BT8500 Phone with Call Guardian

colin79666 · 10 December 2014 at 9:20PM

I'm among the first to slate BT when they get it wrong but they have got just about everything right with this phone

Same price as the more feature packed DECT phones (answer phone, colour screen, large phonebook memory etc) but also includes Call Guardian which intercepts calls from those you haven't explicitly already allowed (you can white-list family and friends so they get straight through) and asks them to state their name and hold the line which it rings your phone as asks you if you want to take the call or block them. You can also block categories of call such as withheld but I'm a bit wary of doing that just in case its the hospital calling about a relative or something. Anyway got this phone 3 months ago and not had a single nuisance call ring or leave a voicemail yet! Big improvement as we were getting up to 6 a day before, it seems the scammers, PPI claims, double glazing sales people etc just hang up when they are asked to give their name and hold as they get the point you aren't interested in their call.

It keeps a log of blocked calls which is quite satisfying to look at from time to time.

Factored in the cost of the handsets (we got the pack or 2) and figured it would pay for itself in 2 years based on us no longer needing the 1571 service.

System · 11 December 2014 at 9:03AM

100 % agree its the best phone we have ever bought.

forgotmyname · 11 December 2014 at 1:30PM

I have the old 6510's and also a call blocker off ebay (little white one).

What i find strange is that the BT caller ID just says international, Yet the little call blocker usually shows a number.

Until i used confused.com all the dodgy calls had stopped. Since my quote ive been getting some odd numbers and lots of calls even though i ticked the do not contact me box.

(that means you go skippy insurance) Are you not bored with getting one ring and instantly cut off yet?

Take the hint

JJ_Egan · 11 December 2014 at 2:51PM

8500 is discounted for BT customers buy through your My BT .

savemoney · 11 December 2014 at 3:01PM

Seems to be a BT dect phone with builtin truecall technology. Fantastic that finally you can get a phone with it built in. I use truecall myself and have done for almost 5 years well worth it for peace at home from cold callers/scammers

I am after a new phone as my existing Panasonic dect is almost 10 years old now and despite it still working its a little dated and could so with slightly bigger buttons.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/BT8500-Advanced-Blocker-Cordless-Handset/dp/B00LZTI0B6

The above is cheaper on BT if bt customers as said £69.99 for triple whilst amazon is £94.99 shame I cant get it at that price as I am with plusnet

Edit found triple even cheaper than BT online £59.99 or double £44.99 or single £29.99

http://www.telephonesonline.co.uk/bt-8500-trio-digital-cordless-answer-phone-with-advanced-call-blocker.html

I_luv_cats · 11 December 2014 at 3:09PM

I've a 6500 (twin)

Great how it doesn't ring / disturb with a withheld, int, No ID etc. call (blocked setting)

1571 is no longer free (Sky) so handy to have the ans phone

savemoney · 11 December 2014 at 3:13PM

I was hoping Truecall would eventually allow licensing of there great technology. I would say its a must have item if you want peace at home and also protect vulnerable people. I am very tempting to get one and give my truecall to MIL now, she gets a lot of cast offs from us lol. Honestly Truecall is a fantastic protect to protect you from unwanted intrusion at home on phone.

GalaxyStar · 11 December 2014 at 4:41PM

We bought these about a month ago, it has the call guardian on but it's not letting numbers we have listed in the phone through, they have to say their name etc still which got annoying so had to turn it off which means we're now getting nuisance calls through. I cant figure out how to get them past the screening they're listed in the settings as allowed numbers but nothing

colin79666 · 11 December 2014 at 9:34PM

GalaxyStar wrote: »

We bought these about a month ago, it has the call guardian on but it's not letting numbers we have listed in the phone through, they have to say their name etc still which got annoying so had to turn it off which means we're now getting nuisance calls through. I cant figure out how to get them past the screening they're listed in the settings as allowed numbers but nothing

Do you have caller ID enabled on your line (the phone number is shown on the display when someone calls)? If not the phone can't read who is calling so will default to announced mode.

patman99 · 11 December 2014 at 11:36PM

TrueCall didn't come up with the idea of comparing an incoming number against a list, then either letting it through, cutting the call, or asking for the caller to announce their name before being put on hold. Octopuss Software dis.
It was first demonstrated in Ipswich by a clever computer programmer in 1998.

I attended a meeting of the nearest Acorn User Group having got hold of an Archimedes A3000 for my son. One of the Club's members enjoyed dabbling in programing and was giving a talk on some software he had coded to make use of an old Archimedes he had sitting around.
The computer had a modem card installed which had an out port for a phone. He had written the software to run a phone system using callerID with a view to being able to use it to work as an advanced answerphone, with the ability for him to leave custom messages for different callers.

He then extended it to log all out-going calls and then added a feature where by touching the star key a number could be marked as anti-social and bocked.

cashbag · 12 December 2014 at 12:41AM

Another thumbs up for BT8500! After several weeks of up to 15 calls a day from accident compo scum I finally have silenced them. Was already looking for a new phone with caller display (free with my BT contract) when I spotted a rave review for this one. Seemed too good to be true but as it was no more expensive than similar handsets with ansafone was worth a punt. It is amazing - silence is golden. So far about a dozen numbers have been blocked in just one week.

You deffo need BT Privacy (or whatever your phone provider calls it) for Caller I D to allow your OK callers to come straight through & inputting allowed numbers initially was a bit tedious but now it's done.

Cannot recommend highly enough. This technology is the future. Bye bye scummy scammers! A 2 handset model is £49.99 + delivery if you are a BT customer.

BT8500 Phone with Call Guardian

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