BT Call blocking phones

Ian011

andromedean wrote: »

What happens if people you want to hear from, withhold their numbers? Can the phone identify and make exceptions for these and so not block them?

You can issue those wanted callers with a four-digit PIN code. They enter this at the verbal challenge and your phone rings immediately.

Alternatively, they can say their name in response to the challenge and you will hear this and be able to accept the call.

Susan1942

My Daughter gave me the BT8600 Advanced Call Blocker at Christmas. I have just set it up 2 days ago.
I put in a lot of phone numbers I was happy to accept calls from including international ones.
The system seems to be working as I have had no nuisance calls . My Brother called from the US last night and the call came through to me with him having to give me his name. I simply had to press 1 so no problem I take it that it screens international phone no's .
I am extremely happy with the system and such a relief to be rid of the 10+ calls I was getting on a daily basis.
Thanks for the advice given to me on this matter Sue

Ian011

You can issue your brother with a four-digit PIN in order to bypass having to say his name. Check the instructions to see how to set this up.

Susan1942

I think I already have set up a password but didn't know what it was for
He calls me frequently so will tell him.Thanks Sue

Susan1942

Help I have put in a no of phone no's I am happy to take calls from. An elderly friend called last night but despite her being on this list her call was challenged.
She called again as she thought it was a wrong no. She told me there was a message about.GARDENING. I realised that the message was in fact said Guardian. She hung up a second time. I only knew she called me when I looked at my calls. Can anyone help me ? Sue

Ian011

Check that there isn't a typo in the number you entered.

Make sure your caller ID service is working and that the caller hasn't withheld their number. If they withhold their number, they will be challenged as an unknown caller. I guess neither of those apply here.

Those people can be issued with a PIN code to bypass the challenge. Perhaps that would be a short term solution for the moment?

The trueCall company has an online forum that may be able to offer additional advice.

Susan1942

Thank you I will have a look at that forum. I went down to my neighbour and tried calling my phone from her phone. The message from Guardian came on so omitting the area code made no difference. I still had to say her name and press hash. The problem is that I don't think she will remember to say her name and press the correct button.
Will try and sort it out. If not I will write down what she has to do. She is 86 and very frail also a bit on the deaf side. Last night when I saw the missed calls I called her and she said the person she was speaking to was talking about Gardening !!
Thanks again Sue

Abbey1991

I believe that the BT 8600 home phone has a feature to allow specific numbers, and block categories of numbers eg withheld / international.

Does anyone know if you can programme it to automatically accept calls from a specific area code? ie I know that anyone calling me from a particular town is likely to be genuine, but I don't know all the numbers to be able to programme them in individually.

Thanks

Ian011

The main feature of the trueCall plug-in box, the BT 8500 and BT 8600 "Call Guardian" handsets, the BT Halo handsets and the Sky Shield system (built into the phone network) is that all unknown callers are subject to a voice challenge which they must complete before your phone rings. Marketers and scammers usually hang up and your phone doesn't ring. For those who complete the voice challenge, the usual arrangement is to add callers to the 'always accepted' or 'always rejected' list as you go.

You do NOT want to automatically accept all calls that appear to come from a particular area code. Many scammers now send fake caller ID pretending to be a local number as these calls are more likely to be picked up.

If you have people who may call from a variety of numbers or from numbers where caller ID is withheld, another feature of trueCall is that you can issue them with a PIN code to get through without needing to complete the voice challenge.

TadleyBaggie

I have a TrueCall box and have "whitelisted" my local area code, local callers can get straight through.