News and Events

Sioux Falls, SD: Midcontinent Communications® announced today that it now offers a call blocking service to residential phone customers. The new feature is available November 23.

Terminating call manager from Midco will intercept telemarketers, polling services and auto dialers before they reach Midco customers on their home landlines. The technology also allows customers to add phone numbers to their blocked number list after a nuisance call.

“This product is a solution to an issue that plagues many of our customers,” says Tom Simmons, SVP and Chief of Staff at Midcontinent. “No one wants a quiet evening at home disturbed by a telemarketer or someone taking a poll. Terminating call manager will screen nuisance callers, so customers can be sure they are only getting the calls they want.”

In July 2015, Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairman Tom Wheeler urged phone companies to use technology to block robocalls, which is the top complaint consumers make to the FCC. Similarly, the Federal Trade Commission states there’s been a “significant increase” in illegal robocalls and Do Not Call violations, due to the increasing popularity of Internet-powered phone systems that make such nuisance calls cheap and easy.

“Earlier this year, there were few technology tools in the market that Midco and other companies could use to help customers who wished to block these kinds of unwanted calls,” notes Simmons. “Over the last few months, we identified and tested a solution that will be useful tool for our phone customers, especially with the election season quickly approaching.”

Terminating call manager is available to Midco residential phone customers for a one-time activation fee of $30. The service is available to customers who call Midco Customer Service at 1.800.888.1300.