<div dir="ltr">You can still get a voice number. For what it's worth. But they changed it from a true seperate number to glorified call forwarding. -_-.. When I used it's call screen feature people that wanted to call me. Would read me the riot act (looking at you kim) And scam callers would get through to my land line eventually anyway. Among the worst offenders are debt collectors. I don't have any. (not that I know of) but once in a while I'll get smashed for hours on end from the same leach. I don't answer. And pretty quickly one of my blocking apps will block them. For a while because I was in a mood, I had one set up to randomly pick from: the infamous I am lucutus of borg sound clip, the loudestset of horns I could find, a high pitched whistle, them talking at themselves, and my favorite: a oldschool modem dial tone. The hight of hilarity getting a scam email saying to stop stop stop we give up! And then being disturbed to wonder how they got my email address even if it went to spam.<br></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, Apr 19, 2023 at 12:56 PM glen <<a href="mailto:gepropella@gmail.com">gepropella@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">Well, I'm not sure if you can still get a Google Voice number. But I just now added my landline as the "linked number" in my Google Voice account. And it now forwards there, screens calls, etc. So it's still there. Of course Google will/does kill things arbitrarily.<br>
<br>
On 4/19/23 08:37, Russ Abbott wrote:<br>
> I think Google has stopped its telephone service. It got enough samples of<br>
> voices to train its systems and needs no more.<br>
> <br>
> It's fairly easy to turn a phone that supports voice mail and caller ID<br>
> into a call blocker.<br>
> <br>
> - Have the phone answer on the first ring.<br>
> - Record your message saying that this is a screening and voice mail<br>
> system. Instruct people to introduce themselves. Tell them that if no one<br>
> answers, they should continue with their message.<br>
> - When the phone rings, look at the screen to see who's calling and<br>
> listen to the self-introduction. Then decide if you want to answer.<br>
> <br>
> Virtually all spam callers will either hang up before identifying<br>
> themselves or identify themselves in such a way that you know not to answer.<br>
> <br>
> -- Russ<br>
> <br>
> <br>
> On Wed, Apr 19, 2023 at 7:46 AM glen <<a href="mailto:gepropella@gmail.com" target="_blank">gepropella@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br>
> <br>
>> You should be able to forward to your landline from a virtual number like<br>
>> Google Voice. Then only give out your virtual number. You should be able to<br>
>> pick up your landline and Google will talk to you with a phone menu of<br>
>> options.<br>
>><br>
>> Of course, that doesn't solve people getting your landline number from a<br>
>> phone book ... do people still use phone books?<br>
>><br>
>> On 4/19/23 07:17, Barry MacKichan wrote:<br>
>>> I like Frank’s solution, but I’m also interested in a solution for our<br>
>> land line. The other option for the land line is to cancel it entirely, but<br>
>> about six weeks ago I got a call from a friend who looked us up when he was<br>
>> in Santa Fe, which is when he found out we had moved. He found our land<br>
>> line number and I just happened to be around when his call came in, and his<br>
>> caller id was announced by voice bot that lives in our land line. We might<br>
>> not have reconnected had I discontinued the land line. TBH, though, I had<br>
>> been trying to get his number — we were both thinking about the upcoming<br>
>> 60th anniversary of our canoe trip to York Factory on Hudson’s Bay.<br>
>>><br>
>><br>
>> --<br>
>> ꙮ Mɥǝu ǝlǝdɥɐuʇs ɟᴉƃɥʇ' ʇɥǝ ƃɹɐss snɟɟǝɹs˙ ꙮ<br>
>><br>
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>><br>
>><br>
>> I think Google has stopped its telephone service. It got enough samples of voices to train its systems and needs no more.<br>
>><br>
>> It's fairly easy to turn a phone that supports voice mail and caller ID into a call blocker.<br>
>><br>
>> * Have the phone answer on the first ring.<br>
>> * Record your message saying that this is a screening and voice mail system. Instruct people to introduce themselves. Tell them that if no one answers, they should continue with their message.<br>
>> * When the phone rings, look at the screen to see who's calling and listen to the self-introduction. Then decide if you want to answer.<br>
>><br>
>> Virtually all spam callers will either hang up before identifying themselves or identify themselves in such a way that you know not to answer.<br>
>><br>
>> __-- Russ<br>
>><br>
>><br>
>> On Wed, Apr 19, 2023 at 7:46 AM glen <<a href="mailto:gepropella@gmail.com" target="_blank">gepropella@gmail.com</a> <mailto:<a href="mailto:gepropella@gmail.com" target="_blank">gepropella@gmail.com</a>>> wrote:<br>
>><br>
>> You should be able to forward to your landline from a virtual number like Google Voice. Then only give out your virtual number. You should be able to pick up your landline and Google will talk to you with a phone menu of options.<br>
>><br>
>> Of course, that doesn't solve people getting your landline number from a phone book ... do people still use phone books?<br>
>><br>
>> On 4/19/23 07:17, Barry MacKichan wrote:<br>
>> > I like Frank’s solution, but I’m also interested in a solution for our land line. The other option for the land line is to cancel it entirely, but about six weeks ago I got a call from a friend who looked us up when he was in Santa Fe, which is when he found out we had moved. He found our land line number and I just happened to be around when his call came in, and his caller id was announced by voice bot that lives in our land line. We might not have reconnected had I discontinued the land line. TBH, though, I had been trying to get his number — we were both thinking about the upcoming 60th anniversary of our canoe trip to York Factory on Hudson’s Bay.<br>
>> ><br>
>><br>
>> -- <br>
>> ꙮ Mɥǝu ǝlǝdɥɐuʇs ɟᴉƃɥʇ' ʇɥǝ ƃɹɐss snɟɟǝɹs˙ ꙮ<br>
>><br>
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