Comments on: Telemarketers are Evil (but AT&T and Apple are even worse)

By: Nathan Bowers

Nathan Bowers — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 23:01:50 +0000

Holden, appalling that AT&T won't protect a paying customer from telemarketers never mind outright harassment. Telcos are such buttwipes: "We don't want to just be dumb data pipes, we'll fight network neutrality and do all sorts of packet shaping, but when it comes to protecting our paying customers, we DO want to be dumb pipes and not shield customers at all." Makes my blood boil. Thanks Michael, I'll look into Grand Central, Havi also recommends it.

By: Michael H

Michael H — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 17:06:35 +0000

It isn’t perfect, but Google’s Grand Central (grandcentral.com) works with any phone– mobile or landline. You can designate any number as “phone spam” and send it to ditchmail. I’ve found accessing it from the iPhone easy and satisfying. Hope it helps others.

By: Holden Helena

Holden Helena — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 03:34:03 +0000

You think that’s bad? My sister had a stalker who would text-message her (she has AT&T, like the rest of us) in the middle of the night, often in the form of photographs of unmentionable things. We tried to get AT&T to block the texts, but they did nothing. We also went to the police, to record the abuse in case things got worse, and THEY tried to get AT&T to block the texts. Guess what? AT&T gave the Dallas Police Department the bird. WTF is up with THAT shiznit? The only thing that finally stopped the stalker was the DPD directly calling him and saying “Cut it out or you’re in big troubles.” Mindblowing.

By: Nathan Bowers

Nathan Bowers — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 22:41:34 +0000

I do feel all tingly, but maybe it’s just a stroke brought on by righteous consumer rage.

By: Havi Brooks (and duck)

Havi Brooks (and duck) — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 22:29:15 +0000

Whoah, you just cursed on your blog. Do you feel all tingly?

That’s what happened when I said “Science works, bitches” and I was just quoting xkcd.

Yeah, the Do Not Call registry — and the complaint-filing system — leave much to be desired. Or maybe it’s just that no one cares about the fact that they exist. (Hey, people selling auto-insurance: I don’t HAVE A CAR).

Love the idea that they should use google as the model. Slightly less in love with the knowledge that they are never going to.