Does anyone here know about caller id and "asterisk"?

[elocs]

I've gotten calls at 3:30 a.m. on Saturday, 8:30 last night, and then at about 8:15 this morning and when I answer there is nobody there and the caller id says "asterisk". I've never had that happen before and if a call is blocked it has always said "anonymous"?

:shrug:

[gmoney]

1. I think it can be "hacked" somehow

I think telemarketers can hack their caller IDs to look like something else.

I also get calls from "out of area" or "ohio call" or "unknown"

It may just be as simple that the caller ID message is generated in the area/country of origin of the call... might have been a long distance wrong number?

[elocs]

2. The odd thing is that when I answer there is nobody there,

which kind of sucks when you answer the phone at 3:30 a.m. wondering what has happened or is going on.

[david13]

3. If you have called id and you don't recognize the number, why

answer? That's the whole purpose of it.
It may be a thief calling to see when you are not home.
dc

[elocs]

4. At 3:30 a.m. when the phone rings I simply answer it.

I never really check caller id ahead of time because I so very rarely get any calls from anyone I do not know. I don't get calls from telemarketers or anyone like that. Caller id simply came with the phone so I didn't purchase the phone with the purpose of having it.

Believe me, no thief is going to waste their time bothering to rob homes in my neighborhood.

[bluesbassman]

5. Sounds like a robodialer.

Telemarketing schemes use them to determine if a number is "live", in other words will someone pick up or will the call go to voicemail or a fax.

[elocs]

6. Now that makes sense if there is no answer when I pick up,

but in the 2 1/2 years I've used this VOIP I cannot remember ever getting a telemarketer call.

[DeadEyeDyck]

7. Isn't there some call sign that you can key that

will show you the number of the last person that called you? *69 or something?

[Rabrrrrrr]

8. To answer a phone call that is "asterisk" is insane. I don't answer for any number I don't know.

If it's important, they'll leave a message.

If they don't leave a message, then fuck them all the way to hell. Seriously. I simply refuse to answer any phone call the number of which I don't know, or which is somehow blocked from the origin. My phone is, in my opinion, no different than my front door. No one comes in that I don't know, and if they want to come in, it's THEIR responsibility to announce themselves first. That's simple etiquette.

By the way, it's called "Caller ID" not "caller id". The id is entirely different than ID. And your last sentence was not a question, it was a declarative. I'm sorry, but the way we use language really does matter. Minor point, I know, and I know full well I'm overstepping my bounds, but you're an intelligent being and such mistakes are beneath you.