Misleading bloggers and the use of "free".

On 2016-06-18 19:36:24 +0000, Savageduck said:

On 2016-06-18 19:17:51 +0000, Mort said:

nospam wrote:
In article , Mort wrote:

Just another reason we should understand the difference between "free
goods" - which are goods you get to keep at no charge - and "free
use", which is access to something at no charge.


This is seen often when looking up a telephone number on line. The
search is indeed free, but one is asked to pay up to $25.- to see the
result of the search.

you are *definitely* using the wrong sites.

Please give me the URL of a site(s) where I can look up telephone numbers free.

Thank you.

Mort Linder

This has always worked for me:
http://www.anywho.com/whitepages

In the USA anyway.
--
Regards,

Savageduck

In article , Mort wrote:

This is seen often when looking up a telephone number on line. The
search is indeed free, but one is asked to pay up to $25.- to see the
result of the search.

you are *definitely* using the wrong sites.

Please give me the URL of a site(s) where I can look up telephone
numbers free.

http://www.whitepages.com/person
http://www.anywho.com/whitepages
http://whitepages.dexknows.com
http://www.addresses.com

note that there may be *additional* services offered for a fee, but you
can ignore that (unless you want it).

Hi,

Thanks very much indeed. I will soon try your suggested link.

I want to clarify that I never actually paid to get a telephone number.
I just get annoyed because while the search is "free", getting the
result involves a hefty charge.

Mort Linder



Savageduck wrote:
On 2016-06-18 19:17:51 +0000, Mort said:

nospam wrote:
In article , Mort wrote:

Just another reason we should understand the difference between "free
goods" - which are goods you get to keep at no charge - and "free
use", which is access to something at no charge.


This is seen often when looking up a telephone number on line. The
search is indeed free, but one is asked to pay up to $25.- to see the
result of the search.

you are *definitely* using the wrong sites.

Please give me the URL of a site(s) where I can look up telephone
numbers free.

Thank you.

Mort Linder

This has always worked for me:
http://www.anywho.com/whitepages

| Please give me the URL of a site(s) where I can look up telephone
| numbers free.


411.com
tel2name.com
superpages.com
switchboard.com

But many numbers these days are cellphones. you
can usually get the town where the phone is registered,
but not the name. You only get the name if it's
listed in the phone book.

In article , Mayayana
wrote:

But many numbers these days are cellphones. you
can usually get the town where the phone is registered,
but not the name. You only get the name if it's
listed in the phone book.

it's possible to get names for cellphones.

Mayayana wrote:
| Please give me the URL of a site(s) where I can look up telephone
| numbers free.


411.com
tel2name.com
superpages.com
switchboard.com

But many numbers these days are cellphones. you
can usually get the town where the phone is registered,
but not the name. You only get the name if it's
listed in the phone book.


Hi Mayayana,

Thank you for the suggestions, which I shall soon try. I have never
gotten a spam call from a cellphone here in the USA, for some reason.

Mort

In article , Mort
wrote:

I have never
gotten a spam call from a cellphone here in the USA, for some reason.

you're lucky.

spammers powerdial whatever numbers they want, usually with spoofed
clid.

| Thank you for the suggestions, which I shall soon try. I have never
| gotten a spam call from a cellphone here in the USA, for some reason.
|
That's surprising. I wonder how you know.
If your caller ID says private caller then it's
a blocked landline. But if it just says something
like "Denver, CO" then it's a cellphone. I get
mostly cellphone calls these days. They try
to trick people into picking up. And as nospam
said, they can also spoof. I occasionally get
calls from myself.

It's got so bad that I don't pick up at all anymore
unless I know who it is. If someone is calling from
a cellphone and I don't recognize the number
then they just have to leave a message.

If you're interested in this for spam calls you
might also find these two interesting:

www.whocallsme.com
www.whycall.me

They list known information about specific numbers.
People who get calls from specific numbers can
report their experience. Often you can find out from
those reports what the caller's scam is.

In article , Mayayana
wrote:

| Thank you for the suggestions, which I shall soon try. I have never
| gotten a spam call from a cellphone here in the USA, for some reason.
|
That's surprising. I wonder how you know.
If your caller ID says private caller then it's
a blocked landline.

wrong.

private means that caller id was blocked by the caller, regardless of
phone type. that's *all*.

But if it just says something
like "Denver, CO" then it's a cellphone.

wrong on that too.

many cellphones have an area code database and will show a city/state
when the number in not in your contacts.

there is no cnam lookup with cellular, so unless the number is in your
contacts list you will either see the city/state or just the number (if
there's no database).

I get
mostly cellphone calls these days.

you have no way to know what type of phone the caller is using from
just the number.

this is particularly true with number portability. a user can port a
landline number to cellular or the other way around, which can mean
that what *was* a landline last month might not be a landline anymore.

and then there's voip, which is what most spammers use, typically
offshore.

They try
to trick people into picking up.

one common trick is to spoof the caller id to be from the same city or
town as yours or somewhere nearby.

for instance, someone living in manhattan is more likely to answer if
the call is coming from somewhere else in new york city, versus say,
lincoln, nebraska or seattle, washington.

that also makes it harder to block because normally you will want to
receive calls from people near you, whether it's family, friends or
businesses. less so from some random city across the country.

And as nospam
said, they can also spoof. I occasionally get
calls from myself.

block your own phone number.

however, that may interfere with voicemail access, depending on how
that is set up.

many voicemail systems check clid for access, which is obviously a
security hole since that can be spoofed.

It's got so bad that I don't pick up at all anymore
unless I know who it is. If someone is calling from
a cellphone and I don't recognize the number
then they just have to leave a message.

again, you have no way to know that.

If you're interested in this for spam calls you
might also find these two interesting:

www.whocallsme.com
www.whycall.me

They list known information about specific numbers.
People who get calls from specific numbers can
report their experience. Often you can find out from
those reports what the caller's scam is.

i always do a search on a number and see what comes back.

if it's associated with spam, it will usually come up with hits from
the above sites as well as others.

if not, then it might come up with the company or person. sometimes it
really is just a wrong number.

if it's spam, it gets blocked. if i see a pattern of spam calls from a
certain area, i may block more than a single number, perhaps an entire
exchange or sometimes even an entire area code.

i also have a block on non-nanpa numbers, which covers any call with
bogus clid, such as 000-0000 or an incorrect number of digits.

On 6/18/2016 9:46 PM, Mayayana wrote:
| Thank you for the suggestions, which I shall soon try. I have never
| gotten a spam call from a cellphone here in the USA, for some reason.
|
That's surprising. I wonder how you know.
If your caller ID says private caller then it's
a blocked landline. But if it just says something
like "Denver, CO" then it's a cellphone. I get
mostly cellphone calls these days. They try
to trick people into picking up. And as nospam
said, they can also spoof. I occasionally get
calls from myself.

It's got so bad that I don't pick up at all anymore
unless I know who it is. If someone is calling from
a cellphone and I don't recognize the number
then they just have to leave a message.

If you're interested in this for spam calls you
might also find these two interesting:

www.whocallsme.com
www.whycall.me

They list known information about specific numbers.
People who get calls from specific numbers can
report their experience. Often you can find out from
those reports what the caller's scam is.



The problem is that they are constantly changing numbers.
The worst offender calls itself credit card services, or some variation
of that name. As soon as I ask an intelligent question, they hang up.
One time I decided to play the game and gave them all sorts of false
information. I kept them on the phone for about 25 minutes. At the end
of the conversation I told them I was not interested in their services.
The person actually had the balls to get mad at me for "wasting his
time." I must admit it was fun to waste HIS time. The idiot kept calling
back about once a week.

About 75% of the unrecognized calls I get are legitimate.

--
PeterN