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From: lotus!rnewman@uunet.uu.net (Ron Newman)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: Re: Repeated Harrassing Calls
Message-ID: <11827@accuvax.nwu.edu>
Date: 6 Sep 90 15:52:22 GMT
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X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 10, Issue 625, Message 8 of 13


 From article <11745@accuvax.nwu.edu>, by fico2!rca@apple.com:

> We broadcast over a wide area using repeaters, so we have an 800
> number for listeners to call in on so that they can easily reach us
> from any area code.  Somebody's decided they're going to call that
> number, around five times an hour, with a "hangup" call.  You know,
> like, "Hello, may I help you?"  "Click."  He/she did that for eight
> hours straight one day ... rather persistent, eh?  The calls are
> usually grouped into pairs, one minute apart.  I logged them one day,
> and they're irregularly spaced enough that I don't think an autodialer
> is being used.

> Sometimes this person gets REALLY dedicated and calls 50 times in an
> hour.

Could it be that some computer or fax machine is repeatedly calling
your number thinking it's a fax or a modem, then hanging up when it
hears voice instead of a carrier?  If this happened for eight hours
straight one day, or happens 50 times an hour, it does sound like
you're the victim of a misprogrammed autodialer, even if the calls are
irregularly spaced.


/Ron Newman