Any unwanted phone calls are annoying, but the most annoying to most of us are the robocalls. “Hi, this is Rachel from cardmember services” is one of many, and they seem to be growing. The government Do No Call list is a waste of time. The robocallers ignore it. I have finally found a way to stop them, at least for my landline, called Nomorobo.  The service is free, and they claim it stops 339,000+ known robocallers. Nomorobo only works with landlines presently and only with certain voice over Internet providers. I have Comcast and it works fine. The one-time setup is simple. Nomorobo is able to detect a robocall and it answers the call for you. You are no longer harassed. Legal robocalls, like school closings and prescription reminders, are not blocked.

Nomorobo does not have a smartphone version yet, but they have a waiting list for a $4.99 per month smartphone version of the service. If the smartphone offering is successful, I am sure millions will happily pay for it. Robocalls to our mobile phones are on the rise.

Meanwhile, the FCC is calling for an industry ‘strike force’ to tackle the rise of the robocalls. The Federal Trade Commission receives millions of complaints about robocalls, but has not been able to develop a preventive solution. The FCC blames the lack of a solution on inaction by tech companies. According to the Christian Science Monitor, the FCC convened a meeting in August of 33 companies including Google, Apple, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Microsoft. The goal is to collaborate to develop technology solutions to stop the bad guys from using technology more effectively than the good guys. The FCC set an Oct. 19 deadline to produce solutions. Stay tuned. Read the full story at Why tech giants are ganging up on robocalls. Read more about Internet technology in Net Attitude.