Re: Need Info on spam blocking app for cell phones

Stan Brown <the_stan_brown@fastmail.fm> wrote:

You replied to (I think) the OP with "call screening which is a
feature of the telco/cellular service provider". I was just pointing
out that there is at least one more source of that feature. Given how
hard many cell service providers are to deal with, it seems that
people who want call screening would want to know it's worth looking
for in their Phone app. As you point out, it would have been more
helpful if I had said "phone app" instead of the vaguer "Android."

Okay, I could've said "Call screening could be a feature of your
cellular carrier."  I did mention how call screening can be performed
upstream from the phone, and I mentioned looking at phone apps
specifically mentioning the Google Phone app.

- Call screening /could/ be a feature of your cellular service.
- Call screening can be done upstream (e.g., Google Voice, Ooma).
- Call screening can be done in a phone/dialer app.

There's more scenarios than I thought of back then, like:

- Configuring all calls to go to voicemail which will push off lots of
  spammers or wrong-dial callers.  If you recognized their phone number
  or it was matched to a contact, or you monitor the call while the
  caller is sent to voicemail, you could choose to pickup while they
  were leaving a message to effectively take the call.  You interrupt
  them doing voicemail.
 
- Assign a loud ring tone to your contacts.  Use a global ring tone that
  is silent, or very quiet.  You'll hear your contacts when they call.   
  Non-contact callers are muted, and get sent to voicemail.
 
I used the last scenario (different ring tones) until the Google Voice
app no longer supported multiple ring tones on my old Android 8 phone.

With more time, and motivation, I and others could probably come up with
more solutions.  If the OP wanted to know only about an app to do call
screening, my response was he will likely have to use a different phone
app, like Google's.  So far, no one else has suggested a replacement
phone app, but then maybe whatever phone app the OP is already using has
call screening.  He didn't mention the brand and model of his phone, or
which phone app he is already using.

What I don't know is of a phone app that picks up a call, and does not
ring the phone until after the caller enters a 2-digit CAPTCHA.
Technically that has the app take the phone off-hook (connect to the
call) at the callee's end.  That would delay and nuisance all callers.
Google Voice's call screening nuisances all callers except those in my
contacts.  If a contact calls me, they don't get the prompt to say their
name, they'll be identified as the caller, and their call goes straight
through without delay. 

Even good callers might decide not to bother completing the call when
prompted to say their name, or enter a 2-digit CAPTCHA.  They're not
expecting to get screwed, er, screened.  A good phone app with call
screening should have an option to not screen callers who are contacts.
However, I get a lot of good calls that are not from my contacts.

Another problem with screening is robocallers won't know how to respond.
If I'm expecting an appointment confirmation call from my ISP scheduled
to come to my house to resolve a problem, I try to get the tech to add a
note to the call ticket that the repair guy must call me.  Their
robocaller won't get through the screening.  The robocaller starts
yakking as soon as the phone app picks up the call, I can hear the first
part of what it said, but by the time I realize it is the ISP's
robocaller for an appointment that I want, it's too late to hit "1" to
confirm that I'm at home waiting for the repair guy.  Their system
cancels the appointment because their robocaller didn't get a response
from me soon enough after my phone app picked up the call.  A robocaller
doesn't know it is supposed to identify itself, and wait for me to
pickup the call.  It just prattles on behaving like I must be be a
robocallee that is constantly monitoring my calls to immediately pickup
all calls to respond with a confirmation, so their robocaller ends up
cancelling the appointment. 

Call screening gets rid of lots of spam calls, survey calls, nuisance
calls, and wrong-dial calls, but it has its failings, too.  Screens on
the windows keep out the bugs, but also slows the fresh air from blowing
into your house.