Sadly, we all have to deal with ‘robocallers’ and similar undesired and unsolicited calls by telemarketers. I have been remiss in sharing a very decent resource that I’ve been utilizing for our house phone for over two years.

Nomorobo for home

Nomorobo is a service that squelches unsolicited calls by using a feature called ‘simultaneous ring.’ If your home phone service is provided by your internet provider, it may be an option available to you. When you receive a phone call, the caller ID is sent following the first ring. When your phone is registered with Nomorobo, they also receive the call and match the provided caller ID number against their database. If it’s identified as a solicitor, they answer the phone on your behalf and play a message and hang up.

The end result is that whenever the phone rings, I only react to answer if it rings a second time. It has saved a considerable amount of time and annoyance. I smile almost every time the phone just rings once.

For landline use, it’s a free service. I heartily endorse it.

While Nomorobo has an iOS app (with Android coming soon), it is a paid service. I haven’t tried it myself, so can’t say whether it works the same or as smoothly as it does for landlines.

Hiya for mobile

For my iPhone, I use an app called Hiya. iOS 10 added support for call blocking which this app and others utilize. When installed and configured, it identifies calls as they come in so you can choose whether to answer or ignore. Sure, it’s still disruptive in that you need to look at the screen to assess, but it’s much better than not knowing until after you answer the call. The database it uses is updated daily which helps keep up with the ever changing tactics of the sleazeballs that are telemarketers.

Give one or both a try. I hope they work as well for you as they have for me.