this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2023
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I just had my carrier remove my voicemail.
Iām on iOS, and I have āsilence unknown callersā turned on. Iām sure a similar Android option exists.
Basically - any number that calls me that is unknown (that isnāt in my contacts or I havenāt called/picked up before) goes right to my nonexistent voicemail, which means theyāre immediately hung up on.
Auto-dialers are funny. Most are configured to redial on connection fail. Yesterday I received 38 calls in a 2 minute period. Never got a single notification about it
What do you do for contractors, Doctors, etc?
Nothing apparently
I usually text with them. The missed call entry is usually enough information anyway.
Iām almost purely digital for pretty much all of notifications that come my way - even my doctor.
I donāt live in the area code where my phone number is from, and havenāt in so long that thereās only a few people that would call me from that area code.
And - well spotted - The 38 call salvo from the day prior was actually a contractor trying to get ahold of me. Because it was a number from my current area code, I went ahead and called them back. The person who called me only tried to dial once, and the redials were all the computer automatically retrying.
Admittedly, it is less than optimal, but in the 5ish years Iāve gone without a voicemail, itās the second time I havenāt picked up for a desired call.
Usually when I know Iām going to be receiving calls from new folks, Iāll first try to call their number or text them - even if the number isnāt in my contacts, if Iāve interacted with it in some fashion, it will ring through. Or Iāll disable the āstraight to voicemailā for a time.
Itās not too onerous, and I really hate spam calls, so the effort of remembering to enable/disable it a few times a year is worth it to me.
And, for what itās worth, I do think it has an effect. Earlier this year I let calls through and forgot to block them again, and it was 3 weeks before I got a spam call. Before taking such extreme measures, I was getting about 5 a week.