TrueCall shall fight telemarketers on the beaches, landing grounds, etc

Telemarketers-turned-inventors from the United Kingdom have started shipping TrueCall (£99.99), a device that acts as an automated secretary on your land line, either forwarding trusted numbers to your phone or answering untrusted numbers with an automated message and shooing them away. When an unrecognized number dials in, TrueCall asks them who they are and then rings you asking whether or not you want to take it. Sure, it's not the most fun way to automatically ditch unscrupulous callers, but we'd like to listen in on the conversation when a robocall reaches this baby -- it'd be like one wall talking to another wall.

[Via Slashdot]

[tekdroid @ Oct 22nd 2008 8:09PM]

that means no age-old telemarketer-based pranks, like keeping them on hold forever while you presumably answer the door.

Perhaps that's just me.

[Aguiluz @ Oct 22nd 2008 9:02PM]

http://www.custom3dgraphics.com/index.php?pg=swf&id=6

Watch that short film about the older Telecrapper 2000.

[Stan Winsome @ Oct 22nd 2008 8:17PM]

I don't mean to poo poo someone's idea but um we've had answering machines and other call screening devices for how many decades now?

[Lowest Ranked @ Oct 22nd 2008 8:23PM]

Your answering machine can do what this does? And my casette player records on Blu-Ray discs.

[arkweld @ Oct 22nd 2008 8:45PM]

my phone service from AT&T does exactly this. It intercepts unwanted calls before they cause your phone to ring and asks them to state their reason for calling before it rings your phone.

[Mikey @ Oct 22nd 2008 9:54PM]

@ arkweld
This is a one time fee. Most phone services charge a monthly fee that adds up over time.

[arkweld @ Oct 23rd 2008 10:15AM]

Not for me. It's free with my calling plan.

[Emaj @ Oct 22nd 2008 8:17PM]

It's fun toying around telemarketers!

[tom @ Oct 22nd 2008 9:06PM]

me too....

Let me see, this month I got telemarketers for

-carpet cleaning -excuse: I don't have carpets at home
-windows & doors -excuse: I live on the street
-alarm system - excuse: I have bodyguards
-vacation packages - excuse: I've got 5 bucks, where can i go?
-loan -excuse: I am bankrupted
-donations (I am very soft with them, I usually give)
-political parties -excuse: I am an illegal immigrant
-market research -excuse: I am under 18
-You won a million dollar - SEND ME A CHQ.

[John @ Oct 22nd 2008 9:07PM]

toying is fun anywhere. i guess it could be fun around telemarketers as well. personally, i like to toy at home.

[Roberto @ Oct 22nd 2008 8:34PM]

Are telemarketers real, actual people who just want to feed their children? Sometimes I forget.
If there was a way to annoy the people in the boardroom, that would be worth something.

[ntlam @ Oct 22nd 2008 8:45PM]

Telemarketer: Hello I'm callaing from ABC bank,...
"bank" detected.
True call: Hi, I like your product very much... now please show me how can i paid all my loan, could i just talk with u and get all my loan paid...

[iEye @ Oct 22nd 2008 9:31PM]

"Greetings, friends. Do you wish to look as happy as me? Well, you've got the power inside you right now. So use it and send one dollar to Happy Dude, 742 Evergreen Terrace, Springfield. Don't delay. Eternal happiness is just a dollar away."

[Tamer Brad @ Oct 22nd 2008 10:31PM]

god damnit i was beaten to the joke by fucking iEye of all people

[phanbouy @ Oct 23rd 2008 1:12AM]

O RLY?pretty specific joke

[Lowest Ranked @ Oct 23rd 2008 12:00PM]

Dude, its the longest running TV series in the world. Not really that specific.

[nohone @ Oct 22nd 2008 8:49PM]

How about one of these, but gets rid of politicians knocking on my door and throwing all their crap on my front porch?

[JohnnyGTO @ Oct 22nd 2008 9:01PM]

It's called a German Shepard leashed to your front door.

[nohone @ Oct 22nd 2008 9:09PM]

That is how I knew somebody was out there today - my Rottweiller started growling at the door.

[kal326 @ Oct 22nd 2008 9:10PM]

A small air canister powered marine air horn is also a pretty effective way to get rid of telemarketers and under $10 US. I use to hold the phone out as far as possible and blast the air horn into the receiver and then hang up. Unfortunately I have never gotten to see the end result of somebody scream obscenities and tearing off their headset. However, any place that I have ever done it too never bothered to call back....can't see why....

[Bob S. @ Oct 22nd 2008 9:27PM]

This really isn't needed in the U.S., is it? If it is, for £49.99 I'll sell people a recording device on which I spell out the URL http://www.donotcall.gov. But they'll have to cover the transaction fees of two currency conversions.

[drathos @ Oct 23rd 2008 1:43AM]

The DNC has so many holes you can drive a Mack truck through it. Before I signed up for it, I got 2 or 3 calls a week from telemarketers. Now I get 7 or 8 calls a day (mostly dead air) from charities and surveys and 20 or more calls a day from political groups during election season. If something like this would shut them down, I say "Bring it on!"

[michas_pi @ Oct 22nd 2008 9:29PM]

That quote by Churchhill is one of my favorite quotes.

[michas_pi @ Oct 22nd 2008 9:30PM]

And of course, I misspell his name.

[Oneybm @ Oct 22nd 2008 9:36PM]

There is also a phone service that some companies have that does the same thing... Anonymous call rejection. It makes the caller ID themselves and you can decide if you want to take the call or not.

[bjsguess @ Oct 22nd 2008 9:35PM]

Isn't this GrandCentral. Except it costs money.

[masperos @ Oct 24th 2008 6:59PM]

Agreed... This is a hardware GrandCentral (which I was fortunate enough to get four numbers). What a great service. I wish Google would keep improving it.

[digitallysick @ Oct 22nd 2008 9:37PM]

Most phone services have a "privacy manager" feature that does this for a few dollars a month.

[mvp @ Oct 22nd 2008 11:31PM]

When telemarketers call my house I just have my sister answer it for me so that she have someone to talk to about her Christmas list.

[Endurion @ Oct 22nd 2008 11:44PM]

Google's Grand Central phone service already does this for free, only much, much, much better.

[LonnieU @ Oct 22nd 2008 11:58PM]

Been using this device for over 3 years now. Works great on the solicitation calls. About 7-8 prefixs covers all of them.

http://www.interceptorid.com/

Works off of specific numbers, wildcard of prefixes, or plain old blocks everything with a passcode needed to send the rings to your phones. Re-directs the unwanted calls to another phone line on the back of the unit - Which can be left open for endless ringing for the caller or better yet, an answering machine with the standard operator recording of "This line had been disconnected" or my favorite "The number you have dialed cannot be reached from your dialing area"....

[phanbouy @ Oct 23rd 2008 1:08AM]

it's gotta be better than FalseCall

[Peggysis @ Oct 23rd 2008 3:05AM]

I've been using a device for over 4 years called a "Screen Machine", and really like it.

It answers calls on the first ring. It tells specific callers to go away and others to press a number to ring the phone (so a person must be on the other end). It does not require Caller ID to work. In fact, it works so well that I canceled Caller ID, (which never showed telemarketer numbers anyway), and save the $9/month (or is it more now?). It works with my answering machine. It cost only $40, and was made by a small US company.

Now, when the phone rings, it is almost always a call that I want to take. I don't understand why this technology isn't more available to consumers. Unfortunately, the company went out of business. Oh, well...

The Grand Central phone service from Google sounds good, but apparently isn't open to the public right now, and is likely to charge a fee in the future. Still, for the additional benefits, even a penny pincher like me might be able to justify the cost. When the "The Screen Machine" dies, that is.

-Judy

[Robert @ Oct 23rd 2008 3:25AM]

There are effective ways to minimize Telemarketing calls. First, don't waste anytime listening to the person, just tell them to remove you from their list. If they protest, tell them they are required to have a never call again button on their system, they need to push that button. If they continue to protest, ask them for the name of the company that gives them their paycheck, not the one they are calling for. This information is necessary for prosecuting repeat offenders and those ignoring the do-not-call list in the US. This has always quickly ended the call.

Second, most systems try to detect answering machines and then call back when you are home. Answering machine detection is done by measuring how long the greeting is before someone pauses. A person answering a telephone usually says "Hello" with a pause afterwards, but the anwering machine typically has no pause. Placing this pause on your answering machine means that the system thinks you are home, forwarding the call to an operator. The operator will then waste time deciding you are not there. Further, the automatic answering machine detection is used to schedule calls for prime time as opposed to random free caller time. By remaining in the random free caller time, you have a much better chance of not being home and eventually being kicked from the list as unreachable.

For some real fun, record the disconnected number tone (du,Du,DIT) at the beginning of your answering machine recording, that will kick you out of most calling loops (unfortunately, sometime those of your unknowning friends too).

[ntlam @ Oct 23rd 2008 5:36AM]

thanks for the info.

[Gabe @ Oct 23rd 2008 8:26AM]

Do people still use Landlines anymore? Weird considering the advancement of a small device called a .....CELLPHONE!!!! I'm curious to see how many Engadget users still use Landlines instead of cellphones?

[xdreamwalker @ Oct 23rd 2008 10:41AM]

I still have a landline because we have kids and I want to make sure the baby sitter has a phone to use.

[MaXKiLLz @ Oct 23rd 2008 9:04AM]

I have all my landline ringers disabled and the volume on the answering machine on zero. Anyone who knows me calls my cellphone. Thinking about it now, I'm not sure why I keep my landline connected.