Gadgetory

hello hello mrs. Rachel at cardholder Rachel isn't real but she's hard to stop she's a robocall a pre-recorded unsolicited sales call it's not only irritating it's illegal but you're not helpless there are some steps you can take to block these pests if you get a robo sales call you need to hang up right away don't press numbers don't ask to speak to a person it will only lead to more robo calls if you engage it encourages them to try you again some programmers have created software to fight back but it only works for certain types of phone lines the most effective robocall blocker out now is called Nomo Robo it's free and endorsed by the Federal Trade Commission this is for landlines that work on an internet connection when you sign up incoming calls ring on your phone and also on nomorobo servers if the number matches a known Robo caller their servers will grab it to hang up and end the call your phone stops after one ring it's blocked more than 33 million robo calls to date robo killer is similar to nomorobo but it's for your smartphone it screens your calls and stops the robo call numbers from going through the app also records the call if you want to review it later it's still in beta tests you mail is an app that tackles robo calls a little differently it's essentially a voicemail service if it recognizes a known Robo call number and you let it go to voicemail it's going to play the disconnected tone you know the one where sorry you'll have reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service and you can also set that tone to play for any phone number like someone you never want to talk to but remember not all robo calls are illegal just sales calls these services will still let you get the calls about your prescription that's ready for pickup or alerts from your child's school there's no cure for automated calls from charities or surveys or political campaigns unfortunately they can still bother you and the National Do Not Call Registry sorry it's not a shield against any unwanted calls that's only to stop real live humans calling you to sell stuff and shady companies will ignore it any way you can help the government hunt down illegal sales calls by reporting your experiences the more details you give the more they can find patterns and track down violators making answering your phone a lot less scary oh it's you