Call blocking phones

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camerassassin

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Have always had an answering machine , and phones in every room in the house to make answering easy.

Since my husband died there have been increasingly frequent nuisance calls - Microsoft so-called technical services , PPI , You must have your government green deal survey etc etc - You know them as well as I do

The other day hit the record -- at least one every hour from 8.30 am to 8pm

I have caller display , I'm on both landline and mobile TPS

I dial 1471 - and it's either 'we do not have their number' or 'the caller withheld their number'

The answering machine phone tells me they are withheld or International .

The exception is supposedly local BUT if you try and call them back to ensure you are taken off the list - it doesn't ring out. :(

SO a call blocker phone is now essential [ I don't get calls to my mobile ;) ]

I only need one - must be easy to use for a technoidiot [ not joking there] , has to be idiot proof to set up

Tell me nice folk - which do I get to restore my sanity ? Cheap would be nice - but it has to be one that WORKS
 
We actually changed our number. Became ex directory and only gave our number to close friends and family. It worked very well for quite a long time.
Sorry I cannot help with call blocker.
 
BBR said:
We actually changed our number. Became ex directory and only gave our number to close friends and family. It worked very well for quite a long time.
Sorry I cannot help with call blocker.
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I, too, did the same thing very recently. Was getting countless cold callers (mostly by "Talk Talk") on my former 31 years old landline number, even though that was ex-directory. Got a phone with a call blocker but that didn't work as most of the calls were "unknown" so they get through. In the end I decided to change the number hoping to stop those calls for once and for all. I suspect that may be the only way to do so.
 
Look at the BT phones that come with True Call. You need to have Caller Line identification enabled, but it's pretty bulletproof. The default settings intercept all incoming calls and only allows numbers you have programmed into the system to get straight through, all other callers are given the option of announcing themselves - so you can decide whether to accept the call or not - or leaving a message, and you can block any known nuisance numbers completely. There are ways to customise the settings too, but the defaults work very well. My wife has this system and doesn't get any unwanted calls now.
 
MartynK said:
Look at the BT phones that come with True Call. You need to have Caller Line identification enabled, but it's pretty bulletproof. The default settings intercept all incoming calls and only allows numbers you have programmed into the system to get straight through, all other callers are given the option of announcing themselves - so you can decide whether to accept the call or not - or leaving a message, and you can block any known nuisance numbers completely. There are ways to customise the settings too, but the defaults work very well. My wife has this system and doesn't get any unwanted calls now.
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I've been looking at these, and was wondering what the difference was between the trucall device (around £100), and the BT phones with trucall built in (about £50 for 2 phones)
 
Rapscallion said:

I've been looking at these, and was wondering what the difference was between the trucall device (around £100), and the BT phones with trucall built in (about £50 for 2 phones)
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AFAIK True Call came out about 6 - 7 years ago as a separate 'box' that connected to the phone line and offered selective screening and blocking features. BT subsequently incorporated the technology into some of their phones and made it plug and play - just set up the phone and the software works using its default settings - so I assume they did a deal with whoever owned the rights to it. I don't think there's any difference in the functionality.
 
We recently bought a pair of the BT 8500 / 8600 and they have call guardian enabled and it's great.

Phone doesn't ring unless you either have the number allowed in your "contacts" section or if it does ring - say a friend who's not in your list phones - you get the chance to either answer / put to answer phone or block the number constantly following this.

You can also set it to not allow certain numbers through - say International numbers, blocked numbers etc etc.

Dead easy to use as well :)
 
andyred said:
We recently bought a pair of the BT 8500 / 8600 and they have call guardian enabled and it's great.

Phone doesn't ring unless you either have the number allowed in your "contacts" section or if it does ring - say a friend who's not in your list phones - you get the chance to either answer / put to answer phone or block the number constantly following this.

You can also set it to not allow certain numbers through - say International numbers, blocked numbers etc etc.

Dead easy to use as well :)
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Same here and I get hardly any calls getting through, blocked international calls, so that shuts them up to (y)
 
Well - I've bought 2 - the BT 8600 from Amazon and I'll pick them up from my local PO on Wednesday

They's better be easy to set up . The main one will be in the kitchen and the smaller second hand set will be in the living/work room beside me.

It will be a joy getting rid of these calls - particularly the extra irritating 0141 280 0298 ones [ recorded message and it's impossible to be removed from their list ]
 
Complain to the information commissioners office. Get them fined. I think someone did that and was getting a few grand a time off each of them. You don't have to prove harm any more now either.
 
camerassassin said:
Well - I've bought 2 - the BT 8600 from Amazon and I'll pick them up from my local PO on Wednesday

They's better be easy to set up . The main one will be in the kitchen and the smaller second hand set will be in the living/work room beside me.

It will be a joy getting rid of these calls - particularly the extra irritating 0141 280 0298 ones [ recorded message and it's impossible to be removed from their list ]
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We bought one over a year ago now & haven't had a single junk call got through. Not one! :cool:
For the first few weeks I was checking it every evening to make sure it was working. :LOL:

You get a little card with it which you can leave next to the phone as a reminder as to which number to press if needed.

After you've entered all the numbers of family, friends, anyone important etc,.....just sit back & forget it.
 
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camerassassin said:
Well - I've bought 2 - the BT 8600 from Amazon and I'll pick them up from my local PO on Wednesday

They's better be easy to set up .
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Set up is straightforward. They come with full instructions, but you can just leave them on the default settings. These seem to work perfectly well for most people, and there's no need to change anything unless you want to.

Just in case there's any confusion about the names, Call Guardian is the security feature and it uses the True Call technology, so they're basically the same thing.
 
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Rapscallion said:

I've been looking at these, and was wondering what the difference was between the trucall device (around £100), and the BT phones with trucall built in (about £50 for 2 phones)
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The biggest difference is the BT 8500 works better than the Truecall ;). The system is all integrated and easier to use.

I haven't had a single spam call come through in over a year since buying the BT phones, twin pack was about £50 iirc.
 
We've got the BT8500's as well. Not a single spam call since, wonderful!
 
Dave1 said:
The biggest difference is the BT 8500 works better than the Truecall ;). The system is all integrated and easier to use.

I haven't had a single spam call come through in over a year since buying the BT phones, twin pack was about £50 iirc.
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Agreed, but I believe BT came to some arrangement to integrate the True Call technology into their phones, which is a much neater solution than using the separate box that predated this.
 
camerassassin said:
Well - I've bought 2 - the BT 8600 from Amazon and I'll pick them up from my local PO on Wednesday

They's better be easy to set up . The main one will be in the kitchen and the smaller second hand set will be in the living/work room beside me.

It will be a joy getting rid of these calls - particularly the extra irritating 0141 280 0298 ones [ recorded message and it's impossible to be removed from their list ]
Click to expand...

They are easy to set up - just read the guide and when you switch on, just go through the process as it comes up on the screen. You also get a little credit card size card to tell you how to accept / reject calls etc - I find this very useful to keep near the phone that is used most often to remind how to accept / reject etc.

I think they're nice phones and the colour screen is clear and easy to see. :)
 
I'll let you know how I get on with these - due to arrive on Wednesday - so we'll see how things go
 
Interesting thread, I didn't know about truecall etc. Would these BT 8500/8600 work on a Virgin phone line?
 
frank said:
Interesting thread, I didn't know about truecall etc. Would these BT 8500/8600 work on a Virgin phone line?
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AFAIK, the phones also work with Sky and Virgin, providing you have Caller Line Identification enabled. Might be a good idea to check with Virgin though, unless someone can confirm this from personal experience.
 
I read a user report somewhere that they did - and I'm a Virgin user
 
Tip - Virgin may give you CLI for free if you say you are getting lots of nuisance calls.
 
Really - I must ask about that - I reckon that 1 every hour does come under 'a lot of nuisance calls' :)
 
WingTsun said:
From May the 16th this year it's now illegal to telemarket using a withheld number. All numbers must be visible. Whether that will help with callers from abroad is doubtful but we'll see.
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Bit of a shame really as I have ACR so that keeps most of these scum telemarketers away. If they have to use a CLI then more will get through.
 
srichards said:
Bit of a shame really as I have ACR so that keeps most of these scum telemarketers away. If they have to use a CLI then more will get through.
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On the face of it, yes. If scammers/nuisance callers use an identifiable number they will probably be able to reach you, but Call Guardian/True Call filters these out too. The default settings only allow numbers you've stored as contacts to get straight through, any other callers are given the choice of announcing themselves before you answer (you can accept or reject the call at this point) or leaving a message. You also have the option of blocking unknown or withheld numbers completely.

The system works. I have clients who call from companies that routinely withhold their numbers, but they announce themselves or call on my cellphone. Nuisance callers just hang up in my experience.
 
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I'd have one of these but my parents' number comes up as "unknown",(something to do with the exchange) so I would be unable to receive calls from them.
That would be a none starter unfortunately.
 
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What on earth do you do to attract so many nuisance calls. We have four lines here and receive one such call approx every two months. Just using TPS and nothing else.
 
I wish I knew why I get so many - I've really no idea. I try not to give my phone number out . We had been on TPS for many many years - it's seems to have increased though over the last couple of years.

All I can suggest is that a list I was on at some point has been sold/given/been stolen and passed to many other call centres
 
GHP said:
I'd have one of these but my parents' number comes up as "unknown",(something to do with the exchange) so I would be unable to receive calls from them.
That would be a none starter unfortunately.
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They can still get through. All they have to do is press the hash key & say who they are. You then accept their call by pressing 1.
 
OldCarlos said:
They can still get through. All they have to do is press the hash key & say who they are. You then accept their call by pressing 1.
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Ahh, I didn't know that. Thanks for enlightening me.
 
Gary, as long as you told your parents to press the hash key & speak & wait, they'll be fine. :cool:
 
OldCarlos said:
Gary, as long as you told your parents to press the hash key & speak & wait, they'll be fine. :cool:
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I think I will now look seriously at getting one or other of these systems.
I'm sick of unsolicited calls, and didn't know it could be "bypassed " in this way by those whose calls I do want.
Thanks again Carl.
 
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