# Big companies and Caller ID

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-companies-and-caller-id/181229>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 11, 2003, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-companies-and-caller-id/181229 "2003-06-11T23:40:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\
**Post date:** [June 16, 2003, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/big-companies-and-caller-id/181229/21 "2003-06-16T16:36:29Z")

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**Morgainelf** : Won’t the national list make the state ones redundant and ultimately eliminate the need for them?

Has anyone else noticed a dramatic increase recently in the number of telemarketing calls? I’ve been attributing it to last-chance efforts before the national list goes active.

**KellyM** : Thanks for the detailed explanation.

Slight hijack: Does anyone know if that [Telezapper](http://www.telezapper.com) thing really works? The nominal explanation seemed reasonable to me (it supposedly sends a tone that computer dialing systems interpret as a disconnected number, so they update the database showing your number as dead, after which you won’t get any more calls from them), so I bought one and used it. But it was rather annoying, since it made a tone every time you picked up the phone, which confused many ordinary callers.

After trying it for several months and noticing no significant change in telemarketing calls, I disconnected it. I have other friends with it, and they say it’s working for them, but I think that’s [confirmation bias](http://www.skepdic.com/confirmbias.html) at work, not the Telezapper.

Anyone?

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