Here’s One Way to Block Telephone Solicitations

Do you hate unsolicited telephone sales calls? If not, you are way too lonely.

For everyone else, there is a device that electronically eliminates at least some of them. TeleZapper (www.telezapper.com), from Private Technologies, supposedly cuts off the computer-generated calls.

TeleZapper emits an audible electronic signal when you or your answering machine pick up the call. The brief tone is designed to fool the evil computer that dialed your number into thinking it has reached a disconnected line. Most automated callers that get the tone treatment will electronically remove your number from their files, according to Private Technologies.

How well does it work? Seemingly quite well. Over the several days a TeleZapper was hooked to my home phone, my answering machine did not record even one prerecorded solicitation message. And when I was home and picked up the phone, I sometimes heard the caller clicking off.

TeleZapper will not, however, stop an individual sales caller--the kind that almost always mispronounces your name. Also, the TeleZapper emits an abrasive tone when you pick up the phone.

Eliminating unsolicited calls is worth a bit of annoyance. But is it worth the $49.95 price tag? That’s your call.