[TriLUG] Phone calls

[via TriLUG]

I do something similar with a voip.ms account and a cisco phone adapter 
connected to my network.  No need for asterisk.  I assume voip.ms is 
running that on their end?  Your account on their web site has all the 
options and its pretty easy to set up with a little help from their 
customer service.

I also spend about $3 a month...  for 2 numbers, and some extras like 
having it send all voicemail mp3s to my email inbox.  Occasionally there 
are empty voicemails and those are clearly spams, so I ignore them.

There are also several programs for accessing voip on cell phones.

That was 5 years ago.  Very much worth the effort.

Derek


On 3/11/25 6:18 AM, Aaron Joyner via TriLUG wrote:
> Tired of phone spam?  Try this one weird trick!
> 
> [Spoiler alert / executive summary: join your local LUG, fall down the
> rabbit hole of VOIP telephony for a few months, then enjoy 20+ years of no
> spam.  This probably isn't a net time savings, but it has positive
> externalities.]
> 
> I have a local DID (a "phone number"), which has been hosted by a variety
> of online providers over the years.  Most recently I transferred it to
> https://www.unitelgroup.com/ in 2021 and have been very happy with them.
> They make a SIP endpoint available, and charge
> bargain basement pay-as-you-go rates (eg. ~$1/line+$2.99 in fees / month,
> then $0.0045/min. for incoming calls, ).  They end up billing me $25 about
> every 6 months, and looking back over 50 months of service they've invoiced
> me 7 times, which works out to $3.50/month on average (I think the fees
> have crept up slightly over time).
> 
> I run Asterisk on a local server which registers that SIP endpoint and
> receives calls to the number.  Its extension configuration plays a brief
> "Voice Assistant" style menu, which I'll paraphrase for the internet as
> "You've reached the home of Aaron Joyner, press 1 for Aaron, 2 for...".  It
> receives between 1 and 4 calls on most days, which last 18 seconds with no
> one ever pressing a number, the assistant times out, and it hangs up.
> About once a month a human will actually call the number and press a
> button, and then Asterisk rings the few SIP phones I still have kicking
> around, as well as my cell phone, passes through the caller ID, and I
> usually decide to answer it.  I used to play around a lot with Asterisk
> back in the early 00s, but I mostly ignore it these days.  Revision control
> indicates the last time I touched the SIP configs was in 2021, when I
> migrated the number to Unitel.  The last time I touched the voicemail
> config was in 2018.  It Just Works.™  I've been tempted to upgrade to the
> new Ubiquiti UniFi handsets, but I've had the same Cisco 7960 handsets for
>> 21 years, and they've been remarkably bulletproof.
> 
> I've never had a spam call make it from my number, through this setup, to
> my phone... and I give this number to any business or online website who
> asks me for a phone number.
> 
> I briefly debated including the number in this message, but given the reach
> of the list and modern email clients on phones that make phone numbers into
> very easy tap-to-call touch targets, that seemed unwise . :)  If you want
> to try to find the number and give it a ring to hear the recorded message,
> it isn't very difficult to find online.  Remember, please only use your
> powers for good, or for awesome.
> 
> Aaron S. Joyner
> 
> On Mon, Mar 10, 2025 at 8:05 PM Steve Litt via TriLUG <trilug at trilug.org>
> wrote:
> 
>> James Jones via TriLUG said on Thu, 20 Feb 2025 16:37:26 -0500
>>
>>> Brian
>>>
>>> ***** Telephone SPAM is a scourge upon the developed world.
>>> Agreed.
>>>
>>> Thanks for the thoughts. The phone was originally a pots (copper)
>>> number started in 1992, but for the past 10 years the number is now a
>>> vonage system.
>>
>> Somebody mentioned asterisk. Perhaps you could program your asterisk
>> system to instantly say "Hello", wait three seconds, and if nobody says
>> "Hello" back, drop the phone call without ringing the bell.
>>
>> SteveT
>>
>> Steve Litt
>>
>> http://444domains.com
>> --
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