10 forgotten wonders of 1980s homes

[Chuck Guzis]

On 01/01/2016 01:56 PM, Jon Elson wrote:
> On 01/01/2016 01:52 PM, Chuck Guzis wrote:
>> I'm amazed that "caller ID" costs CL anything, but it's one of the
>>  highest-priced add-ons.
> It clearly costs them NOTHING!  It is software on the switch, and the
>  hardware needed to support it is present on every subscriber line.
> They charge for it because people are willing to pay for it.

...and thanks to VoIP, junk calls cost the callers nothing--and the FCC 
claims that they're powerless to halt it.  Call blocking from the telco, 
which probably also costs them nothing, has a low limit on the number of 
blocked numbers.  So it's left to the subscriber to handle the crap like 
"This is Windows Security--we've noticed suspicious activity from your 
Windows computer...."  or "This is Rachel from cardholder services". And 
of course, Caller ID is necessary for that.

I'm looking forward to VoIP.  Right now, I run an old modem and an 
Windows 98 thin client to handle blocking.  It works pretty well--at 
least it's something that can be done with those high-priced USR Courier 
modems lingering around from the BBS days.

--Chuck