00141651896781 Phone Call

The latest I heard was an automated message saying it was from your ISP and you were going to be disconnected.

My call blocker stops it ringing the phone, I picked this up from the recording it makes when asking the callers name for you to vet.

I use true caller on my mobile, it filters out all spam calls, and you can one touch black list numbers. If so many peeps black list a number, the system blocks it for all.

A combination of that, and keeping my phone on priority calls only. Keeps my very old phone number quiet.

Android priority calls feature is very good. Though you need a bit of nouce to set it up. It’s as simple as activating it, then going through your contact list and ‘starring’ what numbers you want to make your phone ring. All other calls, that true caller let’s through, will be silent. That way i can decide if i want to call someone back.

My starred contacts, are close family, (not all) doctors, some NHS numbers, and work numbers that are usually times sensitive. Oh and my mechanic. Other than that i ignore all calls. And have a block on all private unlisted numbers. I’ll decide if i want to talk to someone in my own time.

It’s a shame we need to manage phone calls so much.

I’d like a facebook type system, at i first have to ‘friend’ before they can even contact be. One big global database, where your name and a bit of info about you (user discretion), so anyone can request to contact me, but you can turn the down and blacklist them from asking again.

A system like that is needed for phone and email. What’s great and also bad, is we sort of have this with Facebook, but no one trusts them. I still think they are that big they now won’t fail (famous last words), and one day they will be the defacto world communication network.

Umtill then its a matter of anally micromanaging your own contacts.

If you’re talking about landline call management, there is a company that sells a type of intercepted box that pre-screens numbers. I can’t recall its name, but I’m sure on of the MM for mum members got one and spoke highly of it. I’m not sure who, or if they migrated here after the apocalypse

Yes it’s Truecaller. We don’t reject unknown numbers. White list numbers go straight through, black list get told to politely eff off. For the rest, genuine callers will say their name when asked by the machine, it then rings the phone, plays back what they said and you press 1 to answer or hang up. I’ve found most people are now quite used to them, especially doctors etc.

Cold callers give up at this point and hang up (so the phone never rings) but automated message just drone on and get recorded, so you then reject the call by hanging up. There are other options to black or white list them.

It acts as an answer machine if you don’t answer within X rings. The machine has a nice red lit button when there’s a message waiting and you just press it to play. Left to delete and right to keep. Easy. I’m sure there are options to do this remotely but we don’t use them.

Best £100 I ever spent.

The idea of Truecaller is great, but it doesn’t work very well here. By the time it’s found the number, I’ve either answered, or it’s gone to voicemail. When it does work, more often than not it’s marked a legitimate number as spam e.g. bank numbers, or utility companies. They get flagged by people who are presumably avoiding their bills, then don’t get through to me

I have the standalone system and the only number lists it looks at are your own. There is no central pubic black list.

You can manage your lists and look at your call history from a cloud app (it sends call data to a server) and it was useful during the first free year but not worth paying for. By that time our lists were pretty stable.

We found that black listing junk calls was mostly a waste of time as they change numbers. The fact they are asked to identify themselves is enough to make them give up. One brave soul did try it once and that’s in 3 or 4 years.

What is the name of you4 hardware set up dave? It sounds very good. I may even plug a phone into my home line one day.

Cheers you tricked me, as in a post above, you called it truecaller (i assume that an auto correct issue).

I wonder if the two, truecall and the app Truecaller are related.

Thankfully Dave pointed me towards the BT Truecall some while ago and I completely agree with his comment on its value.

You can if you wish block all calls from people not on the trusted list. (this setting gives real peace of mind value to anyone who has any relatives who have lost a few marbles: a so-called ‘dementia setting‘). They also have a special ‘I’m from Microsoft’ setting that makes it far more difficult for India call centres to get through. link