The nation’s Do Not Call registry is pretty worthless at stopping Robocalls.
You can spend money on robocall blocking apps that might provide some relief.
Apple’s new iOS 13 includes a robocall blocking feature.
In theory, it sends all unknown callers straight to voicemail, but there’s a huge problem the engineers didn’t take into consideration.
Then there’s call screening by Google Assistant through the Phone app, which works only on Pixel phones and select Android phones. It screens your calls and gives you a transcript, but it doesn’t always correctly understand the caller.
Each carrier uses unique tactics to fight back. Depending on your carrier, you will have different steps to follow.
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AT&T
To fight robocalls, AT&T offers a free service for customers called Call Protect that includes features such as automatic call blocking and spam alerts.
●Automatic Fraud Blocking: Scans and blocks suspected scam calls, whether they’re automated or not.
●Spam Risk Blocking: Blocks calls or sends them to voicemail if they’re identified as “Spam Risk.”
●Unknown callers: Anyone not on your contact list can be sent straight to voicemail.
●Personal Block List: Build a custom block list for unwanted callers.
●Siri Shortcuts: Allows you to block and report unwanted calls using Siri.
●Custom Call Controls: Lets you set up your calls into categories to accept, block or send straight to voicemail.
For $3.99 a month, you can sign up for Call Protect Plus. It includes Automatic Fraud Blocking and the Personal Block List, as well as a few other features:
●Enhanced Caller ID: Gives details about “unknown” callers.
●Reverse Number Lookup: Look up a number you don’t recognize.
Try the free version before signing up for anything else. Call Protect is available by going into your account settings on my AT&T and turning it on.
Verizon
Verizon offers a free service called Call Filter. It provides spam detection, blocking and reporting. If you’re a Verizon customer on an eligible plan with a compatible Android device, you’re automatically enrolled in the free version of Call Filter. To get these features on an iPhone, download Call Filter from the app store.
Verizon offers a beefed-up version called Call Filter Plus, which is $2.99 per month for one line or $7.99 per month for accounts with three or more eligible lines. Here are a few extra features you get with Call Filter Plus:
●Real-time alerts: Get alerts on your incoming call screen to help avoid spam calls.
●Spam Look Up: Get access to a database of more than 100 million spam callers.
●Personal Block List: Block an unknown number once and never receive calls from them again.
●Spam Risk Meter: This feature ranks a caller based on robocall likelihood.
You can subscribe to an individual line to either the free version of Call Filter or the premium version accessing your My Verizon account or enrolling in the Call Filter app.
T-Mobile
The free robocall blocking features T-Mobile offers are turned on by default. These features include:
●Scam ID: Customers are automatically alerted when an incoming call is likely a scam. No app required and no need to opt in or turn it on as it operates at the network level and works through a T-Mobile phone with Caller ID.
●Scam Block: When enabled, T-Mobile will stop scam calls before they ever reach your phone. Customers can turn it on by dialing #662# in their My T-Mobile account or the Name ID app.
●Caller Verified: Users can see if incoming calls are authentic.
For an additional fee of $4 per month per line, subscribers get access to the company’s Name ID app, where you can build custom block lists based on categories and frequent callers. If you want to upgrade with its Name ID feature on your iPhone, add the Name ID service to your account via myt-mobile.com or call 611 from your phone. Then download the Name ID app from the App store. For Android phones, download the Name ID app from the Google Play Store.
Sprint
Sut Sprint doesn’t offer a free robocall blocker. Its Premium Caller ID feature is available for $2.99 per month per line and displays the names of callers, even if they’re not in your address book. On select devices, it will automatically screen and block unwanted robocalls.
You have to contact Sprint to subscribe. You can download it for iPhone or for Android.
If you have a Sprint phone, try one of the free robocall blocking apps I mentioned at the top of this article.
It’s unknown how the upcoming T-Mobile-Sprint merger will affect the companies’ robocall features, but analysts speculate T-Mobile’s features will become available to Sprint users, rather than the other way around.