I have not read anything about this sleazy underhanded Republican strategy in the news, and a search pulls up no stories. So I thought it was time someone wrote something about it.
I work in an information business where I answer about 25 toll-free lines. Some months back I started getting calls that appeared to be just recorded music. When I realized that it was not a client, I would hang up. 800 numbers cost the owner of the line by the minute for incoming calls, and that can really add up.
Finally I listened to one of these calls to try to figure out who was originating the calls. It turned out it was some kind of wingnut propaganda "news" service. I listened for several minutes, but it was never announced what group was making the calls. It sounded like the "news" was just going to continue going on indefinitely, and I gave up.
The calls come from a great many numbers in different area codes. I have blocked quite a few, which takes several minutes as I have to drop what I am doing and log into the 800 account and go through a series of steps.
Whenever I have searched on one of these numbers, I find complaint sites full of comments by people who for the most part have not figured out what the call is about. They are complaining about what is obviously the same call I am receiving.
I have tried calling back, but the numbers are always busy. So I don't think they are spoofing caller ID info.
To calculate the cost of these calls, I'm going to have to make some assumptions.
There are currently 5 toll free area codes in the US: 800, 888, 877, 866, and 855. They just recently opened up the 855 toll free area code, so let's assume only 90% of these numbers belong to businesses.
So, 5 exchanges x 999,9999 possible numbers x 90% x 3 calls I get a day / my 25 numbers x $0.07 a minute = $377,999 a day cost to businesses in America so Republicans can troll 800 numbers at no cost to the party and make calls that get charged to businesses. Multiplying that by 365 days a year means it is costing American businesses up to $138 million a year for the privilege of getting right wing robocalls.
Or maybe it's costing a lot more. if the average call lasts 2 minutes instead of the 1 minute I gave the person answering to hang up, just double that.