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Call blocking companies

Crater
Crater Posts: 223 Forumite
Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
My very old mother in law has just had a call from someone saying "they will block nuisance calls" (She is already with the TPS, so they are a nuisance call.) Of course she just talks to them, and then phones us to tell us she has talked to them, but knows nothing about who she has spoken to, what the company is, whether they have asked her for payment details etc.

The phone provider tells us there is no way of finding out what the anonymous incoming number was. I always thought that was true, but I read somewhere that since the phone system knows what the number is, someone should be able to find it out. Does anyone know if this is true? Just as a point of reference.

Comments

  • JJ_Egan
    JJ_Egan Posts: 20,281 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Numbers can be spoofed.
    TPS basically is a waste of time .
  • Crater
    Crater Posts: 223 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    JJ_Egan wrote: »
    Numbers can be spoofed.
    TPS basically is a waste of time .

    TPS is quite useful in keeping reputable companies from cold calling, but a lot of companies just ignore it, and the more disreputable they are the more they ignore it. I don't bother to report callers to them now.

    But I'm still intrigued to know if there is a way of tracing "blocked" phone number as has been claimed.

    But I realise what probably the basic of what we need is just to block "hidden" number callers. yes a lot of them spoof numbers to get around this, but the biggest nuisance lately has all been callers who hide their numbers.
  • Mister_G
    Mister_G Posts: 1,960 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    The BT8500 works very well at blocking all these type of calls.
  • littleboo
    littleboo Posts: 1,857 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Withholding your number is a legitimate privacy option for callers, the telephone operator will still know the calling number and that is revealed on 999 calls even if withheld. But they won't routinely disclose a withheld number to the called party.
  • Exemplar
    Exemplar Posts: 1,612 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    littleboo wrote: »
    Withholding your number is a legitimate privacy option for callers, the telephone operator will still know the calling number and that is revealed on 999 calls even if withheld. But they won't routinely disclose a withheld number to the called party.

    Seconded - great piece of kit.
    'Just because its on the internet don't believe it 100%'. Abraham Lincoln.

    I have opinions, you have opinions. All of our opinions are valid whether they are based on fact or feeling. Respect other peoples opinions, stop forcing your opinions on other people and the world will be a happier place.
  • JJ_Egan
    JJ_Egan Posts: 20,281 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper
    Newer version out now from BT think its the BT8600 .
This discussion has been closed.
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