Lots of robo calls since switching to Verizon

[KeithP]

About two weeks ago I switched from T-Mobile to Verizon (transferred my number). Since the switch to Verizon, I have received more robo spam calls than I had under the entire 18 months that I was with T-Mobile.

Anyone have any ideas what is going on? I haven't heard of a carrier switch causing such a problem before.

-KeithP

 

[Rifter]

Obviously Verizon is selling their customers numbers to spammers.

Would be a pretty big coincidence for it to be anything else.

 

[lxskllr]

I've been getting a ton on sprint the last couple months. I used to get them occasionally, but it's really ramped up lately. I use a program that mutes the ringer if a caller isn't in my contact list. That gets rid of most of the annoyance.

 

[shortylickens]

Obviously Verizon is selling their customers numbers to spammers.

Would be a pretty big coincidence for it to be anything else.

Yeah its too big to be a coincidence.

I remember when I first got my Gmail account in April of 2005. Didnt have any spam for about 6 months.
Then I signed up for Guild Wars and all of a sudden I was getting about 50 spams a day.
To their credit, Google made MASSIVE strides in fighting spam, considerably more than any other email provider up to that point. But its still damn annoying.

As for OP, you can try adding yourself to the DoNotCall registry, but that won't help much.
What you need is an app that bans numbers. Ideally one that completely ignores the call so you dont even know that someone was trying to get to you.

 

[KeithP]

Obviously Verizon is selling their customers numbers to spammers.

Would be a pretty big coincidence for it to be anything else.

I was thinking that as well but even for Verizon, that would be a really bad move. Right now I am trying to go back over that time period (browser history, etc) to see if I may have given out my number to something I shouldn't have and the cell carrier switch was just a coincidence.

The other thing I was thinking was that maybe I was getting the calls before but T-mobile stopped them further upstream and they didn't even reach my phone.

-KeithP

 

[jhansman]

I'm with Verizon now for about 3 mos. and have only gotten a couple. If they are not in my contacts, the call does not get answered, and as yet none have left messages telling me I can make a killing in the real estate market if I just blah, blah. On the plus side, Verizon just knocked $25 off this month's bill because they are dragging their feet applying my trade in to my device payment. All I had to to was whine a little. That's better than AT&T's "Sorry sir, but that's our policy" crap they dish out.

 

[corkyg]

Do a Google for "Call Blocking Apps for Smartphones." There are such apps, and they work reasonably well.

 

[cardiac]

I use Mr. Number on all 4 of our families phones, and it works reasonably well.

 

[Oyeve]

I usually get 2 a day. I dont care as its on my job issued iphone 7 and I rarely if ever even look at it during the day. I heard this morning that they plan on cracking down on robo cell calling.

 

[KeithP]

Thanks for the suggestions!

-KeithP

 

[XavierMace]

I can tell you that I also get far more robo calls on my work issued phone with Verizon than I ever have on my personal phone with Sprint or TMo. I've had Verizon change my number once which helped.

 

[OutHouse]

i had 4 this morning! WTF.

 

[jhansman]

Do a Google for "Call Blocking Apps for Smartphones." There are such apps, and they work reasonably well.

I was able to block two numbers on my S7 Edge without resorting to a third-party app; isn't this built in to the OS?

 

[jnack95]

I have the exact same problem. Since I switched from t-mobile to Verizon, I now get close to 3 or 4 calls /day. Just this morning I've gotten 4. The third party apps don't seem to work very good. At least the free ones, and I have no interest in buying a "subscription". Not sure who's to blame, either Verizon or t-mobile has made my phone very annoying. To bad the "Do not call registry" is completely useless (why even have it?).

 

[KeithP]

FWIW, the calls I had been receiving frequently now seemed to have tapered off quite a bit. I get maybe 1 or 2 a week now, quite a bit less then when I first switched.

-KeithP

 

[readymix]

About half dozen a month since signing on to verizon from tracfone during a recent road trip. Incidently, consumer reports did a roundup of cell plans some months ago and V topped the list for junk calls.

 

[herm0016]

maybe tmo sold you number after you canceled?

i use "should i answer" seems to work well enough

if i do pick one up i tell ask name and employee number and tell them im reporting it to the fcc as its an emergency number.

 

[clamum]

I'm also on Verizon and seem to have gone hrough "waves" of one a day or so and then can go a week or maybe even a little more without any. I never answer my phone unless the contact's in my phone or I'm expecting a call, and they don't leave voicemails. So I Bing/Google the number just to be safe but it's always a spam number (going by other peoples' comments). So I just block the number.

Looks like my last ones were on 05/09 from Delaware and Texas. Then it was 04/28 from Michigan. It's gone down lately I guess, then. A year ago or so I'd get them definitely more frequently than that.

 

[lxskllr]

I've been using quitesleep lately...

https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdfilter=quitesleep&fdid=es.cesar.quitesleep

It's not explicitely a spam blocker, but it works well for my purposes. It's setup to hangup on any number not in my contacts, so I don't hear from anyone I'm not interested in.

 

[rh71]

My wife got a new Verizon phone number and nearly from day 1 she's been getting spam calls.

I use Mr. Number on all 4 of our families phones, and it works reasonably well.

I've tried a few apps, including Mr. Number first, and it still rings the line most of the time for her. For me, when it doesn't ring, the robocaller leaves a voicemail instead because apparently it sends them right to voicemail. That's even worse since I have to go in, hear it, and delete it. I started another thread https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/spam-call-blocker.2503182/ asking for something that does a pick-up then hang-up which would prevent this. One app (Should I Answer?) was mentioned, but it no longer has that option like in the screenshot. So frustrating.

 

[MrSquished]

AT&T here. I rarely if ever get robo calls

 

[CA19100]

My guess would be that the phone number was already on spam lists from its previous owner. I doubt it's anything specific to Verizon.

 

[KeithP]

As I mentioned in the original post, I transferred the numbered. It is one I have had for years (10+).

-KeithP