🏆 Hall of Fame ❤️
Nomorobo
This review is for Nomorobo service, which you can sign up at www.nomorobo.com for free.
Are you sick and tired of telemarketers and robocalls that interrupt your dinner or precious family time?
I think the telemarketers are spying on us because they always somehow call during the most inconvenient time
First, you should definitely register your phone numbers at www.donotcall.gov if you haven't done so. This is the National Do Not Call Registry managed by the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) to protect consumers from abusive sales and scam phone calls. The registration is free.
Registering your number in the National Do Not Call Registry will reduce the calls but it does not completely eliminate calls from telemarketers - particularly robocalls. Do you remember those "you won a free vacation trip for two to Bahamas! Press 1 to learn and to claim this prize!" phone calls?
The robocalls are mostly recorded messages from scammers that are making illegal calls by ignoring the do not call registry. You can report the number and the company but who has time for that? - especially at the rate and volume of robocalls we get these days
If you really want to get back at them and do have the time (or don't mind spending the time) then by all means, you should report them from a link available in www.donotcall.gov.
For the rest of us who do not have time to report the robocalls and illegal telemarketers, the Nomorobo service is here for the rescue!
Only caveat is that this amazing FREE service is only available to VoIP landlines. In case you are not familiar with VoIP landline, it is a phone service provided by your cable company, satellite service provider, or any internet service providers (including Verizon if you have FIOS internet service). Most people these days either don't have a landline phone due to the low cost of mobile phone service or have VoIP landline so if you have a landline phone, it's most likely a VoIP landline.
The reason why the Nomorobo service only works on VoIP landline is because it relies on "Simultaneous Ring" feature, which is usually available in all VoIP phone services.
Using the simultaneous ring feature, the Nomorobo service will automatically pick up and hang up those illegal robocalls after the first ring. You can read more details about how it works from the Nomorobo website if you would like.
Did I mention that Nomorobo service is FREE? Again, it's free for your VoIP landlines and the same service is also available for your smartphones for small monthly fees (currently $1.99 per device, per month). I don't get telemarketing or robocalls on my cellphone so I have not paid for the mobile phone service yet.
I did sign up for the Nomorobo service for my landline phone on October 2015 and I love this amazing service. I don't even look at the caller id on my phone until the second ring because if it stops after the first ring then I know it was a telemarketer or robocall that was taken care by the Nomorobo!
Give it a try and you won't regret it. It's free to sign up but you must create a free account with your email address. Once you sign up, you can log in at any time to temporarily disable and enable the service at any time. The Nomorobo is smart enough to not block the calls from doctor's office, prescription reminders, school closing recorded messages!
David's Recommendation
For ultimate solution to block as many telemarketers and robocalls as possible, I would recommend all of the followings, which is what I did:- Register at the National Do Not Call Registry for free
- Sign up for Nomorobo and enable this freaken amazing free service
- Enable the "Anonymous Call Rejection" feature on your VoIP service, which automatically rejects calls who have blocked their numbers to be displayed on your Caller ID. You will not hear the ring but the caller will hear an announcement indicating that you are not accepting calls from blocked numbers so they must unblock their number if they want to reach you.
- If you still get calls through that are telemarketers or robocalls then VoIP service usually has a feature to block specific phone numbers (up to 100 numbers for FIOS customer like me) so use it to stop the annoyance if some telemarketers still get through these.
David's Conclusion
Positives
- FREE for landlines (home phone)
- Very accurate and reliable service
Negatives
- Why can't it be free for mobile phones?
- You still have to hear the first ring and bite your lips to not look at the phone until the second ring
My Wishlist
- It would be awesome if the Nomorobo can work with telephone manufacturers to add a feature to ring from the 2nd ring on wards. That way, I don't ever have to hear even the first ring if it was from telemarketers or robocalls.
- This wish is more on the VoIP service provider but it will be awesome if they can add advanced option to the "simultaneous ring" feature to specify that a selected number should be called after the first ring!
Full Disclosure
- I signed up for the Nomorobo on October 2015 and I never looked back. 100% satisfied!
Final Thoughts
I am aware of call blocking devices that can block robocalls as well as a high number of custom numbers at the touch of a button but they cost anywhere from $40 to $100. Moreover, while some of them come preloaded with few thousand known unwanted phone numbers, you have to be responsible for adding any new telemarketing numbers that is not already loaded on the device. The Nomorobo service is centrally managed on the server side so you will have the benefit of blocking the latest and the greatest unwanted phone numbers all the time.If you have any other advice or tips on blocking telemarketers and robocalls, please share them here in the comments.
Overall Rating
Disclaimer:
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. The ads and affiliate links are there so that I might collect tiny commission at no cost to you if you decide to purchase those products using my links so it can help towards paying for this website hosting. THANK YOU for your support!