi200 was about $35.

[EdFNJ]

Originally Posted by Get real

Even the real Direct TV is a scam. They say they will give you 1000 channels, but 990 of them are just infomercials. Unless you want to pay exorbitant fees for actual TV.

Ummmm, they do provide channel lists for every package so you can easily see what you are paying for BEFORE signing up for the service just as Comcrap and all the rest do. It's not a scam if all the info is easily available. Just have to do a little due diligence before signing on the dotted line and take some responsibility for not looking before crossing the street.

BTW, those DirecTV calls are not SCAM calls, they are SPAM calls and are annoying outsourced contracted sales calls and have been going on for many years. If people wanted to scam using DirecTV is a pretty lousy choice to make scam money. Having been a DirecTV call center Tech Support trainer in a past life we had always been hearing complaints about them.

EDIT: Rereading the OP that is a different call than I was referring to however running a receiver check provides little useful information. What they may be trying to do is get the Rx ID to setup a streaming app to sell using your RxID but not even sure that would work without account info.

[EdFNJ]

Originally Posted by davephan

I checked the OOMA web site. The monthly cost is free for the phone line, but you have to pay taxes and fees. I checked for my area, and the taxes and fees are $6.12 per month, which is $73.44 per year. There is zero monthly and zero yearly cost for Google Voice after paying a one time cost for the Obihai OBi200 or OBi202. I bought the two line OBi202 years ago for about $70. I can setup two Google Voice accounts with that one box. The single line OBi200 was about $35.

Which was why I dumped OOMA for magicjack. Cost me like $60 one time fee for 3 years. Now I think it is up to $99. It was cheaper than the "free": OOMA. Bought a used MJ "stick" for $8 off eBay. Just have it to "save" my 58 yr old NJ LL phone number. Was cheaper than number parking. My NJ cell number is good enough now.

[Indydealmaker]

Originally Posted by DeanFL

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We have a home phone (Ooma) and our 2 cell phones. We DON'T ANSWER ANY CALL DIRECTLY UNLESS we know the caller (CALLER ID) via Contact List. period.
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Are you happy with the Ooma?

[Madelaine Amee]

We keep a landline and give out that number to people who might need to contact us. The phone announces who the caller is. If we know them we answer, if not we don't. If someone really wants us they leave a message. My cell phone is private and only very close family and friends have the number, and then they text us.

[davephan]

Originally Posted by EdFNJ

Which was why I dumped OOMA for magicjack. Cost me like $60 one time fee for 3 years. Now I think it is up to $99. It was cheaper than the "free": OOMA. Bought a used MJ "stick" for $8 off eBay. Just have it to "save" my 58 yr old NJ LL phone number. Was cheaper than number parking. My NJ cell number is good enough now.

The call quality and reliability of Magic Jack is horrible! My brother in law used to have that crappy service.

If you want a cheap landline, get a Google Voice number, which is free, and and Obihai device to tie the Google Voice line to your telephone sets. The call quality is excellent and the reliability is excellent. Free nationwide calling and many extra features for free! If you want the 911 location service to work, it will cost about $20 a year.

There’s a huge difference in quality between Google Voice and Magic Jack!

You can port a number to Google Voice, but not directly, so you can keep your old telephone number. The trick is to get or borrow a cheap burner cellphone. It can even be an old flip cellphone. Subscribe to one month of prepaid cellular service. Port your home landline number to the cheap burner cellphone. Then port the number from the cheap burner cellphone to Google Voice. You can only port numbers to Google Voice using this indirect method.

The Obihai box costs about $50, one time cost. The Google Voice line is totally free. The only ongoing cost is about $20 a year for the 911 location service. If you don’t need the 911 location service, then the ongoing cost is free, for every month going forward.

[davem4616]

The bad guys are out there...and coming at us from every direction

we have to be alert. Microsoft is not going to call us to ask if there's a problem or tell us that they've noticed a problem.
Think about it. Neither is your bank or any vendor.

1st thing you do when you get an email that your login has been suspended is to go to the actual website and see if that is the case. Often it is not...it's a scam, hoping you'll click on their link and give them all the info that they need to create damage

stay safe and stay alert...the bad guys are getting more creative every day

[EdFNJ]

Originally Posted by davephan

The call quality and reliability of Magic Jack is horrible! My brother in law used to have that crappy service.

If you want a cheap landline, get a Google Voice number, which is free, and and Obihai device to tie the Google Voice line to your telephone sets. The call quality is excellent and the reliability is excellent. Free nationwide calling and many extra features for free! If you want the 911 location service to work, it will cost about $20 a year.

There’s a huge difference in quality between Google Voice and Magic Jack!

You can port a number to Google Voice, but not directly, so you can keep your old telephone number. The trick is to get or borrow a cheap burner cellphone. It can even be an old flip cellphone. Subscribe to one month of prepaid cellular service. Port your home landline number to the cheap burner cellphone. Then port the number from the cheap burner cellphone to Google Voice. You can only port numbers to Google Voice using this indirect method.

The Obihai box costs about $50, one time cost. The Google Voice line is totally free. The only ongoing cost is about $20 a year for the 911 location service. If you don’t need the 911 location service, then the ongoing cost is free, for every month going forward.

My Magic Jack (for as little as I use it) has worked 100% flawlessly. As with any VoIP service there are many many variables that can affect QOS. WRT to MJ, when I first configured it I plugged it into the USB port of my PC as per their instructions and QOS was horrid probably because of power issues from the port. When I switched it over to a spare Apple USB charger brick it worked A+. The MJ device also needed a firmware update. As for porting to GV you can use a number parking service without having to deal with other phones. Been there, done that.