Nuisance call protection...what is the best?

snadge

snadge

snadge

Associate
Joined
11 Oct 2010
Posts
544
Hi All

Im asking on behalf of my father who says he gets many several nuisance & scam calls per day even though he is on TPS (obviously scammers dont adhere to that) - he is moving ISP soon (as he has done every 18 months) and is not only wanting advice on other ISPs at 40/10 other than NOW and PLUSNET as he's tried them and wants to try something new, but reliable.

Anyway, his main concern was preventing the nuisance calls, BT (as a phone service) claim they can stop 100% of nuisance calls, but the reviewer said their other stuff left a lot to be desired ([censored]), and recommended the Panasonic KX-TGH260 or, even better, the Gigaset C570A handsets.

do any of our users have this problem and what is your fix?

thanks in advance
 
Yeh don't have a landline..the mere act of having one likely means your in the age range to be scammed and will have an increase in calls.

What does he have against mobile phones?
 
Danger Bri said:
I had one the other day informing me that there was a problem with my Bt broadband. I’m with Virgin Media :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Yeah , i get some of these calls randomly on my cell phone too. "Can you check the router light is blinking..." and then they get aggressive when you don't answer lol
 
Pawnless Endgame said:
It seems to be quite common for overseas scammers to spoof a geographic number such as 0121 or 0161. Is Trucall effective against that too?
Click to expand...

Yeah, so the way is works is that any caller ID in your phone as a contact gets put through automatically. Any other call gets an automated message asking them to say who they are and to press '1' to continue. This stops auto-diallers as they don't do the press 1 part. It would also be a very long shot for them to spoof a number in your phone contacts list.

There's an extra level referred to as the VIP list - those numbers would get through even if your phone is set to "do not disturb". We have DND set from 11pm to 7am and the only VIP numbers are family as if they're calling at that time, its definitely an emergency.
 
snadge said:
[..]
do any of our users have this problem and what is your fix?

thanks in advance
Click to expand...

I'm still using the first effective off the shelf product to combat nuisance calls - BT 6510 IIRC. There are better ones nowadays, but that one still works so I see no reason to buy something else. The battery life has deteriorated over the years, but it's still enough for at least an hour or two on the phone between charges and I don't need more than that. Cost me ~£30. I'd have paid £300 and considered it a bargain. I work shifts. Being woken up by nuisance calls makes them even worse. That hasn't happened since I got that phone.

It's a cheap and simple system - landline phone with built in digital answerphone and cordless handset. Base unit into usual phone socket, handset into base unit to charge, pick it up and use it anywhere within range. The range is pretty good, probably enough for anywhere in most houses. For example, my base unit is upstairs in my house. I can go downstairs and make a cup of tea while still on the phone.

If you turn do not disturb mode off, it works as a standard phone. If you turn do not disturb mode on, by default any incoming calls go to answerphone after <user definable> rings without ringing at your end. If the caller leaves a message, the message goes silently to the answerphone. The phone lights up and you can pick it up and answer if you like, but it won't make any noise apart from a couple of very faint clicks. There's a user-definable VIP list - any incoming call from any number on the VIP list will cause the phone to ring as normal and the VIP caller will be audible while leaving a message.

I leave DND mode on permanently. In my experience, any legit callers not on the VIP list leave a message on the answerphone and almost no scammers and nuisance callers do so. The only nuisance calls I get left on my answerphone are bots and very few of them. Human nuisance callers and the better configured bots don't bother with unanswered calls - they just move on to a more easily exploited target.

Numbers for incoming calls are also logged, so you can look them up if you like. While scammers can fake numbers, most of them don't seem to bother or use the same fake number for all their scamming. Feed the number to a search engine and you'll probably get some hits reporting it as a scammer number. Or just ignore it. A legit caller would have left a message.

The only restriction is that it requires you to have caller ID active. Which is barely a restriction since it's pretty much standard nowadays and at most costs a couple of pounds a month.

You can also use it for blocking specific numbers and/or whole classes of numbers (e.g. all numbers with caller ID blocked), but I don't bother. No need - do not disturb mode removes the problem of scammers and nuisance calls and there's no risk of over-blocking.
 
I thought the worst thing you could do was answer the phone as you are then confirming the number is live and indeed sellable to other ******* companies. Well that’s my excuse for not answering the phone to people.. :D
 
Several years ago I invested in a BT8500 call blocking phone (twinset for £56) after getting bombarded day after day with spam/scam calls and it literally stopped them overnight. One of the best buys I have ever made.
 
Feek said:
Truecall was first.

Truecall is my answer.
Click to expand...

I never saw Truecall on the shelf of any shop. I bought my phone in Argos, off the shelf.

EDIT: Interesting pitch on Dragon's Den. I think the only objection made by any of the investors was flawed. Having Truecall as a seperate product rather than being built into a phone was probably more of an advantage than a disadvantage because most people who'd buy it already had a landline phone. No need to junk your existing phone.
 
Last edited:
I have a triple set of BT cordless phones with Call Guardian on them. You can add specific numbers to a whitelist and everyone else has to announce any call. Oddly, scammers don't tend to want to announce themselves and so don't even get through the first gate.
I've not had a scam call for years now on my landline.
Truecaller on my mobile takes out the scanners there too.
 
ok guys n gals

I've talked them in into ridding his house phones unlimited calls for £9 a month, and Three's 3-2-1 mobile at £5 a month n i will find PAYG monthly sims for £10 or less that gives unlimited minutes- saves money, saves mess on, a single device

so now i gotta find deals after finding which network is best for his Area (indoors and outdoors + his home is built with stoned walls)

cos I've never gotten a dodgy cold call on my mobile, and as it runs an OS it isn't a 'one-trick pony', theirs still TPS, and apps for call nuisance, and whitelists/blocklists directly on the fone

thanks guys
 
I don't even bother with the landline side any more - have my mobile setup to suppress all unsolicited/unknown numbers and whitelist those whose call would be important.

Some days my parent's landline is practically ringing off the hook with unsolicited calls even with a service in place to block them.
 
Rroff said:
I don't even bother with the landline side any more - have my mobile setup to suppress all unsolicited/unknown numbers and whitelist those whose call would be important.

Some days my parent's landline is practically ringing off the hook with unsolicited calls even with a service in place to block them.
Click to expand...

It's easy to replace the service with a product that does work. None of the services work completely. The products do. If they choose Truecall, they won't even have to change their phone(s) because Truecall is an additional unit that connects between the socket and the phone. If they do change their phone(s), they can buy phones with the product built in. You can get such phones for under £50. Truecall is probably still the best solution and that's ~£100. Absolutely worth it for the huge reduction in hassle.

I haven't had a single unsolicited call for years now. The products work. Simple as that. There's no point signing up for services that don't work. I'd advise looking at a few such products to compare the features and discuss it with your parents to find out what features they want. The most basic such product works absolutely fine for me - calls from numbers on the list I define make the phone ring as normal, all other calls go silently to the built in answering machine. IME genuine callers leave a message and the scammers, sales callers and other nuisance callers don't. They just move on to an easier target. Even if they do leave a message, press a button and it's deleted.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom