// Telemarketers: Don't you just hate them.
//
// by ic0n
//
// http://www.oldskoolphreak.com             
                                                   
I really hate telemarketers. They always call at the worst times. I've
kind of lost my humor over the last few years, so I don't even give them a 
hard time anymore. When I did give them a hard time, I used to tell them 
whom ever they asked for was dead or something similar to that. 

Well anyways I have an unlisted telephone number and I used to get at 
least 20 calls a few from telemarketers. I really did not have the money
to buy a Telezapper and I had what was rumored to be the tone the 
Telezapper played, but I never could get it to work. So at that time I 
decided to do some research to see if there was any information out 
there. I found a decent amount of information.

Telemarketers use special software on thier computer system. I'm sure you
could find it on the net somewhere. It's called 'Predictive Dialer'. What
the program does is similar to what a wardialer does, only it makes a list
of valid numbers and invalid numbers. There's a hole in the program and you
can use thier technology against them. 

When telemarketers call there's a short silence before an 
operator/salesperson comes on the line. If you answer the phone and say 
anything when they call, they will add your number to the valid list. If
the software detects a fax machine it will attempt to send you a fax 
selling crap. They will add your number to a fax list. To make matters
even worse, they sell thier valid list to other telemarketing companies. 

There are three tones that the software looks for: 985.2, 1370.6, and
1776.7 Hz. If it detects these tones, the software thinks that your line is
a invalid number. If you've ever called a disconnected or invalid number,
you've heard these tones before. 

All your going to need is an answering machine that will allow you to 
change the outgoing greeting/message or have voicemail, once you download 
the tone or create one yourself with a tone generator program. 

Record the tone on to your answering machine or voicemail greeting. Play
the tone wait a few seconds then finish with your basic message. 

Here's an example:
<tone> Wait five seconds then, "You have reached 313-373-1337. Leave a
message after the beep."

When the software detects the three tones, it will take your number and add
it to the invalid number list. When they do this they won't sell your number
to other telemarketers. So doing this will stop about 90% of your telemarketers. 

This will not prevent all telemarketers from calling, but after only two
days I noticed a great drop in calls from them. On a final note, this is FCC
approved and is perfectly legal. 

At this time you can download the SIT tone from the Telco-Insiders website
at http://telco-inside.spunge.org. Here's a direct link to the file -
http://telco-inside.spunge.org/telezapper.wav