Spam Calls
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Spam Calls
We all know about "spam" calls and how they can be aggressive, overbearing, and downright annoying. XMission has always tried our best to provide features that can help decrease these calls, but as we know some still get through. Back in March, 2020, the FCC and other organizations created a program that started to collect reported numbers for abuse and illegal activity. This is called the STIR/SHAKEN framework and it uses a worldwide database to help report, block, and indicate if a caller's number is coming from a known source or is "spam/spoofed". Starting October 1, 2021 XMission Voice will be fully participating in this program and calls will be signed and reported. What does this exactly mean? Hopefully this information will help you understand.
What is STIR/SHAKEN?
STIR/SHAKEN is a framework of interconnected standards. STIR/SHAKEN are acronyms for the Secure Telephone Identity Revisited (STIR) and Signature-based Handling of Asserted Information Using toKENs (SHAKEN) standards. This means that calls traveling through interconnected phone networks would have their caller ID "signed" as legitimate by originating carriers and validated by other carriers before reaching consumers. STIR/SHAKEN digitally validates the handoff of phone calls passing through the complex web of networks, allowing the phone company of the consumer receiving the call to verify that a call is in fact from the number displayed on Caller ID.
For more information please visit FCC Combat Spoof/Spam Calls
How does this affect you?
All phone calls are required to have a digital signature from XMission, this includes both incoming and outgoing phone calls.
Incoming Phone Calls
Before a phone call is delivered to your home, XMission will scan the incoming number through the national "Robocall Mitigation Database". The scan will tell us if the phone call is:
- Unverified
- Verified
- Spam/Spoof
Once we have this information we will prepend the Caller ID with "V", "Spam," or "Spoof." So, you should expect to see Caller ID look like:
[V] John Doe 801-539-0852
By default, XMission will notify you via the Caller ID if one of the three categories above apply. However, through our Online Portal, you can direct calls that are not verified to: Voicemail or Block.
Outgoing Phone Calls
Be aware that your number might be reported as a "spam" number and you not know it. This can be caused by a number of reasons and some are:
- Age/Length of time you've used the same number.
- Who you register the number with (raffles, online memberships, phone subscriptions, etc).
- Usage (who you call, length of calls, long distance/international dialing).
Unfortunately, there are too many unknowns to list them all and XMission is not responsible for the reputation of your Caller ID. However, there are some things you can do if your number is being reported as Spam or Spoofed.
You will need to find out who the receiving carrier is and contact them for removal. Many services have online forms for removal. We have listed some below.
Sites to report errors:
If your calls are being marked as Spam when calling other providers please contact our support department so we can report the spam detection as an error.
