Blocking Nuisance calls on TalkTalk

[HarryM1BYT]

I heard about this, just this morning so now we have it enabled. I wasn't prepared to pay to stop them, but now its all for free on Talktalk/ Tiscali.

You just log into your phone account at TT andd tick the boxes.

1. Anonymous caller reject. If anyone tries to ring and withhold their number, they will an engaged tone. You might need to tell the likes of doctors that they need to disclose their number to ring you.

2. Caller Display, so the callers number shows up at your end.

3. Last caller barred. With 1 enabled, you only get nuisance calls from those who present a number. They get through once, after which you can bar them from ever ringing you again by keying in 14258** (if they were the last to call).

Item 1 should take care of 2/3 rds of them, 2 and 3 should take care of the rest.

..and all three are for free - well done TT. Peace at long last, apart from the mobiles ringing..

[v-man]

I wonder if the other providers will follow suit.

[HarryM1BYT]

Originally Posted by v-man

I wonder if the other providers will follow suit.

Most do offer such services, but at a cost. If they did offer for free, it would put the nuisance callers out of business instantly.

[WillyHeckaslike]

If the telecomms sector was properly regulated TalkTalk would be done for misrepresentation because its so-called anonymous caller reject service does not apparently reject some anonymous calls ... as I recently discovered to my utter frustration and annoyance. Click

[HarryM1BYT]

Originally Posted by WillyHeckaslike

If the telecomms sector was properly regulated TalkTalk would be done for misrepresentation because its so-called anonymous caller reject service does not apparently reject some anonymous calls ... as I recently discovered to my utter frustration and annoyance. Click

I'm not sure what you are getting at there, or in the page you linked to...

The recorded messages which you hear on the landline or mobile calls asks you to press a button if you might have any interest in what the recording is offering, most often that is press 5, with perhaps another number to stop them calling. Pressing the other number seems to deliberately do nothing. Their recorded message system is an attempt by who ever they work for, to save themselves time and avoid the abuse they often get from making the manual calls.

I press 5, so I can deliberately get them to call back, so I can give them some abuse - they deserve nothing less. They were not invited to call in the first place, with their recorded message - in fact they were expressly told repeatedly not to call the number.

We have had the above mentioned services enabled now for 6 days. During those 6 days, there has not been one single nuisance call get through the withheld number filter - not one. Before we had a ratio of 50% withheld numbers, 50% invalid numbers - if you try to call the number they are invalid. Neither type has got through, so my assumption is that the filter filters out both the number withheld and the ones with a spoofed (invalid number) too.

So its even more effective than I originally thought!

We have had no one reported their genuine call has failed to get through. Having tested it by my deliberately with holding my number when ringing our landline number, TT's system plays a message to say that we don't accept calls from withheld numbers.

As an ex-telecoms engineer, I know of no method by which your pressing a number key in response to a recorded message, can charge you. It sounds like one of those urban myths.

If some calls still do get through, then with the facility to block calls from specified numbers, you can block them too.

What's not to like?

[suffolk boy]

just done mine today via my talk talk account settings thank you harry so far so good .i was being pestered by peter .the one with a very strong indian accent who wanted me to help with loads of questions from loads of companys.i was daft enough to endure one of these surveys at one time i got bombarded with junk mail from companys offering solar heating double glazing timeshares you name it never again

[HarryM1BYT]

Having said the above, one got through - the display said WITHHELD and 1471 also suggested it was a witheld number. How do the do that?

My guess is they must present a number briefly, long enough for the system to accept it, then delete it before it rings - or there was a glitch in TT's system.

[Duotone]

I am with Virgin Media and have cable tv broadband and phone.

I have managed to get Anonymous Caller Rejection switched on.

Just dialed *272# on my Virgin phone.

I have had it working for a week now and it has stopped all the withheld number callers but we still get the odd call from people selling stuff. Maybe one every two days, compared to about eight per day.

I only works in certain areas, it works in Pudsey/Bramley nr Leeds but not in Robertown nr Huddersfield.

So, it depends where you live but it seems to work.

Dave T

[WillyHeckaslike]

HarryM1BYT: I'm not sure what you are getting at there, or in the page you linked to.

If an outfit advertisers a service to reject anonymous calls then, call me old fashioned, but is it not unreasonable to expect that the advertised service does that? I think that the law would expect so if push came to shove.

HarryM1BYT: We have had the above mentioned services enabled now for 6 days. During those 6 days, there has not been one single nuisance call get through the withheld number filter - not one. So its even more effective than I originally thought!

We've been with Talktalk for a lot longer than that, quite a few years now. In fact we had this service when they used to charge for it and guess why I cancelled it? Yes, for the very same reason that I am once again experiencing having decided to give it another chance.

HarryM1BYT: If some calls still do get through, then with the facility to block calls from specified numbers, you can block them too.

My posts in the thread that I linked to show that I did this but the nuisance caller just rings back using a different number or, as is mostly the case, anonymously.

HarryM1BYT: Having said the above, one got through - the display said WITHHELD and 1471 also suggested it was a withheld number. How do they do that?

The posts in the thread in my link give some insight as to how but we have had a lot more than one anonymous call get through ... up to SEVEN in one day from the same caller.

[WillyHeckaslike]

As an ex-telecoms engineer, I know of no method by which your pressing a number key in response to a recorded message, can charge you. It sounds like one of those urban myths.

In my experience it is quite common for a warning to be issued about a possible charge if you press a number key in response to a recorded message so I would guess that it is not a myth. Maybe others might be able to clarify.