Ooma Forums

For those considering on switching to Ooma, please be aware that you may get an increase in Telemarketers calls when you switch to Ooma.

It happen to me and it's getting out of control. I am paying extra for the Premier service, have Privacy set to HIGH and I still get bombarded daily with Telemarketers.

Also, Ooma will NOT, repeat, Ooma IS NOT WILLING to implement wild card name or phone blocking.

So if a Telemarketer calls you from a 500 different lines, the only way to block them will be for you to insert all those numbers which is not realistic.

NO CALL LIST? Works for me. Never get a single call.

Wayne

As I already explained, Telenmarketers work from phone systems having hundreds of telenphone numbers, so the same company ( We-Call-You-During-Dinner ) keeps calling me.

It would be unrealistic for me to block all these numbers because they keep changing. If Ooma had wildcard blocking for name or phone number, then I could easily block all Telemarkerts I choose to ignore.

Edit: Ooma implemented Wildcard Blacklist on 4/1/13: viewtopic.php?t=15436#p108297



I don't think it is fair to attribute increase in telemarketer calls with switching to Ooma or single out Ooma as the reason.

My logic:

lbmofo wrote:I personally think that there are crooks out there making use of newly ported numbers (getting info from national porting database) as their target hence you'd get a bump up in spam calls right after number porting....

If my logic is correct, spam calls should increase no matter what VoIP company you switch to.

A bit of an exception happened to my wife's cell recently. Had that number for over 15 years but recently getting calls from the same spam callers that are calling my home. I can't explain this (perhaps spam targets are selected in more random fashion than I think) but I think in general, my theory is correct.

I agree that Ooma should implement wildcard blocking (or explain why they CAN not).

But I do not believe that you get significantly more telemarketing calls on Ooma than before, assuming you kept your old number. If not, it is possible that a new number in a different exchange or area code is subject to more attacks by the hackers: the telemarketers.

You didn't tell us whether you have a new number/exchange/area code -- or not. So how can we respond with helpful technical information?

lbmofo wrote:I don't think it is fair to attribute increase in telemarketer calls with switching to Ooma or single out Ooma as the reason.

Besides my own Ooma account, I have access to my mom's, and my friends 10 houses away from me call logs. I started getting 1 or 2 calls daily from "contractors" that are in my area and want to give me an estimate for work. They start by trying to verify my name that they already have. The calls originate from several different numbers, some that are repeat callers. Several times I checked my mom's and my friends call logs and see they got a call from the same number.

I also have a netTalk for calling a friend in Canada, and NEVER got a call from a solicitor or even a wrong number. I also have a google voice number that since December, I only got one wrong number, never a solicitor call.

I am not blaming Ooma because I can't prove any connection, but us 3 customers are targeted by the same solicitors only since getting Ooma and porting our number.

I am not a Premier customer, so no Black List, but many of the requests from users seem like a good idea. One I like is to block calls that don't have a valid number format.

Whoever is to blame, whatever the problem, people are posting here because the problem is real and they are mad. The Do Not Call list is not working. I hope Ooma finds a solution.

Is the theme still non ported number less spam activity?

There is also the Feds do not call list. You can 'google' it.

Have a happy 4th!

Hollywood wrote:I also have a netTalk for calling a friend in Canada, and NEVER got a call from a solicitor or even a wrong number. I also have a google voice number that since December, I only got one wrong number, never a solicitor call.

I suppose these numbers are directly assigned and not ported?
I have accounts with Ooma assigned numbers that do not get spam calls as well.

I get very few spam calls. When I do get a Spam call (maybe a few times a year) I tell the caller to never call me again and I never hear from them again. I put the University fundraiser numbers and political numbers on my blacklist since they are not part of the Federal "Do not call list". My mother in law hangs up on Spam calls and they keep calling her back (Non-Ooma).