An end to “robocalls”?

It happens daily to all of us. If we still use a landline, it gets inundated from unwanted telephone calls and no one, in government, seems to be motivated to put an end to it. Sure, we are hearing from time to time that Congress will look into it, but I’ve no expectations coming from that branch of government.

So, like the rest of you, I had plenty of frustration, but no solution. My only line of defense was refusing to pick up the phone every time it rang and didn’t show a number I was familiar with. That was until I stumbled on the possibility of transferring my Google Voice account onto our existing landline.

Obihai is a California company that makes Analog Telephone Adapters (ATA). ; these devices convert regular landline phones into VoIP phones, the system we’ve been using at home for the past 15 years. Google Voice is a “softphone” that lets Google users make free telephone calls from their computer.

This is how Obihai realized that they could leverage that technology and developed a device letting users make phone calls using their own analog telephones. That device can be purchased from around $55 at Amazon. Google Voice offers you limited options in terms of numbers and it can be hard to find a number that corresponds to your area.

But you’re pretty much on your own, Google does not offer tech support for this service. Porting your landline number, if you insist on keeping it, is a bit complicated and will cost you $20, but if you can jump through a few hoops, you’ll get no-cost phone service free of robocalls. You can also receive texts on your line and call internationally for cheap.

I did it successfully, I’m sure you can too!