Teleracketeers

My solution is simple and I do not want any money for it:

1: Require phone companies to offer a "private" line wherein the customer tells the company which phone numbers are welcomed into his or her home -- and/or

2: a system wherein the customer can immediately place a "block" after the first call from any number that he or she receives that is deemed unacceptable.

Older folks are often down to family, friends and a few local businesses in their phone repertoires. In our case, both in our 80's, the wife has macular degeneration which precludes her reading the TV offered caller ID and I have hearing aids in both ears that keep me from talking on the damned thing anyway -- so I have to read who it is and she has to talk to them…a total nuisance when she is home alone or we happen not to be in the same room.

There must be thousands like us who are annoyed endlessly by these jerks but need the phone ever-available to carry on our own legitimate business. In short, we are in jail in our own homes, and paying for a service that we should be the ones to control who uses it. That makes any privatization system the responsibility of those who provide that service…the phone companies.

Thank you.

Herb and Betty Childs, Broken Arrow, OK