More irritating than nuisance calls

woj101

I moved in to a new property about 6 months ago and ever since, on an almost daily basis, my phone has received calls that is nothing more than a 'beep' followed by a second's silence, then another 'beep', more silence, etc...

Does anybody have any idea what this is - my caller id just says number withheld? It does the same if you don't pick up and let it go to answerphone.

Thanks

Xenomorhic

That's what it sounds like if someone tries to ring our normal phone at work and it's a fax they're trying to send.

Could be someone trying to send a fax to a wrong no?

mobrien18

It's more than likely an autodialler - a device call centres use to contact people on a marketing list. However, there often isn't resource to pick up all the calls the autodialler makes, hence the silence. Registering with the Telephone Preference Service may help.

woj101

I've just googled my phone number and it turns out it's an old fax number for a company that relocated 2 years ago. I've phoned the company but there's not much they can do because they've publicised their new details to their customers. All the calls are withheld numbers, so is there anything else I can do?

Heinz

Personally, I'd hook up a cheap (ebay) fax machine and have a bit of fun with spoof replies. But I'm a bit warped.

OTOH, you could at least then reply with the firm's new fax number.

I wonder whether the firm would supply you with a loan fax machine if you (light-heartedly) threatened the former but offered the latter?

DonnyDave

It's probably a junk fax where you respond to them on a 087 or 09 premium rate number. You could register with Fax Preference Service.

I read somewhere that BT only re-allocate numbers when it receives less than a certain amount of 'calls'. From what you've said, this fax machine has been trying every day since before your number was assigned to you.

Are you with BT? Have you reported it as a nuisance call?

thefirs

Most dialup modems can be configured to receive faxes - if the calls arrive at a predictable time of day you can set the phone to receive the fax and find out the sender's number.