Mitigating Spam Likely
- Cameron Nutter (Unlicensed)
Legitimate calls being marked as Spam is one of the most difficult problems that the telecom industry is facing right now.
Analytics engines can be very aggressive when it comes to marking DIDs as Spam Likely, and the tag can be applied after making only a few outbound phone calls. This can cause any number of issues for legitimate businesses that are simply trying to make outbound calls to their clients.
The purpose of this article is to explain how this issue occurs, and what you can do to mitigate the problem.
What variables are considered when a number is marked as Spam Likely?
While the metrics that are monitored can vary from carrier to carrier, these appear to be the common variables weighed against DIDs that are marked as Spam:
Quantity of outbound phone calls
Quantity of calls sent to VM
CPS (Calls Per Second)
Level of Attestation
Average Length of Call
Quantity of calls 6 seconds or less
What is the best way to mitigate Spam Likely Tags?
The best way to mitigate Spam Likely tags is to have you or your customer register their numbers with www.FreeCallerRegistry.com.
This free portal streamlines the caller registration process with First Orion, Hiya, and TNS and registers the calling business with the Analytics Engines that support major wireless and wireline carriers in the US.
While this step reduces the likelihood of Spam Likely Tags, it doesn’t completely prevent it from happening. Outbound callers that produce high volumes of short duration attempts will likely still see the Spam tag applied to their numbers.
Note – This process is not a replacement for outbound Caller ID registration. More details regarding outbound Caller ID can be found here.
When should my customers register with the Free Caller Registry?
VI recommends that customers register their DIDs as soon as they are purchased. If you are porting numbers to your network, we recommend that you add registration with this database to your porting workflow after submitting the order to VI.
My Number have already been tagged as Spam Likely, what should I do?
If your numbers have already been tagged as Spam, we recommend opening a help desk ticket with the carrier that has applied it. Help Desk links for T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T, and several other websites are included below.
T-Mobile
https://callreporting.t-mobile.com/
Verizon
https://voicespamfeedback.com/vsf/
AT&T
https://hiyahelp.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=824667
CenturyLink
Email robocall.reporting@centurylink.com, or contact Nomorobo at nomorobo.com/contact and choose “Report a Number.”
Nomorobo
Contact through website at nomorobo.com/contact and choose “Report a Number.” Nomorobo has a white list feature to which subscribers can add numbers in order to prevent erroneous blocking.
Sprint
Call 888-211-4727 or contact TNS at reportarobocall.com/trf.
US Cellular
Call 888-944-9400 or contact through website at uscellular.com/support/robocall/index.html.
Windstream
Call 800-347-1991 or contact by email at website: windstream.com/Support/Phone/Troubleshooting-repair.
Are there any other ways to mitigate Spam Likely Tags?
There are a few other steps that you can take to mitigate Spam tags:
Ask customers to save your business number
Some third-party scam blocking apps allow users to block calls from unknown numbers that aren’t listed in their contacts, so your call may not reach them at all if one of those services are in use.
If customers are saving your number in their contacts, this will reduce the chance of that happening, while also making them more likely to ignore any spam likely tags since they will recognize your number.
Ask clients to adjust or remove third-party spam blockers
While this solution may seem impractical, it could alert your customers to potential problems they have with other blocked calls. Some users often have spam blockers installed unknowingly.