One advantage (perhaps the only one) of having as complicated a name as I do is how it helps in the battle against telemarketers. As soon as a caller starts fumbling with my name or asks for "Ms. Sreenath," I just say, "wrong number" or "they've moved," and ask that the number be taken off the caller's list. It's a white lie that has saved me lots of further aggravation. My wife's equally complicated name has helped keep our household off many telemarketers lists (except when they are TRYING to reach, say, South Asians!). But not all telemarketers can be blocked this way, of course.

So when I saw the ads for the Telezapper high-tech telemarketing eliminator, I was eager to test it. I had very low expectations for it, but you know, it works reasonably well. It works only on those calls that come from computer-dialed systems -- but those are a significant portion of telemarketing calls. It works by fooling the computer into thinking the line is disconnected (by giving out a tone that mimics a disconnected phone). It's very easy to set up and the price, $49.99, is not outrageous, since it works on all the phones per line.

What are the downsides? It will NOT work if you have a phone company's voicemail system. It only works on old-fashioned answering machines or when a human picks up the phone, causing the tones to be sent out). The companies site does admit that "the TeleZapper may also 'zap' calls from organizations, other than telemarketers, that also use predictive dialer computers." But these are not likely to be people you really want to hear from anyway. One other note: the site also says that some incoming calling-card calls may also be affected by this.

To sum up, the TeleZapper does not perform miracles, but it certainly tries hard and helps cut down on a majority of the unwanted calls.

Resources:
TeleZapper.com

Write to techguru@sree.net and let me know your thoughts.

Site of the Week
NYNoCall.com

This is the site of the New York "Do Not Call" Registry and is the place you can go to have your name put on various "do not call" lists. The site has lots of useful tips and explains how privacy works in relationship to marketers. To enroll via phone: 866-622-5569. The site is run by the New York State Consumer Protection Board and the parent site is www.consumer.state.ny.us

o o o o o

To join the LOW-volume "Sree Tips" e-mail mailing list, send your name and e-mail address to sreetips-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. No more than once a month, you will receive an e-mail message with tips and tricks about new, useful and fun Web sites.