Cold calls from telemarketers and other companies that ignore the do-not-call list are one of the banes of modern day civilization.
A simple Google search for a mystery number you've received usually lets you know who's on the other end before you have to pick it up. The problem is that cell phones don't have the same quality of caller ID landlines get (numbers not names); so that call you're getting could be something important like an overdue library book, or a pushy desk jockey trying to sell you a heavily discounted hafnium-forged non-stick pan set.
In most cases the telemarketers don't leave messages and will simply call you back, resulting in an endless cycle of you not knowing who's calling and having to call back to find out--something you're unlikely to do. To avoid this, there's Caller Complaints, a crowd-sourced index of the phone numbers of law breaking companies that have called folks on the do-not-call list. Users come together to list these numbers, what was being pitched--and the frequency of the calls. If you find someone else has already listed the number and shared their negative experience, you can pile on and leave your experience, which votes it up.
The most popular (or in this case unpopular) companies rise to the top and are tracked on leaderboards. Users can also browse by area code and what type of call it was, from political phone spam to prank calls and debt collectors. The idea is that there will be enough resources to help you get to the bottom of who's calling to either leave a complaint with your carrier or simply blacklist the number from calling again.
So far the site has amassed nearly 200,000 number searches from curious call recipients. If you're adding a number to the database you also have the option to do a little quick research on ReversePhoneDetective, which will tell you where the call originated from and give you the option to pay for a full report.
Related:
Reverse Mobile helps track down mystery callers
SlyDial lets you call straight to voice mail
You can browse bad numbers by how many folks have complained about it, which area code it's from, or how often it's searched for.
(Credit: CNET Networks)
I'm pretty excited about Vringo's new Facebook app for a number of reasons. First, I'm a big fan of Vringo's video caller ID service, which lets users choose a video ringtone (vringo) that plays on their friends' phone when they initiate a call to said friend. Second, this new app carries Vringo's concept of personalizing the moment of phone-to-phone contact by syncing your address book with your friends' Facebook profile photos.
It takes about 5 minutes and quite a few steps to set up the service, but the directions are clear and fairly straightforward. You download one app to the phone and one to Facebook, and follow instructions to sync the phone contacts list with your Facebook friends list. It's not automatic, however. Vringo's Facebook app produces side-by-side lists of your buddies, which you match together before re-syncing your phone. The next time a friend calls, their Facebook photo blinks on for a long second, and then displays again while you're on the call.
(Credit:
CNET Networks)
It'd be better if the image stuck around until you answered (maybe it was shy during my tests?), and if the syncing process were streamlined. Vringo's original service still nets higher points for originality and "wow" factor, but Vringo Facebook is a good fast, free way to add a little more life to calls.
Vringo Facebook is in pre-release beta for BlackBerry and Windows Mobile phones. You can get in line for the invite-only phone download at http://www.vringo.com/AppServer/fb/index.jsp.
While caller ID is great for landlines, cell phones don't get such a luxury. Unless the contact is in your phonebook, all you've got is an incoming number to guess who's calling. I often simply type the number into Google to get the answer, but if that's coming up short, you can give Reverse Mobile a try.
The service lets you do a reverse lookup on any number free of charge. If you want some more advanced information such as the caller name, address, and phone carrier, it'll cost you a one-time fee of $30, or you can get an all-you-can eat annual subscription to look up as many numbers as you want for $10 more.
In addition to phone records, the same company does civil records and background checks, both of which aren't nearly as useful on a day-to-day basis.
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