Some VoIPey phone services have call blocking for specific incoming numbers, and some newer (landline, cordless) phones let you set differing rings for different incoming numbers, just as cell phones usually do.

So with one or the other, at least you can not be bothered with the calls if Comcast do-not-call is no help.

Frank???? Can we solve this one?

If they are calling your cell phone, you can try using the free stuff Trapcall.com offers. Once you sign in, you can add that number to the blocked calls list. when they try calling again, you deny the call and the service tells them your number has been disconnected. Its worked for me during a recent spat of "career institute" telemarketing.

We got rid of Direct TV around June or July of 2008. Now since late January of 2009, we keep getting calls that caller ID says Direct TV. Luckily it's only around 1 or 2 calls a week. It's still annoying though.

The inter-network-motron is saying this is either a Comcast phone service ad or a Comcast exit survey. It's likely to be both. Hanging up after a few rings seems to happen often with robocalls.

Why is Comcast so obsessed with pushing their digital voice package? Is it just new fodder to chow down on via the same infrastructure?

Get a grandcentral number (now google voice) and use it for everything except friends and family. You can then block specific numbers if you want.

I once had similar phone calls on a cel I recieved from my new workplace. I would answer, say hello and it would either be silence or they would just hang up. That didn't stop them from calling several times a day, during important meetings I might add.

One day I just answered the phone and was completely quiet. That was when finally I heard a man say, "Hello?" I promptly told him that this was a phone used by a business and had a new owner and to stop calling. It actually worked...So maybe just keep quiet next time you answer and see if someone else starts the conversation.

Thanks. I'll keep this complaint process in mind if I hear from DirecTV again. They do this too.

I remember some time back (before the car warranty calls, I get these at my home, work and cell phone) I was getting calls all the time on my cell phone from an 800 number but every time I pick up they would hang up. After some googling, I found a forum thread full of posts about this. Apparently the number belonged to Girls Gone Wild, and no one have been able to figure out what they were doing. And one day, it just stopped. I haven't gotten another one of those calls in a couple of years.

I would say file a complaint with the FCC. For whatever reason (which reason you likely can't obtain) this behavior qualifies as harassment. They wouldn't be calling you if they weren't trying to market something, and the FCC requires Telemarketers to ensure that predictive dialers abandon no more than three percent of all calls placed and answered by a person. Based on a quick google, it sounds like a widespread problem.

More info on FCC website here: [www.fcc.gov]

@EE2000: They haven't accepted new accounts for a year. Although they have switched their name to google voice and claim they will accept new people in a few weeks. Hopefully that pans out.

I wish Cablevision would stop sending me mail trying to get me back promising me savings and free 911. Luckily I don't answer my home phone, so they could be calling for all I know. I will have to check my ID history.

Get VoIP, then set up an automatic forward so that number calls the Chicago Police Department non-emergency number. I guarantee the calls will stop after they realize they're actually calling the cops.

The federal do not call list has become a joke with telemarketers. The complaint process doesn't seem to have any action attached. When I receive calls, I tell them we're on the federal and state do not call lists. They either hang up before I get the entire sentence out, or they say, well if you're not on our do not call list, we'll continue to call you. Happened with Sirius radio, Marriott and one other I can't remember. Someone should be enforcing these lists.

@EE2000:

I still have a GC number. I need to check on if it works. Really a cool concept but with my old cell phone it was kind of a pain to press a key to accept or reject a call everytime the phone rang.

@Cocoa Vanilla: Hah funny! I do something similar except when this particular number calls I just forward it to itself

They just want to do a formal survey to see why you left. This would not have been something the CSR did over the phone when you closed the account. They are just calling trying to get a live person, they will not leave a message. When you finally do answer, you can either decline to participate or take the opportunity to use a few minutes of your time to tell them the other things you were unhappy about with their service. Either way, they will stop calling.

I received similar calls that hung up and did not leave a message. Finally when I answered, it took a second to connect with the caller. It was just the company wanting to do a survey, and offering a service package deal as incentive to return.

@Cocoa Vanilla: Unfortunately, the police will detect this call as coming from your phone number.

@Tuuurd_Ferguson:

Genius! Thanks.

@Cocoa Vanilla: IIRC, some VoIP services (not sure which ones) will forward the call so the ANI appears to be from the calling party's number.

@ArmillaDunnuck:

I believe they have the right to call you for up to 18 months if they have a previous business relationship with you. Of course, once you notify they that they need to remove your number(s) from their list, they must comply within 30 days. You can find more info if you search around this site, FTC, and FCC sites.

Warning on the Trapcall suggestion. Trapcall says BETA for a REASON. They screwed up my Verison Blackberry SO BAD I CAN'T GET TO VERIZON VOICEMAIL ANYMORE. There's some posts about it on their forum. Don't bother with Trapcall support link. They won't contact you. Lame.

@ScottRose:

Great point. If you can't block the phone number, just change the ringtone to 'silent'

This product is out of stock almost everywhere because they're changing over to a newer model, but it's EXCEPTIONAL at keeping the telemarketer rings (or anyone) from bothering you, and is the best NON-VOIP solution I've found.

[www.interceptorid.com]

The manual's a little arcane, but it's really not that hard to use and is worth it for solace from telemarketing annoyance.

Of course we will get this resolved! A quick glance at the information, it was not coded as a Customer moving, so the calls were to try to retain a valued Customer. We will have that corrected and the calls will cease. Since there is an existing relationship this has nothing to do with the do not call list. The Customer will be disconnected soon and the calls were retention or survey related. Thanks for the feedback!

@mike_bruns_99: HOLY COW. About two years ago or so, I suddenly started getting a barrage of phone calls, from this exact number. I never found out why... until this day. The calls made me crazy, until I finally figured out that I could save the number to my phone and assign it a silent ring tone, as mike_bruns_99 suggests. Kept getting the calls, but didn't have to be bothered by them anymore.

Thank you, Consumerist, for clearing up the mystery. The calls finally stopped about a year ago. I had also moved -- out of Comcast's service area. I have Dish now. Much happier.

Here's a few suggestions for improving your finances:

-Don't ever co-sign for anybody!
-Never get married!
-Live below your means.
-Pay off all your credit cards.
-Bring your lunch to work.
-Max out your 401 K contributions.
-Max out your IRA Roth every year.
-Live cheap and save more.
-Make a will
-Buy drips (Stock) directly from companies.

Try answering and telling them you aren't interested rather than ignoring the call. Of course they are going to call back if you don't answer.

@Tran Turner:

Actually no. When you decline to answer the phone they can call back. Simply answer and tell them to stop. Problem solved.

I don't understand why they don't say anything when you pick up the phone and say Hello. What is Comcast accomplishing?

> I don't understand why they don't say anything
> when you pick up the phone and say Hello.
> What is Comcast accomplishing?

They have a defective "call director" port or three.
What happens is that they have a machine doing robo-calling, and if someone answers a call, it is connected to a human on their end. But if they don't have enough humans working that shift, it should say something lame like "please hold for a representative"
(Yeah, right you call me, and you want me to hold. Suuuure.)

But a lot of times, these machines do not work as well as expected, so the mystery call with "no one there" if you pick up is fairly common in the wild.

I've got Verizon Fios TV, internet, home phone and cell phone and not a friggin week goes by that I don't get at least 2-3 solicitations from them. They used to call too, and I picked up the call once on purpose to ask why they're calling me - for Christ sake, I've got everything possible from Verizon already! Rep said, oh, I'm sorry, I guess the records haven't been updated. Yeah.

Since reply still isn't working this belongs somewhere up there near that first post. Instead of blocking the number, use a VoIP system (if available) to redirect the origin number to a Comcast switchboard. I learned that trick here on the *ist.

Get a number of people to do it to a live line (human answered) and they'll fix it quick.

LithiumIron_GitEmSteveDave said:

"I wish Cablevision would stop sending me mail trying to get me back promising me savings and free 911. Luckily I don't answer my home phone, so they could be calling for all I know. I will have to check my ID history. "

Mediacom has been doing this to me. I haven't gotten any phone calls, though. The funny thing was, I got a retention call the very day the tech came to hook up my DirecTV. He was in the house when they called. I told them that, too. HA!

@rochec: But there's nobody on the line.

You could...... you know...... ANSWER the phone. Maybe tell them to take you off the list.

I mean... if the calls bother you that much.

Well....... nah. Writing a web site makes more sense.
Carry on.

@_RT_: He *did* answer. There was nobody on the line.

Reading makes sense, too. ;)

Awhile ago I kept getting weird calls from "Unknown Number." The calls consisted of lots of heavy breathing and weird, low noises. Sounded kind of like you'd expect Satan to sound.

This was happening several times a week. Couldn't find the number to google it - even in my Blackberry's call log, it just said "Unknown Number."

I figured someone was messing with me, because it was really kind of like something out of The Ring.

After several weeks, I got really angry and recorded one of the calls. I sped up the audio a few times on my computer. Turns out it was Bally Total Fitness calling me because I had paid off my membership, and they wanted me to renew.

Haha... not going to happen.

(BTW, these terrifying calls were easily the most pleasant part of my experience with Bally.)

This really works. Two years ago when Concast terminated my families Internet (because we violated their then fuzzy bandwidth usage clause), we started receiving calls like this from them frequently. Probably because we canceled their other services as a result of their retardedness.

Even had calls from their Customer service asking us how did we enjoy their service? I told them we are not Concast customers and will not return. They didn't realized we no longer had Concast.

Eventually we found out about the do no call list and had them add us to the list.

We're through with this @#$%! company. Brian Roberts can't figure out why people hate them so much because he's so disconnected from reality it's amazing!

ever tried answering the call and inquiring wtf they want?

i remember a tidbit here in consumerist ... if the number calling is a helpfull callBOT that has no recording (I.e. not a person) you could change your voice mail message to a specific sound that signals the number is disconected and the BOT will stop calling you ...
here is the link

[consumerist.com]

@chrisjames: Why is Comcast so obsessed with pushing their digital voice package? Because it costs them almost nothing to operate.

Don't ask them not to call: tell them, and give them a reason to stop calling now.

It might be worth waiting a few days to see if you can get a human on the phone when they call you. If not, start out by calling the number. Either way, you need to get a name and/or an operator number, and the location of the office in which they are working (although your caller ID, and an online reverse directory, can often provide that info).

Inform the person (politely) that you have been receiving repeated harassing phone calls from their offices. Tell the person that they need tto put your number on the Do Not Call list effective immediately. Then, tell the person that you are going to file criminal charges against Comcast... and against them personally... if Comcast ever rings your phone again, starting right now.

You may need to hold, and speak to a supervisor. If so, demand the supervisor's name and extension before they put you on hold, and repeat the process. Explain that you are being criminally harassed, and that Comcast is guilty of defiant trespass by ringing your telephone over and over again despite your demand that they stop. Repeat the location of the call center, telling the person and/or their supervisor that you will "send the [Location] Police Department over there to arrest" them if Comcast does not immediately cease and desist.

Stay calm, but don't take "no" for an answer. If they try to tell you it takes 30 days, interrupt and tell them they'll be in jail for at least that long. Trust me: they'd rather send an Email to every telemarketer, and manually remove your number from the autodialers, than find out if you're bluffing. By the end of the phone call, you should be able to secure their agreement that the calls will stop innediately... and that's when you tell them, truthfully or not, that you have been recording the call.

Of course, this doesn't work on car-warranty telemarketers with spoofed CallerID, but you'd be surprised how well it works against a utility with known facility addresses. I've done it to Sears, Verizon, and several other local and national companies, and every single one of them stopped calling us that day.

"Companies that had a business relationship with you are allowed to call you for several months after you terminate the relationship-- unless you tell them not to."

Most courts of law would call that stalking.

This is yet another example of companies being permitted to do things that would never be permitted by an individual. Just try making a collect call to their number 10 times after they try calling you.

Comcast is bad, but not as RCN. I live in DC, so I can't get either comcast or FiOS, and I'd take either of those over RCN any day. RCN is just bad, we have days where we can't get TV or Internet about once a month. Every day at 4 o'clock the TV listings and info just go blank for an hour. The On Demand is just buggy, slow, lacking information and a pain to navigate. I had convinced my dad to get FiOS but then I figured out we couldn't get it.