Stop all nuisance calls simply and easily with BT's new free Call Protect service
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Nowadays I very seldom receive an unwanted phone call - maybe one every six weeks.
I put the reason down to having stopped putting my phone number down on sites such as price comparison sites over the past three years, combined with being registered with TPS."There are not enough superlatives in the English language to describe a 'Princess Coronation' locomotive in full cry. We shall never see their like again". O S Nock0 -
I've done both of those things but still get calls. I give my mobile number instead which is always on silent and I only check if I'm expecting a call/text. I suspect some legitimate companies have passed on my number.poppasmurf_bewdley wrote: »Nowadays I very seldom receive an unwanted phone call - maybe one every six weeks.
I put the reason down to having stopped putting my phone number down on sites such as price comparison sites over the past three years, combined with being registered with TPS.0 -
I, like Cardew, was hoping it might block the call I have been getting every day for the last week but it won't, because the number appearing on Caller Display is not "a valid number".
It looks as if the BT8500 is the best solution.
Agreed, that facility seems useless for scam(and hence invalid) telephone numbers.
However I have blacklisted 5 numbers in 24 hours by immediately dialing 1572 and entering '1' to blacklist the last number.
3 of those 5 numbers had a UK area code and I don't know what scam they are trying; they all have an Indian accent and start - 'please give me a minute of your time'.
The other two numbers had a USA prefix(001) and purported to be from BT telling me I had an internet fault - again both had Far East accents.
As it is pretty obvious that the telephone number these phone calls use is computer generated, there is an almost infinite number of combinations available. It is therefore difficult to see how this BT system is going to block scam calls - unless BT have some way of tracing the source of the calls.
I also fail to see how the BT 8500 phone can deal with the billions of possible computer generated phone numbers. e.g. if scammer uses 001 123 456 789 and is blacklisted/barred by the phone, what happens if the same scammer uses 001 789 456 123?0 -
Do you need to have BT voicemail activated for this? How else can it divert to a email-style 'junk' voicemail inbox if I don't have voicemail?0
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andromedean wrote: »Do you need to have BT voicemail activated for this? How else can it divert to a email-style 'junk' voicemail inbox if I don't have voicemail?
No need to. You just dial 1572 to listen to anything in the junk inbox.0 -
The trueCall system (either the plug-in box or built-in to the BT 8500 and BT 8600 Call Guardian handsets) issues a verbal challenge to all unknown callers. It doesn't matter how many numbers they try, they will always be challenged. Nuisance callers, scammers and automated calls simply hang up at this point and the called phone does not ring.I also fail to see how the BT 8500 phone can deal with the billions of possible computer generated phone numbers. e.g. if scammer uses 001 123 456 789 and is blacklisted/barred by the phone, what happens if the same scammer uses 001 789 456 123?
Only "known" callers are let straight through. Known callers are those whose phone number is in your "approved" list or who have been previously issued with a four-digit PIN to bypass the verbal challenge. The latter facility is useful for people who may call you from a wide variety of numbers or those, such as doctors and hospitals, who may call from a withheld number.
You can also add numbers to a "blocked" list. These people will hear a "call rejected" message instead of being issued with a verbal challenge. Even without this, the system is very effective. Indeed, this latter function can be completely ignored and it makes the system no less effective.0 -
What is unclear, to me at least, is what happens if I get calls showing 'international call' or 'number withheld' There is a facility on-line in manage account to bar all ''international calls' and 'number withheld' calls. However I clearly don't want to ban all those calls as I have friends abroad and some people e.g. My doctor and members of the Royal family!! who call my number. If I blacklist a scam call showing 'international call' or 'number withheld' by dialling 1572 and pressing '1' will that blacklist all 'international' and 'number withheld' calls.
Answering one of my questions!
Had a spam call that displayed as 'international' on caller display. I dialled 1572 pressed '1' to add it to my personal blacklist. The number was read back to me as 001 9745 68741 - so obviously BT know the number, albeit still one of the computer generated random numbers.
It is ironic that since getting the system I have had more scam calls than I have ever had before - 10 in 2 days.
Whilst I can see the system coping for specific phone numbers e.g Mother in law, Bank manager, Paris Hilton etc! I still can't see how this system will cope with the billions of computer generated telephone numbers.0 -
001 974 568 741 is one digit short of being a valid number length for the country it claims to be from (and may well not be a valid area code).
Blocking based solely on CLI is doomed to failure. It seems BT's system may be a headline-grabbing marketing exercise rather than anything particularly useful or effective.0 -
And some of the forged CLIs are genuine numbers. The owners of them, often companies, won't take kindly to having their numbers on the block list.
My spam call count is fairly low, I can cope with it by looking at the displayed number and allowing all international, unavailable and dodgy ones to go through to the answer machine. The recorded message ones are a pain in that the caller doesn't realise it is talking to an answer machine and you end up having to delete the message that gets recorded (often with the first bit truncated).
Interesting idea, and maybe helpful for some, but not the golden bullet.0
This discussion has been closed.
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