BT 8500/8600 Call Blocking Phones

FiestaRed

FiestaRed

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Although I'm registered with the TPS, to me it's pretty useless as I seem to be getting an ever increasing number of spam calls every day. I've been looking at getting either the BT8600 or the BT8500 call blocking phones but I have a problem in that because I'm with EE all I get when I call BT to ask about the phones is that as I'm not one of their customers they can't tell me anything. Talking to EE is a complete waste of time.

Does anyone have either of the 8500/8600 phones, do they work, do they stop the calls from "international", do they work with other phone providers? Apologies for so many questions but we have an elderly relative who is quite poorly in hospital at the minute and it's a mad rush to get the phone in case it's the hospital, then only to find it's some scammer telling me I have a problem with my PC.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
 
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I can't speak for the BT phones but I had the same problem a couple of years ago when I retired from business and kept one of the business line numbers that had been used for outgoing calls only by my PC.
At the time we were getting 5/6 nuisance calls a day and I heard about Truecall ... I decided to give it a go and am so glad I did, it can be tailored to accept/reject ANY calls as desired and you can login to a Control Panel to see a log of calls received and rejected, you can even accept/reject on the fly by the press of a button.
It just links into the phone line (plug in & out) before the phones and it can double as an answering machine.
 
Couple of mentions on the 8500/8600 phones in this thread I started a couple of days ago, I just bought a Panasonic KX-TGD322EB yesterday which has nuisance call blocking, Its too early to say if it will work or not. I decided on the panasonic mainly because my old panasonic phone lasted 15 yrs + and I have a VM line, also some folk on the Virgin Media forums were having problems with the BT phones on VM...something to do with voltage differences but don't ask me what. I dont know if that would be the same with a EE line somehow I doubt it.
 
Thanks both for all the help. Really appreciated.

I eventually managed to find someone at BT who would advise me on buying their phones. I still find it hard to believe that because I am not a BT customer they are not allowed to give any advice on the phones they sell, I would have thought a sale was a sale no matter who bought a phone. It looks as both the 8500 and 8600 phones are being replaced by the newer "Advanced" phone. They said all the phones did the same call blocking and after that it was just down to personal choice of things like colour and style.
 
FiestaRed said:
Does anyone have either of the 8500/8600 phones, do they work, do they stop the calls from "international", do they work with other phone providers?
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Yes. We have them. Can't speak highly enough of them. We have the 8600 set. We do not use BT for our phone lines, but they still work perfectly.
How do they work? In simple terms, like this...
The hard part first - you enter all your contacts into the phones. Only on one handset because multiple sets talk to each other. When you have all your contacts enterred the phones work just like a normal phone. Anyone on the list comes through as you would expect. Their name is shown on the display and you just answer it.
The best bit is for callers who are not on your list. The caller has to press a button at their end, then give a short message outlining who they are. You know nothing of this. Only when they have left a message does your phone ring. You are told that it is an "Announced Call". You listen to their message, and they still are not in touch with you. Once you've heard their message you decide if you want to accept the call and talk to them, reject it with or without a message or block the number immediately. In operation it is simplicity itself.

It is particularly good at stopping spam callers because they are on automated diallling so they can neither press the requisite button nor leave a message. Those calls just die and you only know you have had them if you check your incoming calls list - which we do perhaps once a month out of curiosity. It's amazing how many spam calls it blocks.

You don't need to worry about hopitals, doctors etc ringing and not being able to get through. These handsets are now so common that those ringing you are used to the sytem and know how it works.

We've had ours maybe 2 years now. Spam calls stopped the minute we plugged the phones in and we haven't had one since. One of the best bits of kit we have ever bought.
 
mickledore said:
Yes. We have them. Can't speak highly enough of them. We have the 8600 set. We do not use BT for our phone lines, but they still work perfectly.
How do they work? In simple terms, like this...
The hard part first - you enter all your contacts into the phones. Only on one handset because multiple sets talk to each other. When you have all your contacts enterred the phones work just like a normal phone. Anyone on the list comes through as you would expect. Their name is shown on the display and you just answer it.
The best bit is for callers who are not on your list. The caller has to press a button at their end, then give a short message outlining who they are. You know nothing of this. Only when they have left a message does your phone ring. You are told that it is an "Announced Call". You listen to their message, and they still are not in touch with you. Once you've heard their message you decide if you want to accept the call and talk to them, reject it with or without a message or block the number immediately. In operation it is simplicity itself.

It is particularly good at stopping spam callers because they are on automated diallling so they can neither press the requisite button nor leave a message. Those calls just die and you only know you have had them if you check your incoming calls list - which we do perhaps once a month out of curiosity. It's amazing how many spam calls it blocks.

You don't need to worry about hopitals, doctors etc ringing and not being able to get through. These handsets are now so common that those ringing you are used to the sytem and know how it works.

We've had ours maybe 2 years now. Spam calls stopped the minute we plugged the phones in and we haven't had one since. One of the best bits of kit we have ever bought.
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Same here - we have the 8600 - works as advertised. Just add in the people you want to call you, and choose what you want to block and what you want to allow (international, specific numbers, numbers for certain area codes etc). Highly recommended.
 
We have a set of Panasonic phones (not sure of the model) - not as comprehensive as the 8600 from the description above, but you can add any number to the 'blocked' list, and the phone simply does not answer if that number calls.
It's difficult, however, to determine if this is useful, as you never know if the number has been called once you've blocked it...
 
Thanks for all the help, really appreciated.

It was a struggle getting advice from BT as they are "not allowed to advise non BT customers". One of them finally told me the 8500 and 8600 models have newer variations and one called the "Advanced" would do everything I asked. I also spoke to EE who told me they have now added caller ID to my line, it all sounded a bit to easy which is not the norm for EE. I'm really looking forward to getting the phones and hopefully stopping the nuisance calls.
 
Buy from Amazon (Dispatched and sold by Amazon) and you'll have 30 days to decide if they're any good with the option to return with free postage if they're njot
 
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We have the BT8600 with call barring and providing you program them properly they are excellent.
The only , very minor drawback is if you block withheld calls you cannot selectively allow some calls.
My wife has a friend who's number is withheld and we cannot let that one through but that's the only gripe, we just set withheld calls to announce the caller or leave a message.
We are with Virgin and like all suppliers ( I think( you have to subscribe to caller identification for the system to work.
From memory we bought ours from Currys
 
Another vote for the 8500. We simply switch on call barring so any number not in the contact list goes straight to the answer machine. 99% of cold calls simply ring off.
 
+1 for 8600 here too, we were getting loads of 'international' nuisance calls, not any more. We got ours from Robert Dyas, at the time they had a £10 discount for 1st time mail order customers & we collected the handsets from our nearby Rymans stationers as there are no Dyas stores in the frozen north.
 
The one I ordered should have arrived this afternoon but Tesco's 'Click & Collect' finally let me down, nothing arrived. Usually a brilliant service, never had a problem in the past.
 
troutfisher said:
My wife has a friend who's number is withheld and we cannot let that one through but that's the only gripe, we just set withheld calls to announce the caller or leave a message.
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If your friend dials 1470 before your number it will reveal caller ID for her
 
New phone finally arrived from Tesco, Next Day delivery took four days for some reason. The one I got was the 'BT Advanced' which I think came out after the 8500/8600, everything seems pretty simple to use so far. The batteries are charging up at the minute so the phone is not connected as yet.

A couple of things I'm unsure about, the first is when I have call blocking on, do I need to add all the numbers in my saved friends list to the area where it says 'Allow Numbers' or does the phone automatically pick them up and the second, I have a family member that calls me regularly from France, will this number be blocked as it is 'International'? Hope that all makes sense.
 
Had my 8600 phone for about a year now; and it's great. The previous cold/scam calls (about 5-6 a day) are now a thing of the past.

My only, and very minor, negative experience happened today. I have a problem with my Amazon Fire Tablet which necessitated me contacting Amazon. They wanted to call me back; but the phone blocked the call. It was obviously an unrecognised number and they must have dialled me automatically so there was no option for it to be an 'announced' call.

Luckily I was able to sort things via online chat. If it had been a more important matter and had the chat option not been available; it would have been annoying.
 
Had a BT 8610 for a while and it works as above plus you can have up to 5 handsets that talk to each other, i.e. Add, Amend or Delete a number on one handset and it automatically updates the others.

My biggest gripe with all landline phones from BT is that you cannot import contacts from another phone or edit contacts on a computer or tablet.
 
Uncle Fester said:
Had my 8600 phone for about a year now; and it's great. The previous cold/scam calls (about 5-6 a day) are now a thing of the past.

My only, and very minor, negative experience happened today. I have a problem with my Amazon Fire Tablet which necessitated me contacting Amazon. They wanted to call me back; but the phone blocked the call. It was obviously an unrecognised number and they must have dialled me automatically so there was no option for it to be an 'announced' call.

Luckily I was able to sort things via online chat. If it had been a more important matter and had the chat option not been available; it would have been annoying.
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My set up has only been running a couple of days and so far and not noticed any scam calls, not sure if they get recorded in the calls list. One problem I am a bit concerned with is very similar to yours. When I buy something through Talk Photography I pay online through bank transfer, when I make the payment, I get a code from the bank followed by an automatic phone call where I need to key the code into my phone. I spoke to my bank today and explained the problem but they hadn't a clue what I was on about as it was something they'd not come across before.
 
FiestaRed said:
My set up has only been running a couple of days and so far and not noticed any scam calls, not sure if they get recorded in the calls list. One problem I am a bit concerned with is very similar to yours. When I buy something through Talk Photography I pay online through bank transfer, when I make the payment, I get a code from the bank followed by an automatic phone call where I need to key the code into my phone. I spoke to my bank today and explained the problem but they hadn't a clue what I was on about as it was something they'd not come across before.
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You might be able to receive it as a SMS / Text message now on the new phone, try txting your home number from your mobile and see if that works now. Does for me, but I'm on BT and unsure whether it's the phones alone or a combination of the phones and provider.
 
Just as a quick update and a thank you, my call blocking phone has been running about two weeks now and I'm pleased to report, no spam calls at all. A big thank you to all for the replies and recommendations, really appreciated.
 
FiestaRed said:
Just as a quick update and a thank you, my call blocking phone has been running about two weeks now and I'm pleased to report, no spam calls at all. A big thank you to all for the replies and recommendations, really appreciated.
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Good to know.

Did you resolve the bank authorisation issue for bank transfers?
 
Uncle Fester said:
Good to know.

Did you resolve the bank authorisation issue for bank transfers?
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Not really, when I know I'm making a bank payment, I switch the blocking off until I get the confirmation from my bank then quickly turn it back on to keep the scammers at bay. One day when a payment is not urgent, I may leave the phone with call blocking on just to se what happens.
 
whats the sound quality like with these phones, i have tried various handsets in the past and most are either extremely quiet or have distortion. The 12 year old Panasonics are really clear but are due new batteries again and the LCD is going so may replace instead
 
AgentOrange76 said:
whats the sound quality like with these phones, i have tried various handsets in the past and most are either extremely quiet or have distortion. The 12 year old Panasonics are really clear but are due new batteries again and the LCD is going so may replace instead
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We've had ours for a year or so now and have been very pleased with them - they were an improvement over our previous Panasonic models in terms of sound quality and battery life also seems better...
 
FiestaRed said:
I have a problem in that because I'm with EE all I get when I call BT to ask about the phones is that as I'm not one of their customers they can't tell me anything. Talking to EE is a complete waste of time.
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And the real stupidity in that ... EE is owned by BT now!!

(Sorry a late and not entirely helpful comment)
 
FiestaRed said:
Although I'm registered with the TPS, to me it's pretty useless as I seem to be getting an ever increasing number of spam calls every day. I've been looking at getting either the BT8600 or the BT8500 call blocking phones but I have a problem in that because I'm with EE all I get when I call BT to ask about the phones is that as I'm not one of their customers they can't tell me anything. Talking to EE is a complete waste of time.

Does anyone have either of the 8500/8600 phones, do they work, do they stop the calls from "international", do they work with other phone providers? Apologies for so many questions but we have an elderly relative who is quite poorly in hospital at the minute and it's a mad rush to get the phone in case it's the hospital, then only to find it's some scammer telling me I have a problem with my PC.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

I get a lot of hospital calls but the number is always withheld so I wonder how you get round that - perhaps your hospital doesn’t withhold number?
 
sphexx said:
I get a lot of hospital calls but the number is always withheld so I wonder how you get round that - perhaps your hospital doesn’t withhold number?
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I think you can send withheld numbers to the thing where they have to say their name and press hash, then the phone tells you their name and you have to press a number to accept the call, hopefully before the caller gives up waiting for an answer. This might confuse some callers though.

My phone has been quiet since I got one of these BT call blocking phones. Before I was getting various automated calls, many of them debt collectors for someone whose name I haven't a clue who they are.
 
stryvya said:
Could`nt you add the Number to your Address Book or enable it as a VIP number.?
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Not sure how one could do that since the number is withheld and therefore unknown :(
 
an1uk said:
I think you can send withheld numbers to the thing where they have to say their name and press hash, then the phone tells you their name and you have to press a number to accept the call, hopefully before the caller gives up waiting for an answer. This might confuse some callers though.

My phone has been quiet since I got one of these BT call blocking phones. Before I was getting various automated calls, many of them debt collectors for someone whose name I haven't a clue who they are.
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Yes, I understand that but the further problem is that some of the calls are automated and others they won’t say who they are until you “admit” you are the person they want to speak to! The latter case is completely bonkers of course on a withheld number:mad:
 
sphexx said:
I get a lot of hospital calls but the number is always withheld so I wonder how you get round that - perhaps your hospital doesn’t withhold number?
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As the hospital phones you direct (as it routes through their switchboard) it comes with no user ID, hence won’t get through, but this is known about and if they phone switch and ask for an outside line, not blocked, they can phone with a number and it comes through...

Also, when we phone through and this occurs, we get a message saying number not accepting unknown calls, so we know - it doesn’t just ring and ring.
 
Now 2 days with a BT 8610, awfully quite no one loves us any more!!!
where are youPPI, Microsoft, Accident, etc. you`ve all gone very silent.
And it only cost £39.99 refurbished (like new) for a 2 phone set.
 
Sounds so good I just bought the company :)

Not really, but I did just order a phone.
 
an1uk said:
I think you can send withheld numbers to the thing where they have to say their name and press hash, then the phone tells you their name and you have to press a number to accept the call, hopefully before the caller gives up waiting for an answer. This might confuse some callers though.
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Just checked the 'Blocking' settings on my phone and if the phone receives a call from a withheld number, there are a number of choices to how that call is dealt with. These include Block, Announce and Send to Answerphone. If you set to Announce, the caller has to I.D. themselves and then you as the person taking the call can either answer it but you also still has the chance to block it.
 
On the BT call blocking phones, does anyone know how to adjust the volume on the additional handsets? The volume can be adjusted on the main phone, but I can't see any way of changing it on the other handsets.
 
FiestaRed said:
On the BT call blocking phones, does anyone know how to adjust the volume on the additional handsets? The volume can be adjusted on the main phone, but I can't see any way of changing it on the other handsets.
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Menu - > settings - > sounds - > ringing and it's at the bottom.
 
an1uk said:
Menu - > settings - > sounds - > ringing and it's at the bottom.
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Thanks for the help, I thought that was just for the ringer volume. Does it control the volume of the callers speech as well? I'm not getting enough calls now to check the callers volume. :banana:
 
FiestaRed said:
Thanks for the help, I thought that was just for the ringer volume. Does it control the volume of the callers speech as well? I'm not getting enough calls now to check the callers volume. :banana:
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Ah sorry yes that's ringer volume. Call volume just press up/down during a call. I found the BT phones a bit quieter than the Panasonic phones I had before though.
 
Thanks for the help Alan, really appreciated.
 
an1uk said:
Ah sorry yes that's ringer volume. Call volume just press up/down during a call. I found the BT phones a bit quieter than the Panasonic phones I had before though.
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Yes this - if you dial out, as it’s ringing you can adjust the volume your after - this is what I did - just phoned my mobile and adjusted.
 
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