I didn't know whether or not to post this in "technology" or "conspiracies". Here's the deal:

I've been a Direct TV subscriber for several years - mostly happy with the service. I have the DVR service and I love it. Anyway, I've always had my land-line phone connected to the receiver. According to Direct TVs website, the advantages of this is to 1- have caller ID come up on the TV screen when you get an incoming call, and 2- to order pay-per view. Well, I never order the pay per view, but I thought it was handy to see the incoming calls come up, so I connected it.

Recently I changed my phone service to VoIP - and it's one that logs calls; both incoming and outgoing. All of a sudden I see outgoing calls going to a toll-free number. The weird thing is these half minute calls are happening at all hours of the day, sometimes as often as once per hour.

I've contacted the Direct TV chat line and of course the first couple of agents I encountered "never heard of this." Currently I'm awaiting an email from level 3 tech support - so I'll see what they have to say.

Just curious if anyone else knows about this.

EDIT: Just to clarify, it definitely is Direct TV that is generating the calls. I put the number in a search engine, and it came back that the common thread was subscribers to Direct TV.