The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is looking to hang up for good on those annoying robocalls that seem to constantly target Americans' phones day and night. The FCC has submitted a notice of inquiry seeking input from telecom and wireless companies regarding technology and software and other means to block and prevent robocalls. The FCC has good reason to tackle this issue---the agency says robocalls and unwanted telemarketing calls are the biggest consumer complaint it hears about---something backed up by national polls.
While the national "Do Not Call List" helped many people avoid robocalls years ago, nowadays it is almost impossible for anyone with a phone to avoid them. "They don't need a directory or anything, they just blanket every single number that has ten digits," says Roger Entner, founder of Recon Analytics, a technology consulting firm. He tells KTRH that the telecom industry is getting closer to breakthroughs that would stamp out robocalls. "We have already some technology on handsets that identify robo-callers and stop them, so we just need to improve that and roll out more of it."
One area where the industry is already making a difference is in preventing and blocking unwanted texts. "Carriers are blocking millions of spam text messages to Americans every day, and that problem has gone down significantly," says Entner. "I have great hopes that we can do the same thing for robocalls."