Nuisance call protection...what is the best?

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

I am with Talk Talk on their FTTC Fibre 65 80/20 package and their free Call Safe is brilliant, we never get scam or nuisance calls any more -

They also offer a Fibre 35 FTTC 38Mbps package - https://new.talktalk.co.uk/broadband/fibre



Every time you get a call, CallSafe will automatically check the number to make sure it’s someone you want to hear from. Regularly dialed numbers like friends and family, will be put straight through. For any new callers, CallSafe will:

1. Check to see if the number is on a list of unwanted callers. If so, it’s automatically blocked and your home phone never rings.

2. Manage any other callers with an extra step. It will ask the caller to record a short introduction before your phone rings. You’ll hear this message when you pick up your home phone and have the choice to either answer, ignore, or block the call.

CallSafe needs no extra kit, simply dial 1472 to turn it on and leave the rest to us. If you want, you can view and manage your approved and blocked callers through My Account or by calling 1472. Or you can let CallSafe manage it, giving you one less thing to worry about.

Edited by Jack_Hackett (Mon 30-Aug-21 13:46:12)

I used to suffer from this problem several times a day up until about 6 years ago and then I bought a set of 4 BT dect phones which incorporate a call minder system.

You have to build a white list of caller numbers and calls from those number come straight through and ring out normally. Any incoming call from a number that is not white listed hears a message which requires they state their business and identity and then press the # key. The phone then rings ( a different ring tone ) and I listen to the callers name/business and choose to either press the 1 key to accept the call or just hang up.

Since I've had the phones I've found that the cold callers etc just don't bother and move on to the next. I can't think of a single nuisance call I've had although the calls list shows that a day rarely goes by without a call or two that didn't bother to try getting through

If you want to stay with your current ISP you could buy a true call box see video below.

https://youtu.be/s7TtnfVLNFI

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/224590202156?hash=item344...


I have just edited my earlier post to add -

I am with Talk Talk on their FTTC Fibre 65 80/20 package and their free Call Safe is brilliant, we never get scam or nuisance calls any more -

They also offer a Fibre 35 FTTC 38Mbps package - https://new.talktalk.co.uk/broadband/fibre

Edited by Jack_Hackett (Mon 30-Aug-21 14:02:26)

TalkTalk and Sky both have exchange-side trueCall style call blockers which work very well.

BT and Plusnet just have a near useless block-by-number system at the exchange.

Edited by Oliver341 (Mon 30-Aug-21 14:40:02)

As you change ISPs, ditch your existing number and use the one provided by the new ISP.

Not sure how that is going to help in any way, The new number will still get spam calls as they just randomly dial numbers.

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

TalkTalk and Sky both have exchange-side trueCall style call blockers which work very well.

BT and Plusnet just have a near useless block-by-number system at the exchange.

Agreed. White-listing systems are near pointless. The better way is as you say, or if the user has access to something like Asterisk, then a similar process can be invoked by using an IVR step before the caller is allowed to proceed. It’s simple but an extremely good deterrent to the bulk nuisance autodiallers.

Personally I find that most nuisance callers (and SMS spam) is now aimed squarely at our mobile numbers rather than landlines. The emphasis very much shifted a few years ago, as our landline usage fell away.

Well let me explain then. Our organization has 34 DDI numbers and they have NEVER received any unwanted callers. Our former fax number was recently ported over into VoIP and immediately attracted spam calls. Our conclusion on this matter was that it was a numbers that Ofcom had originally allocated to BT, although for many years bills for that number were paid to TalkTalk.

It does seem to me that where you suggest random numbers are dialled by scammers, which in my book means sequentially dialling numbers in a group, such groups are normally number ranges that are, or have been, numbers allocated to BT.

Have a number from any other ISP than BT or a VoIP provider then their number groups are seldom, if ever, used by scammers.

With call blocking phones installed how do you actually know that it has stopped any spam calls directed to your phone number? The fact that you may not have received any unwanted calls could also mean that no scammer has used your number!

In reply to a post by Pheasant:

In reply to a post by Oliver341:

TalkTalk and Sky both have exchange-side trueCall style call blockers which work very well.

BT and Plusnet just have a near useless block-by-number system at the exchange.

Agreed. White-listing systems are near pointless. The better way is as you say, or if the user has access to something like Asterisk, then a similar process can be invoked by using an IVR step before the caller is allowed to proceed. It’s simple but an extremely good deterrent to the bulk nuisance autodiallers.

Personally I find that most nuisance callers (and SMS spam) is now aimed squarely at our mobile numbers rather than landlines. The emphasis very much shifted a few years ago, as our landline usage fell away.

I agree with your statement.