On Thu, 2018-04-05 at 07:55 -0700, Brian Kantor wrote:
So the logical conclusion is that caller ID is useless as an anti-vspam measure and the situation is hopeless, so the only solution is to not personally answer the phone at all -- let voice mail take a message.
Pretty much. We've received calls here with the CID displaying as our own info, and others coming up as a neighbor's number. Some even appear as law enforcement when they're scammers looking for donations to charities that don't exist. I suppose if you're going to commit one crime, go for broke.
This is what I have adopted on my personal landline. With the ringers disconnected. Although I get probably a half-dozen incoming calls a day, perhaps one a week will leave a message. Most of those messages are recorded announcements that started playing even before the voicemail greeting finished.
I've been enjoying quiet on a VoIP line with asterisk. Those who I know/expect/desire calls from I can route them directly to my extension, those others get the IVR. It works parallel to IP routing. I can go a few days without hearing my phone ring yet my logs are filled with spammers/telemarketing calls. Robo-dialers have no clue which extension a human may be at, and I've been doing this for over 15 years with great success. With a digium wildcard, this can work for POTS lines as well.