Landline call blocking. What's best these days?

[mickledore]

We're being plagued by nuisance calls. Up to 10 a day every day. We've registered with TPO but that doesn't sem to stop them. They are either International, Witheld, Number unavailable or wierd dialling codes. Some spammers have started using local dialling codes to try and catch us out. We seldom answer them but they always leave silent messages then we have to run around wiping the phone records.

We'd like a call blocker to block all of these calls before our phone rings. We would prefer to have the blocker built into the phone unit and don't mind changing phones to do this but we need 4 handsets. Alternatively we would accept a call blocker type unit of the fit and forget type.
Googling brings up all sorts of possibilities but they all tell us what they want to tell us, and not what we need to know. According to the blurb they are all the best ever, but they are all different. Trying to sort out what will or won't do what we want is a minefield.

We don't mind missing a few calls that are "important". Everyone we want to call us has our mobiles and is in the phone memory but just occasionally firms etc use blank numbers. They have other means of contacting us if it's important; and if it's not important we don't want to talk to them.

So what's out there and what works best?

 

[srichards]

There was a thing on Watchdog about this very subject a couple of weeks ago. Might still be on iplayer.

I have ACR - anonymous call reject so any number withheld are binned immediately. That's made the biggest difference of all.

Make sure you are ex-directory. TPS is useless but if you are in the TPS and contacted then find out who they are and report them to the ICO. They've been fining companies.

I still do not understand why cold calling just isn't banned. Nobody wants it. It should just be illegal to contact anyone that hasn't been given express permission to be contacted for a specific purpose. All this blanket selling your details on should be stopped. No more opting out. It just be assumed you do not want any information passed on to anyone else ever. If you want to be bombarded by call centre morons there should be an opt in that has to be actively done and actively renewed on a regular basis. No renewal. No more bothering people.

 

[mickledore]

Thanks. We are ex directory.
The calls all start with a recorded message so we end them immediately. On the odd occasion when we have waited for a person they go all funny when we ask them for full details of themselves. They usually smell a rat and hang up.
Unfortunately we're not with BT so ACR is not an option and my provider doesn't have such a system.

 

[srichards]

I'm not with BT either. I use Vonage VOIP. It's £7 a month and I get all the features that cost extra such as caller display, call waiting and ACR for free. Same package with BT or Virgin is about £20+ a month.

If you have decent broadband and your normal phone is plagued by spammers it might be a good idea to remove the call packages off it and get a Vonage box with a new number. Then you only give that to people you actually want to call you. The others ring the other line and get an answer machine. Real people will leave a message.

 

[bass_junkie83]

I used a BT call guardian handset, though we are not on BT. That works well.

 

[mickledore]

BT call guardian handset

Those look interesting.

 

[Roytheboy]

Definitely agree with BT call guardian handets as a good value solution. £55 for w at Currysm We had 6 or 7 cold calls an evening and now only get the odd one. The daunting lady voice does put some of the family off too!

 

[bass_junkie83]

Definitely agree with BT call guardian handets as a good value solution. £55 for w at Currysm We had 6 or 7 cold calls an evening and now only get the odd one. The daunting lady voice does put some of the family off too!

You can program in numbers and set them to be non-screened so they come straight through like any regular call. Or block them all together if your family is annoying!
You do need to have caller id activated though. I believe it is free on BT if you pay your line rental upfront for the year, or £1.50 a month if you pay it monthly.
We have just moved over to vodafone phone and broadband and it is included in the cost with them.

 

[mickledore]

Yes, thanks. We do have caller id activated. Block the family? That sounds good, but don't tell SWMBO!
Just bern looking at this
https://www.amazon.co.uk/BT-Advance...80418483&sr=8-2&keywords=call+guardian+phones
and at £80 for four new phones looks decent enough. Seems to do what we want so I'll run it past the management for approval.
Thanks.

 

[Harlequin565]

Yes, thanks. We do have caller id activated. Block the family? That sounds good, but don't tell SWMBO!
Just bern looking at this
https://www.amazon.co.uk/BT-Advance...80418483&sr=8-2&keywords=call+guardian+phones
and at £80 for four new phones looks decent enough. Seems to do what we want so I'll run it past the management for approval.
Thanks.

We've got these. Reduced annoying calls to 0. Best investment ever. You can also add numbers into the phone allowing them to bypass the announcement and get straight through.

 

[gramps]

Had Truecall for two years now, totally eliminated all unwanted calls

 

[mickledore]

We've got these. Reduced annoying calls to 0. Best investment ever. You can also add numbers into the phone allowing them to bypass the announcement and get straight through.

That's good to know as I've just ordered them!

 

[mbscad]

I use an intercept box called "Call Saint" which cost about £35.
It has helped immensely to screen calls and blacklist scammers.
Withheld numbers still get through though as some of SWMBO has friends who withhold their numbers Grr.
It does need caller id to be enabled (obviously) which some companies charge extra for.

 

[Dave *]

Yes, thanks. We do have caller id activated. Block the family? That sounds good, but don't tell SWMBO!
Just bern looking at this
https://www.amazon.co.uk/BT-Advance...80418483&sr=8-2&keywords=call+guardian+phones
and at £80 for four new phones looks decent enough. Seems to do what we want so I'll run it past the management for approval.
Thanks.

I also have those, they are the best method of cutting spam calls to zero in my experience. I bought the 2 handset version for around £50 iirc.

 

[mickledore]

Seems like those handsets are the dogs danglies. Just as well because Amazon say they are now on the way and the order can't be cancelled. Happy days.

 

[Dave *]

Seems like those handsets are the dogs danglies. Just as well because Amazon say they are now on the way and the order can't be cancelled. Happy days.

That they are, I haven't had a nuisance call since I got them, and even with the call blocker box prior to the phones we still did.

They have the option of allowing callers who aren't in your whitelist to press # and say who they are and it then plays the recording before connecting the call giving you the option to accept/decline or send to answerphone. Most spammy call centres use autodiallers so can't press #.

 

[mickledore]

Most spammy call centres use autodiallers so can't press #.

We do wonder if our refusal to answer calls exacerbates the problem. Maybe because the system knows the phone rings it keeps calling to try and get us to answer.

 

[jockwav]

We have been using the BT 8500 call blocker dect phone for about a year now,works brilliant.

 

[onomatopoeia]

We have been using the BT 8500 call blocker dect phone for about a year now,works brilliant.

I've got one as well, and it does exactly what it's supposed to.

Though I'm probably going to take the voice service off my line soon, so that will stop all calls

 

[arclight]

Had Truecall for two years now, totally eliminated all unwanted calls

I have had Truecall for around 5 years with the same level of success.

 

[mickledore]

Though I'm probably going to take the voice service off my line soon,

Is that now possible?
I heard it was being thought about. We could manage quite well with mobiles and just use the landline for data. Save some money as well!

 

[TLR-330]

And how long before you start getting spam calls on your mobile. As you will have to give the number, it will leak anyway.

 

[andyred]

BT call guardian phone - best decision we made this year with the phone.

Hardly rings anymore [emoji108]

 

[Andy Taylor]

I"m in the process of setting up a system for my landline that will auto answer, play a recorded message before launching into a menu system to trap the unwanted calls.

I'm also planning on using this for the hold music: https://soundcloud.com/user-237714155/sales-call-abyss

I got a SIP based phone number to integrate too - this is ex-directory and will only be shared with people I want to be able to call me.

 

[Tringa]

An answer machine does it for us. It doesn't stop the cold calls but we never answer one. All the family and friends know we have an answer machine so leave a message as do bona fide companies we might have ordered something from. The phone also has a number display so we can see if it is a number we recognise and are able to answer it before the message ends. Cold callers hang up the moment answer machine cuts in.

Dave

 

[onomatopoeia]

Is that now possible?
I heard it was being thought about. We could manage quite well with mobiles and just use the landline for data. Save some money as well!

My phone line is currently with BT, if I move it to the ISP I use, they do not offer a voice service on lines rented from them, they are for broadband only and you cannot make or receive calls. Line rental is £10/month.

 

[mickledore]

My phone line is currently with BT, if I move it to the ISP I use, they do not offer a voice service on lines rented from them, they are for broadband only and you cannot make or receive calls. Line rental is £10/month.

Thanks. I've been told in no uncertain manner that we simply can't manage without a landline. Something to do with Mother in Law.
I didn't ask. There's some things that a man should never do!

 

[Andy Taylor]

Thanks. I've been told in no uncertain manner that we simply can't manage without a landline. Something to do with Mother in Law.
I didn't ask. There's some things that a man should never do!

Set up a SIP account and port your number - it's cheap and easy to do. You can then route the inbound calls wherever you want

 

[mickledore]

Set up a SIP account and port your number - it's cheap and easy to do. You can then route the inbound calls wherever you want

I wouldn't have a clue what any of that means. Sorry.

 

[mickledore]

So I ordered these phones from Amazon on Tuesday.
Did I want free 24 hr delivery with a trial of Amazon Prime? No thank you.
Did I want 48hr delivery at a cost? No thank you.
Did I want 24hr delivery to an Amazon locker at a cost? No thank you.
Did I want free delivery with a delivery date of Thursday/Saturday of next week? That will do, thank you.
They gave me a Royal Mail tracking number that Royal Mail don't recognise.
Postie has just left a parcel in our porch. Result.

Why do Amazon do this? They regularly try to charge for fast delivery, but if I just say free and I'll wait it usually comes inside 48 hours.

Now I'm off to find a 6 year old who will instinctively know how to set it up.

 

[Nod]

So I ordered these phones from Amazon on Tuesday.
Did I want free 24 hr delivery with a trial of Amazon Prime? No thank you.
Did I want 48hr delivery at a cost? No thank you.
Did I want 24hr delivery to an Amazon locker at a cost? No thank you.
Did I want free delivery with a delivery date of Thursday/Saturday of next week? That will do, thank you.
They gave me a Royal Mail tracking number that Royal Mail don't recognise.
Postie has just left a parcel in our porch. Result.

Why do Amazon do this? They regularly try to charge for fast delivery, but if I just say free and I'll wait it usually comes inside 48 hours.

Now I'm off to find a 6 year old who will instinctively know how to set it up.

I think you've missed off a couple of extra prime traps - I fell into one recently (and managed to [eventually] find the way to stop it after the free trial).

Be careful blocking all withheld number calls; quite apart from some people withholding their numbers as a privacy measure, calls from places with internal exchanges often come up as withheld and that might well include your doctors' surgery.

 

[Dave *]

Be careful blocking all withheld number calls; quite apart from some people withholding their numbers as a privacy measure, calls from places with internal exchanges often come up as withheld and that might well include your doctors' surgery.

There's also no need to block withheld calls, the system will always catch them with the press # and then record your name prompt, so they won't get through until you accept them anyway.

 

[mickledore]

Well so far so good. New system installed mid afternoon yesterday and so far no spam calls at all. We would normally have had 3 or 4 last night and just recently some International number seems to be on repeat dial every morning. Silence is golden.

 

[andyscott]

I like to answer them and be as abusive as I wish, real good stress reliever.

 

[mickledore]

I like to answer them and be as abusive as I wish, real good stress reliever.

I used to do that but also liked to tie them in knots. It was when I asked for their home phone numbers so that I could pester them that the calls were terminated.
These days the calls are all automated and a human DROID only comes on the line once we've answered and sat waiting for some indeterminate time.
Remember....your call is important to us!

 

[Dave *]

I like to answer them and be as abusive as I wish, real good stress reliever.

I tried that, either just being a bit abusive or else stringing them along (the Microsoft calls and "you've had an accident" were really good for that) but by answering the calls and speaking you are acknowledging that your number is an active number and it just means you end up getting more spam calls.

Far better to just prevent them happening in the first place.

 

[andyscott]

I used to do that but also liked to tie them in knots. It was when I asked for their home phone numbers so that I could pester them that the calls were terminated.
These days the calls are all automated and a human DROID only comes on the line once we've answered and sat waiting for some indeterminate time.
Remember....your call is important to us!

Oh I get abusive, swear, tell them I would rather not claim as I was dressed as a woman etc at the time, or I was the get away driver for a bank robbery and the tights I had over my head made me crash. Endless hours of childish amusement.

 

[rackhs]

Oh I get abusive, swear, tell them I would rather not claim as I was dressed as a woman etc at the time, or I was the get away driver for a bank robbery and the tights I had over my head made me crash. Endless hours of childish amusement.

I am so going to try these ones

I like playing with the people from 'Windows' that want to fix my PC problems. Love playing with them! (I work in IT so it can get quite amusing )

 

[mickledore]

Be careful blocking all withheld number calls; quite apart from some people withholding their numbers as a privacy measure, calls from places with internal exchanges often come up as withheld and that might well include your doctors' surgery.

@Nod, an update.
Last night we had a call from the local hospital trying to rearrange an appointment. Hospital had to give thier name and press # key. Call came to us to accept. SWMBO asked girl about the system and she said that they are quite used to it nowadays. So many folk have these systems installed that hospitals, doctors et all know what is going on.
It's been in for a week now and we have had zero spam/witheld/international calls. Well worth the money.

 

[neil_g]

And how long before you start getting spam calls on your mobile. As you will have to give the number, it will leak anyway.

There's free apps for that. Truecaller for android is good for example, previously integrated into Cyanogen and also available as a separate app.

Never get any spam callers despite having no landline.