Anonymous call rejection

Posts: 11 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Jun 16, 2005 Posts: 11

As VoIP continues to grow, more and more customers are going to demand ACR. Those VoIP providers that offer this service will have an advantage over the competition.

Posts: 9 · Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2005 3:25 pm Post subject:

No, of course not. It's a totally reasonable thing to want. I want ACR too.

I had ACR with Pac Bell and I do miss it. I don't miss the $6.95 or $7.95/month they used to charge me for it though.

But here's a whole new angle on the subject ... Let me I tell you about the last thing that happened with the old phone company before our Vonage account was active:

On 5/20/05 at 3:40 pm, I got a 'silent caller' call from 818-449-0420. I *69'd his ass right back, only to get the following recording:

"We're sorry, the call return feature cannot be used to return your last incoming call."

For kicks, I also tried *53. As I suspected, that option still doesn't work here. Maybe its the City of Pleasanton, Alameda County or the State of California. I don't know. Somehow though, law enforcement in this neck of the woods does not think we citizens can use the *53 Call Trace feature in a responsible manner, so they have not allowed the CPUC to permit SBC to enable it.

Muttering under my breath by this time, I dialed the # direct. Here's the recording:

"You have reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service. Please check the number and try your call again. PUALA14"

So, I had just been called from a bogus number that didn't really exist.

After a few moments of blinding rage, it dawned on me that I'd been paying for ACR all this time, and it didn't really work. I'd forked over something like $200 to Pac Bell for a twelve-foot high perimeter wall, but I had really been getting just a short little picket fence.

Good marketing job, Pac Bell. Thank you so much for misrepresenting what your product could do, just so you could take more money out of my pocket. Again, what a joke. What a scam.

A moment later I called SBC. When Theresa came on the line, I cancelled ACR straight away.

Back online, I did some more googling. You can get the same results I did. Try (google) "caller id forgery".

The best example I found was SpoofTel. Guess what? Anybody can spoof their caller ID now.

For a service provider, what's the point of deploying ACR if your customers will still get unwelcome calls from unethical people using a system such as SpoofTel?

For us customers, what's the point of using or paying for a feature that won't really do what we want?

Somebody at Vonage is probably working on ways to prevent this sort of thing as we speak, but I have no idea when they'll nail down a fix for this.

It also wouldn't surprise me if this is actually a moving target, i.e. if there aren't other variations on this basic hack that emerge down the road.

Kind of like an arms race, huh?

This new twist on phone phreaking may not be so easy to defeat. I hope it CAN be solved, but I am not certain of that. So, I'm not going to hold my breath for ACR. I'm also not going to sign up for it again until I see in writing that my provider guarantees their system is immune to all known forms of Caller ID forgery/spoofing, and that my provider will actively keep their ACR program up to date as new threats emerge.

And there are obvious parallels between this contest and the ones between virus writers versus antivirus software companies, spyware hackers vs. the antispyware ninjas, and the spam-gangs who dump on every other netizen on the planet. Cool

In the end, my annoying little call from 818-449-0420 turned out to be an epihany of sorts.

Cheers ~

PS: I should have proofread my last post better. Item 3 was backwards. My wife and I used to get just a phone bill with OUTGOING calls of course. Now we can see a log of INCOMING calls as well.

Posts: 249 · Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2005 4:36 pm Post subject: No ACR

JHCJr wrote:

I am well aware of the benefits of Vonage, I have been a customer almost as long as they have been in business. That is not the issue here.
My concern is that Vonage has been promising ACR since I signed up. If they would only be up-front and honest about it, at least we all would have some idea of when and IF ACR would be implemented. Is that asking too much?

I concur!! I have been hearing soon,two weeks and all the stories for months. Also 911 has to be semi-invented and requires compliance and cooperation from other folk. ACR is already invented. It just requires installation.. It is not good for folk to lie to a Snipe.

Posts: 9 · Posted: Sat Jun 18, 2005 6:28 pm Post subject:

Yes, no smart business should lie to, stall or mislead its customers. It looks like Vonage has unfortunately done that at times. If so, Vonage should just say 'sorry', state a clear position and move on.

I also agree that eventually, ACR will appear into the VOIP space, and companies that don't respond may not survive.

Again though, no one else has addressed these two points:

1. Given the reality of the FCC's E911/911 mandate on VOIP companies, doesn't that take precedence for now? It's a matter of allocating limited resources to the highest priorities first.

Unless we who want ACR show that we understand there are competing priorities at work, I'm sure some at Vonage will view us as young kids who don't seem to understand Mom and Dad can't always afford a trip to Toys R Us.

2. Given the reality of Caller ID forgery and spoofing, wouldn't it make sense for Vonage to roll out an ACR product that really works? If it doesn't work completely, shouldn't Vonage clearly describe its ACR offering - warts and all? Are we willing to accept less than perfection from version 1.0 of Vonage's ACR product?

PS: Thanks to the member who suggested Intelescreener. I'll check it out.

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Oct 05, 2005 Posts: 1

This is a fax broadcaster the is a pending lawsuit against them, you can find out more about it at www.junkfax.org they also have a place to sign up as a litigant in the lawsuit if you qualify.

Posts: 1 · Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2005 8:58 am Post subject:

I agree that ACR is most important. What is the point of e911? I've had it with Vonage since they came out with it a long time ago. Still, what does the industry offer mobile phone users? I know many who don't have a VOIP or land line. All they have is a mobile phone. Is e911 critical for them? Do all the Bell companies have to triangulate their cell users when they dial 911 and route to the appropriate emergency center?

We've turned into a nation that tries to "dumb" down and treat everything in a reactive mode. As a child back when we still had party lines, we were taught the phone numbers for the police/fire/ambulance. Now we have to have an expensive infrastructure to allow anyone at any place to call for help. Why don't we give everyone a GPS panic button instead of cluttering and anchoring the telephony systems with this?

Perhaps before this is all figured out and in place, they'll have big brother systems that'll anticipate or detect and send help well before a human has time to find the phone and dial 911 (or find the panic button and push). Personal OnStar for everyone?

Posts: 249 · Posted: Fri Nov 18, 2005 9:28 am Post subject: ACR Re-visited

Quote:

We've turned into a nation that tries to "dumb" down and treat everything in a reactive mode. As a child back when we still had party lines, we were taught the phone numbers for the police/fire/ambulance. Now we have to have an expensive infrastructure to allow anyone at any place to call for help. Why don't we give everyone a GPS panic button instead of cluttering and anchoring the telephony systems with this?

I hear you Kaczocht! I came from the same school. I'm definitely not against 911 but I sure don't consider it as necessity to install it on everything that takes batteries or plugs in. ACR is also not a have to have feature but would be handy for me. The thing that irritates me is being told it was about to be released when it wasn't. The same goes for my local area code, 541, "Yeah Snipe We will have that area code soon." Vonage flat lied to me. Had I not had those promises I would have chosen P8 whit does feature it and at a lower cost. So why don't I change over? Because Vonage works well. and Wife is hesitant to drop the copper line. and maybe next week????

Posts: 119 · Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2005 5:00 am Post subject: E-911 is a JOKE!

kaczocht wrote:

Do all the Bell companies have to triangulate their cell users when they dial 911 and route to the appropriate emergency center?

Mobile phone companies can't even triangulate your location from your mobile phone! You are attached to one cell site with a hexagonal radius of ~10 miles (with plenty of holes), and only display on that tower. The only time you are even seen by more than one tower is when your current tower needs to hand you off, so it contacts all the cells on it perimiter and says "who had the strongest signal on this guy?". Each tower then does a quich check, and then a handoff. Unless you are in the handoff process, your location can only be pinpointed to that radius, and even if you are in hand off, the area in the concentric circles is still going to be huge. E-911 is a JOKE! Another law passed by people who have know idea what any of it means!

ACR or ACVM are features that are simple for VONAGE to impliment, but don't, and by the number of posts here, it is something that their customers (myself included) consider an essential service!

Something needs to be done about it, because soon the threats of cancellation won't be empty...

PS Sorry about the mobile explanation...

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: Jun 10, 2005 Posts: 3

As they wait to roll it out, they lose more and more customers... I have been holding off on VoIP because I wanted to go with Vonage, but they still lack ACR. So month after month I fork my money over to SBC. I'm tired of waiting and paying the higher bills. I'll be looking one last time after January 1st. If I see a ray of hope, then I'll wait. If not, I'm off to a VoIP competitor that will give me ACR. If it was just me then I'm sure they could care less, but the rest of my extended family loks to me for tech advice and I've been telling them to wait. Add about 35 more accounts to the competitors.

I hate to rant in forums, but I don't see anyone from Vonage speaking up on this issue and giving me any hope.

Brent

Posts: 10 · Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2005 10:49 am Post subject: anonymous call rejection

Well I hope it's soon. Since I got Vonage I'm getting alot of anonymous calls and 999-999-9999 numbers. It's very annoying. Please Vonage add anonymous call rejection and do not disturb to the service. Packet8, ViaTalk and SunRocket already have this. If its not added soon I will have to cancel my Vonage service. Cry

P.S. If anyone have an update about anonymous call rejection and do not disturb being added soon to the Vonage service please let me know.

Thanks