Robocalls have been getting quite a bit of ink lately in the United States.  Robocalls are those annoying auto-dialer calls you may get.  The US FCC has stepped in and asked the US service providers to provide robocall blocking services.  In many ways, this really is nothing new.  Robocalling has been a problem for years.  I had put my name on a do not call list many many years ago with great success (Go to www.donotcall.gov).  However, that was my home phone.  They are now coming to my mobile phone, so I’m going to have to register that phone number. 

Tricking callers by displaying fake caller IDs is easier now than it’s ever been, which is one of the reasons why this issue has come up again.  If you go to Google and type “robocall” the first things you see are 4 sponsored ads that enable you to send robocalls!

However, it is illegal. The FTC’s website says “If you receive a robocall trying to sell you something (and you haven’t given the caller your written permission), it’s an illegal call. You should hang up. Then, file a complaint with the FTC and the National Do Not Call Registry.”

Note you can still get phone calls from “existing relationships.” For example, I periodically get automated, sometimes even somewhat personalized, phone calls from the New York Giants or members of the New York Giants as I have season tickets with them.  And I don’t think it’s possible to escape the political robocalls if you are registered with a party, though especially this year, I wish I could.

What is new is that the FCC has asked the service providers to provide call blocking services, and not leave it up to the consumer to do all this work.  There are multiple solutions to this issue at the network level, one of which is putting a call blocking application with the Class 4 switch. And the Dialogic ControlSwitch can help.  To find out more, contact us here.