Note: This is a repost from a 2024 Insight Post, and Triangle continues to offer this as a free service to all of its customers, a fine example of a company doing the right thing to protect its co-op members.
Triangle Communications in Havre Montana is now offering the Telemarketer Call Screening Service from Innovative Systems to all their residential phone members for free.
Triangle provides telecommunications services including Broadband Internet and telephone service to residents of Central Montana. Their service territory includes 17,000+ lines in 16 counties from the Canadian to the Wyoming border, over approximately 24,000 square miles. About 12,000 landlines are eligible for this service, and according to Triangle CEO Craig Gates, “this service puts more control in the hands of our members to prevent scammers from harassing them”. Gates says the Triangle Board of Trustees endorsed making this a free service to add more value to Triangle’s service offerings.
According to their Facebook page customers are commenting how well this service works.
- “Love having this service.” – Leslie
- “This truly works.” – Wendy
- “It definitely works.” – JoAnn
According to a 2026 report from Numberbarn, 55 million Americans are still subscribing to a landline. Back up communications for natural disasters and remote areas lacking good wireless coverage are the main reasons for having landlines.
According to the report, New York has the highest percentage of adults in the U.S. living in homes with a landline, at 39.1%. The states that follow closely are Massachusetts at 38.1%, New Jersey at 36.9%, Connecticut at 36.7%, and Vermont at 36.2%
Having an effective way to stop phone scammers is critical, especially for the sometimes-vulnerable older adults. The Federal Trade Commission estimates that fraudulent telemarketers scam as much as $40 billion a year from U.S. consumers. We should all tip our hats to companies like Triangle Communications who are going the extra mile to stop illegal telemarketers.
