BT Call Protect

firefox1956

Is BT Call Protect any good ??
Anybody got any issuses with it ??
TIA

pogofish

The main issue is that this is really a subject for the Phone Forum!

Another one might be more related to BT being a shower of dishonest nincompoops with no idea of the fundamentals of basic customer service- but that's maybe a wider issue.

JJ_Egan

firefox1956 wrote: »

Is BT Call Protect any good ??
Anybody got any issuses with it ??
TIA

BT 8500 and 8600 do the job really well .

JamoLew

Agree with ^^

Have had the 8600 handsets for 6 months now and not a single unsolicited call has got thru.

If the caller isn't listed as a recognised number, the system asks the caller to state their name etc and the phone then pages you, replays the info and you can then decide whether to accept or reject the call.

Gloomendoom

JJ_Egan wrote: »

BT 8500 and 8600 do the job really well .

Agreed. I bought a set over a year ago and have received zero spam calls since.

firefox1956

Thanks for the comments.
BT 8500 & 8600 cost.
BT Call Protect is free if you meet their call package criteria.

JJ_Egan

firefox1956 wrote: »

Thanks for the comments.
BT 8500 & 8600 cost.
BT Call Protect is free if you meet their call package criteria.

Suck it and see then if its free .

Biggles

JamoLew wrote: »

Have had the 8600 handsets for 6 months now and not a single unsolicited call has got thru.

That's not really the point. If you had a box that let no calls through, you could say the same thing.

The problem is how it treats genuine callers, and I wouldn't want friends/relatives who withhold numbers, as well as others like doctors' surgeries, banks etc, being treated like scammers.

You might as well just let all calls go through to an answering machine, which actually works just as well and is cheaper.

Gloomendoom

Biggles wrote: »

That's not really the point. If you had a box that let no calls through, you could say the same thing.

The problem is how it treats genuine callers, and I wouldn't want friends/relatives who withhold numbers, as well as others like doctors' surgeries, banks etc, being treated like scammers.

You might as well just let all calls go through to an answering machine, which actually works just as well and is cheaper.

Except that it doesn't work just as well. I know because that is what we used to do. With an answering machine every call still rings and annoys even if you don't answer it. That doesn't happen with the BT phones. If the caller is not in your contact list, they are informed that calls are being screened by Call Guardian and they are invited to announce themselves (in our case, in over a year not one spammer has). If they are not on the list or they don't announce themselves, the phone doesn't ring at all. If they are on your list they get through straight away. With announced calls, you are given the opportunity to hear who it is and answer, drop or block that number accordingly.

securityguy

Biggles wrote: »

That's not really the point. If you had a box that let no calls through, you could say the same thing.

The problem is how it treats genuine callers, and I wouldn't want friends/relatives who withhold numbers, as well as others like doctors' surgeries, banks etc, being treated like scammers.
.

There's no excuse for either doctors' surgeries or banks to withhold their number, so if the cap fits, they're perfectly welcome to wear it. The bank I am a customer of doesn't withhold its number: if others do, why isn't "scammer" a perfectly reasonable abbreviation for "too lazy to use presentation numbers?" The same goes for doctors' surgeries, hospitals and the other flimsy excuses for withholding: why can't they use a presentation number?

As for friends/relatives withholding their number when calling me, why would I want to talk to people who do that? How hard is it to programme 1470 into the memory?

Owain_Moneysaver

securityguy wrote: »

As for friends/relatives withholding their number when calling me, why would I want to talk to people who do that? How hard is it to programme 1470 into the memory?

In my case I often use an outgoing line for calls I don't want incoming calls on (ironically because I get so many nuisance calls on that line!)

So I have to say my name and press #. Big deal.