Call blockers

JonathanRyan

JonathanRyan

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Anybody got one of those blockers that stop scam callers?

I'm up to about half a dozen calls every day and it's wearing a little thin.

I want to keep the phones I have but I think I saw a box in Maplins that plugs into them and blocks nuisance calls. Anybody got one? Any recommendations?
 
TPS works. Don't listen to people who say it doesn't.

It takes about six weeks to fully take effect then you should only receive the odd call from overseas. We get about one call per month and we have three landlines.
 
There was a review in which magazine not long ago. The majority have a built in data base of known nuisance callers and you can add to the list when new one calls. However the best one was double the price of the other but a lot better. i think was 'truecall' which acts like a operator if the number is not recognised in your friends list a automated voice asks for them their name and puts them on hold. It then asks you if you would like to take the call.
 
I suppose the big problem is like email spam, how do they it's a nuisance call :shrug: you could get genuine calls blocked

I just either ignore them as I have caller ID or if I'm bored I wind them up and keep them on the phone for ages then hang up ;)
 
Get Caller ID on your phones, then when you see International, Unavailable or 0203 numbers calling you know they are spam and can ignore them.
 
2blue4u said:
TPS works. Don't listen to people who say it doesn't.
Click to expand...

We've been registered for years. It doesn't work.

Amongst the loopholes.....

  1. Any call originating overseas is exempt
  2. Calls that are surveys don't have to comply
  3. If they have a "prior relationship" they can ring you - often the first line is "you filled out a form somewhere" (obviously I didn't)
  4. Calls to businesses are exempt. Somehow my private landline has ended up on a business list somewhere.
  5. The government are exempt - apparently the majority of silent calls actually come from the tax office. Nobody seems to know why.

And that's without people just not complying and changing company before they get caught.

I thought I saw one where blocked calls went to an answerphone so you can review false positives.
 
mickledore said:
Get Caller ID on your phones, then when you see International, Unavailable or 0203 numbers calling you know they are spam and can ignore them.
Click to expand...

Why 0203? It's just London. There are virtual numbers in the 0203 range (as there are in other STD codes) but it is just a normal STD code like 0207.


JonathanRyan said:
We've been registered for years. It doesn't work.

Amongst the loopholes.....

  1. Any call originating overseas is exempt
  2. Calls that are surveys don't have to comply
  3. If they have a "prior relationship" they can ring you - often the first line is "you filled out a form somewhere" (obviously I didn't)
  4. Calls to businesses are exempt. Somehow my private landline has ended up on a business list somewhere.
  5. The government are exempt - apparently the majority of silent calls actually come from the tax office. Nobody seems to know why.

And that's without people just not complying and changing company before they get caught.

I thought I saw one where blocked calls went to an answerphone so you can review false positives.
Click to expand...

I would agree, TPS is a chocolate fire guard, all the Indian call centres ignore it (and a lot of cold calling comes from them, like the Windows Help line), as do some UK centres. A Welsh call centre got fined around £300 000 recently for ignoring TPS (the Weslh call centre with the arrogant idiot currently on the BBC).
 
Why 0203? It's just London.
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Is it? Sorry, didn't know that. Thought it was a spam number.
Up here in the frozen north all calls from 0203 are either silent or American ladies saying Hi there... We never hear the rest of the sentence because the phone goes down!
 
mickledore said:
Is it? Sorry, didn't know that. Thought it was a spam number.
Up here in the frozen north all calls from 0203 are either silent or American ladies saying Hi there... We never hear the rest of the sentence because the phone goes down!
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Yes, it was a new allocation given when the 7 and 8 range started running short.

London is actually 020, the 7 8 and 3 are actually just the start of the actual number.

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/0203-to-be-third-telephone-code-7233279.html

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=290856
 
I posted this thread 1h 15 m ago. Since then I've had 3 spam calls.......

The CPR blocker gets good reviews, is 40 quid and available on Prime. It will be here tomorrow ;)
 
These calls are real pain. I've been registered on\with TPS for years but still get them, mostly foreign sounding folk but also some with English accents. Some UK call centres clearly don't give hoot about the TPS rules and are quite happy taking their chances.

Done the whole wasting their time thing and talking to them in Welsh but it soon wears thin and now I just hang up straight away.
 
we used to get loads, registered on TPS and they stopped within a couple of months (bar the odd "hai i'm calling from microsoft" once every 6 months).

if you keep giving your details i guess you may still get hassled?
 
TPS made a difference when we were with BT, however since we moved to Talk Talk, TPS just doesn't work.

I have filled up the call barring space on my Panasonic landline phones too :(
 
neil_g said:
we used to get loads, registered on TPS and they stopped within a couple of months (bar the odd "hai i'm calling from microsoft" once every 6 months).

if you keep giving your details i guess you may still get hassled?
Click to expand...

It seems we are on many lists. The phone line used to belong to an elderly couple so we get a lot of "Microsoft" calls. Latest is a whole series of "surveys" (which are exempt from TPS....)

It's fun playing with them but it wastes over an hour a day.

There are 1,000 spare slots on the CPR blocker :)
 
I have a Bt caller Display 2000 and a BT response answer phone, great combo for you.
If you don't recognise the number just put on the answerphone. You could have some great fun, for example "thank you for calling ******* that is my number and I claim the £1m prize " or "don't you find it strange being able to talk to snake and be able to understand what the snake says"

the answers are limitless
 
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As it is your private landline get and answer machine. Tell friends and family so they know not to put the phone sown when they hear the answer phone, bona fide business will leave messages, spammers won't.

Dave
 
I have mine setup with TalkTalk Jonathan so I no longer get them now :D
 
u8myufo said:
I have mine setup with TalkTalk Jonathan so I no longer get them now :D
Click to expand...

Apart from the Privacy Pack, is there anything else in your TalkTalk setup?

It certainly hasn't stopped nuisance calls for me:(
 
I don't answer calls on my landline or cellphone unless I recognise the name and/or number. Most of the people I do business with use Skype for international calls, and their cellphones - which my phones recognise - for UK calls. Anyone else can leave a message on voicemail. I'll respond if necessary.
 
Mikesphotaes said:
Apart from the Privacy Pack, is there anything else in your TalkTalk setup?

It certainly hasn't stopped nuisance calls for me:(
Click to expand...

Not really,to be honest that is the first I have seen of the privacy pack. I have been with TT ever since they took over whoever it was years a go. When we moved they would not let us take our number but gave us another one, after a month or so of calls for someone who did not exist anymore I kicked up a fuss and just said I would switch provider, they just said at the time they would withhold any nuisance calls. It seemed like it worked ok :shrug:
 
Tringa said:
As it is your private landline get and answer machine. Tell friends and family so they know not to put the phone sown when they hear the answer phone, bona fide business will leave messages, spammers won't.

Dave
Click to expand...
That's all we do, if the number isn't recognised, we just let the answerphone take care of it. Can never work out why some listen to the whole recorded message before they hang up though.:cuckoo:
 
2blue4u said:
TPS works. Don't listen to people who say it doesn't.

It takes about six weeks to fully take effect then you should only receive the odd call from overseas. We get about one call per month and we have three landlines.
Click to expand...

No, it does not work, because we are signed up to it, and I have to tell the same callers time after time that we are on TPS - does it stop them - NOOOOO!


As for the foreign "International" or "Witheld" calls - don't even bother.
 
mickledore said:
Get Caller ID on your phones, then when you see International, Unavailable or 0203 numbers calling you know they are spam and can ignore them.
Click to expand...

What if you have relations abroad like us?

You cannot tel the spam calls from the real ones:cuckoo:
 
TPS has worked a treat for us for over a decade on three separate lines. To those who say it doesn't work, rubbish! Of course it works, within it's limitations.

If, however, you have supplied your number to dodgy firms, or have failed to un-tick the 'sell my details to scumbag list companies' box on web ordering forms, then the problem is down to you and not TPS.


Mikesphotaes said:
TPS made a difference when we were with BT, however since we moved to Talk Talk, TPS just doesn't work.(
Click to expand...
It doesn't work like that. TPS is applied to the number and switching provider means diddly squat.
 
2blue4u said:
TPS has worked a treat for us for over a decade on three separate lines. To those who say it doesn't work, rubbish! Of course it works, within it's limitations.

If, however, you have supplied your number to dodgy firms, or have failed to un-tick the 'sell my details to scumbag list companies' box on web ordering forms, then the problem is down to you and not TPS.
Click to expand...

Registered with TPS, not done any of those things, still get cold calls.
 
ZoneV said:
Registered with TPS, not done any of those things, still get cold calls.
Click to expand...

Same here, my number is ex-directory, I never use it as a contact number, still get cold calls, mostly "about my windows" and green energy grant nonsense.

The call centres don't dial individual numbers anymore, their system just calls a block of numbers starting xxxx00001 and going up in sequence, that's also why silent calls have increased.

An answered call just puts a mark on your number and the computer will redial and redial everyday until they sell you something.
 
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In the tps. Have been for years. Used to get quite a few regardless. Enabled anonymous call reject. Stopped 99% of them. Might get one once every few months but it generally has coincided with filling in forms for some financial product or similar. I invariably untick info sharing too. Guaranteed to get a spam call within a week or two.
 
Dave1 said:
Same here, my number is ex-directory, I never use it as a contact number, still get cold calls, mostly "about my windows" and green energy grant nonsense.

The call centres don't dial individual numbers anymore, their system just calls a block of numbers starting xxxx00001 and going up in sequence, that's also why silent calls have increased.

An answered call just puts a mark on your number and the computer will redial and redial everyday until they sell you something.
Click to expand...

Yea, I've had a few calls offering to help with my computer virus but these days if there's anyone there when I pick up, I.e. it's not a "silent call", they don't get much further than "Mr ZoneV, is that Mr ZoneV?" before I hang up.
 
If it's a call I haven't solicited, I hang up.
Quite simple. No gizmos needed.
 
2blue4u said:
...........


It doesn't work like that. TPS is applied to the number and switching provider means diddly squat.
Click to expand...

Maybe how it's supposed to work but certainly not my experience over the last few years.
 
For those who feel the TPS is a catch-all protection. Here's a recent report relating to UK call centres:

The reality TV series The Call Centre has become an unlikely hit since launching on our screens at the start of June.

But two companies involved in the show have been issued fines by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO): Nationwide Energy Services has received a penalty of £125,000, while We Claim You Gain has been hit with a £100,000 fine.

Both are part of Save Britain Money Ltd, based in Swansea. It is the third largest call centre in Wales and is headed up by chief executive Nev Wilshire, who has become the star of the fly-on-the-wall series for his likeness to David Brent, the character from sitcom The Office played by Ricky Gervais.

While the activities of Nev and his call centre employees have provided entertainment for many, they hide a bigger problem within the cold-calling industry.
Simon Entwisle, ICO
Penalties were issued after the companies were found to be behind 2,700 complaints to the telephone preference service (TPS) or reports to the ICO using its online survey, between May 2011 and December 2012.

The penalties include the first issued against a company linked to nuisance calls relating to payment protection insurance (PPI), said the ICO.

Neither company carried out adequate checks to see whether the people they were calling had registered with the TPS, which is a legal requirement under rules governing electronic marketing, said the ICO.
http://www.channel4.com/news/call-centre-fined-nuisance-calls-nev-tv-series-ppi
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Even worse, the foreign call centres like the Indian Windows calls are not legislated under the TPS at all.
 
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You could always try this

[youtube]YvJQxgtJW94[/youtube]

Steve
 
viv1969 said:
If it's a call I haven't solicited, I hang up.
Quite simple. No gizmos needed.
Click to expand...

You must have a higher tolerance for annoyances than I do.

Allow me to sign you up for some of my friends to call...... :D

In other news, there was a bloke on Today this morning defending the actions of cold callers (he's president of the harass you in your own home society or something). He was clear that if you had ever ticked a box on any form anywhere allowing "trusted 3rd parties to contact you with offers" then you deserved all you got. And of course, how many people could swear in a court of law that they had never done this? (Or not ticked it if they phrase the question differently)

Additionally, some of these trusted 3rd parties aren't beyond enhancing their lists with, you know, everyone....
 
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