call blocker device suggestions?

[Phil Hobbs]

On 03/30/2015 07:57 PM, Mayayana wrote:

| But not forged very well, so CID is still useful. The junk is often
| obvious like "V2345679845". Do you know anyone with that NAME?
|

I've had calls from myself and last week I had a
call from directory assistance. Most calls I get
at least seem to be local, but I don't pick up unless
I recognize the caller ID, so I'm not really sure.

I saw an interview recently with the man who started
nomorobo. He said something to the effect that
"if a halfwit like me can easily compile a blacklist
of phone numbers the government could certainly
do it." Good point.

And then put your business on it, if you supported the wrong candidate.
No thanks, we've got quite enough of that sort of thing already.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

--
Dr Philip C D Hobbs
Principal Consultant
ElectroOptical Innovations LLC
Optics, Electro-optics, Photonics, Analog Electronics

160 North State Road #203
Briarcliff Manor NY 10510

hobbs at electrooptical dot net
http://electrooptical.net

 

[John S]

On 3/29/2015 9:55 AM, OldGuy wrote:

OK, I see landline solutions but what about cell phone solutions
I am on Sprint. Samsung Galaxy S5 lollypop.
Is there a forum that will cover that if someone here has no good solution.
Thank you!

--- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: news@netfront.net ---

When you're at home, put your cell phone on call forwarding to your
landline.

 

[John S]

On 3/29/2015 11:50 AM, sharkman wrote:

If you have digital voice through Verizon, go to NOMOROBO.com and sign
up.. No charge and they are very good in blocking calls.. I've been
using them 2 years and
they work great..

Verizon digital also has a spot where you can enter up to (10?) phone
numbers to block. You don't even get one ring.

 

[Ed Pawlowski]

On 3/31/2015 2:17 PM, John S wrote:

Verizon digital also has a spot where you can enter up to (10?) phone
numbers to block. You don't even get one ring.

The works if you want to be rid of an ex-wife or girlfriend. The
telemarketers use different numbers very often and you really don't get
a lot of repeats.

 

[G. Morgan]

bill ashford wrote:

Enough is enough. My wife is getting upwards of 10 calls daily where no
one is on the line when she answers. We have caller ID and it shows
numbers never heard of before. For about 4 years, we've both put up
with it but over the last couple of years, the calls have increased.
I'd like to add a phone call block if I can find the right kind. I see
many around the web for sale, but most of these have so-so reviews and
either end up not blocking enough numbers, or cutting off to many. Then
there is a tele device where a caller has to press 1 to reach the person
being called-- I like this, pretty foolproof, but the pricetag seems a
bit high at over $100. We have Verizon but nothing special. I just use
DSL on copper and all wired phones. So whatever is used will have to
work with this existing system. Anyone have ideas? Are there any
number pressing devices cheaper than $100?

Get an android app. that does it (free). forward the whielisted calls to your
home phone

 

[bill ashford]

On 03/29/2015 10:01 PM, Ashton Crusher wrote:

On Sun, 29 Mar 2015 08:12:53 -0400, bill ashford <billa!x@top.com
wrote:

Enough is enough. My wife is getting upwards of 10 calls daily where no
one is on the line when she answers. We have caller ID and it shows
numbers never heard of before. For about 4 years, we've both put up
with it but over the last couple of years, the calls have increased.
I'd like to add a phone call block if I can find the right kind. I see
many around the web for sale, but most of these have so-so reviews and
either end up not blocking enough numbers, or cutting off to many. Then
there is a tele device where a caller has to press 1 to reach the person
being called-- I like this, pretty foolproof, but the pricetag seems a
bit high at over $100. We have Verizon but nothing special. I just use
DSL on copper and all wired phones. So whatever is used will have to
work with this existing system. Anyone have ideas? Are there any
number pressing devices cheaper than $100?

Thanks-- bill


I bought this on Amazon. Works great. $40
Has a white list and black list as well as a screening mode.

SENTRY Dual Mode Call Blocker. Block 100% Robo Calls. Stop All Junk
Calls, Election Calls, Survey Calls. 9999 Number Capacity

After reading all of the suggestions here, this unit is what I decided
on except version 2 because it looks like I can add numbers manually. I
still have some questions about it though that perhaps you can answer:

1) Will my caller ID still work? I'm hoping to install the unit in
front of my cordless phone base unit to which a pair of cordless phones
are linked to. The cordless base unit has an announcing caller ID.

2) I'm probably going to run it in "advanced" mode. If so, I'm hoping
the phone won't ring at all unless it is a white listed number. Is that
the case, or does it still have one audible ring? The whole reason I'm
getting something like this is to stop ALL ringing from non-wanted
numbers. An elderly person in the house is constantly awakened by the
spammers, even after one ring, so I'm hoping advanced mode won't let the
ringing through.

To all others here who have provided suggestions: much appreciated but
there have been issues with some of the recommendations. For one, I
don't have any cells or android operating phones, so those apps wouldn't
have helped. Also, the website that screens the unwanted callers is not
available for my area. Verizon block is apparently only available as an
extra monthly charge, which I sure didn't want to add as I just dropped
two unnecessary extras recently. Unfortunately, my cordless Uniden
phones don't have the ability to block calls on their own. So that
meant either changing my number and/or getting a private number which
costs, or upgrading to FIOS which I definitely didn't want to do,
getting rid of Verizon altogether and going with someone else or getting
an inbound device that would do the screening job. I chose the latter
both due to the simplicity, cost and convenience. Now I'll see if I
made the right decision. There was another device I looked at first
called the Teleblocker, which didn't even need caller id, but it is not
being made anymore and I wanted something still manufactured and could
be returned if problems or doesn't work like I want it to.

Thanks to all,
Bill

 

[bill ashford]

On 03/30/2015 11:18 AM, Col. Edmund Burke wrote:

"bill ashford" <billa!x@top.com> wrote in message
news:mf8q6h$l0o$3@dont-email.me...

Bill? Are you having a happy day in spite of the phone?

Honestly? Most of my days are not happy ones, tolerable and average and
that's about it. Thanks for asking.

 

[Ashton Crusher]

On Wed, 01 Apr 2015 09:18:39 -0400, bill ashford <billa!x@top.com>
wrote:

On 03/29/2015 10:01 PM, Ashton Crusher wrote:
On Sun, 29 Mar 2015 08:12:53 -0400, bill ashford <billa!x@top.com
wrote:

Enough is enough. My wife is getting upwards of 10 calls daily where no
one is on the line when she answers. We have caller ID and it shows
numbers never heard of before. For about 4 years, we've both put up
with it but over the last couple of years, the calls have increased.
I'd like to add a phone call block if I can find the right kind. I see
many around the web for sale, but most of these have so-so reviews and
either end up not blocking enough numbers, or cutting off to many. Then
there is a tele device where a caller has to press 1 to reach the person
being called-- I like this, pretty foolproof, but the pricetag seems a
bit high at over $100. We have Verizon but nothing special. I just use
DSL on copper and all wired phones. So whatever is used will have to
work with this existing system. Anyone have ideas? Are there any
number pressing devices cheaper than $100?

Thanks-- bill


I bought this on Amazon. Works great. $40
Has a white list and black list as well as a screening mode.

SENTRY Dual Mode Call Blocker. Block 100% Robo Calls. Stop All Junk
Calls, Election Calls, Survey Calls. 9999 Number Capacity



After reading all of the suggestions here, this unit is what I decided
on except version 2 because it looks like I can add numbers manually. I
still have some questions about it though that perhaps you can answer:

1) Will my caller ID still work? I'm hoping to install the unit in
front of my cordless phone base unit to which a pair of cordless phones
are linked to. The cordless base unit has an announcing caller ID.

Yes, caller ID still works. I have an announcing "base" on my system
too and it says the incoming phone number.

2) I'm probably going to run it in "advanced" mode. If so, I'm hoping
the phone won't ring at all unless it is a white listed number. Is that
the case, or does it still have one audible ring? The whole reason I'm
getting something like this is to stop ALL ringing from non-wanted
numbers. An elderly person in the house is constantly awakened by the
spammers, even after one ring, so I'm hoping advanced mode won't let the
ringing through.

If it's like mine there will be one ring even for blacklisted numbers.
For it to receive and decode the caller ID info it seems like it winds
up having to let one ring thru. However, I'm running mine in parallel
with the rest of my phones. I think you can insert it in series in
which case it might not send anything thru, and hence no ringing,
unless it's actually allowing the call to get thru. It depends a bit
on how you want to set up your answering machine and where you want to
put it and where you have your wires running, etc as to whether it can
be set up parallel versus serially. I didn't want to rearrange a
whole bunch of my phone stuff to do the serial setup so I just stuck
it on an open jack.

To all others here who have provided suggestions: much appreciated but
there have been issues with some of the recommendations. For one, I
don't have any cells or android operating phones, so those apps wouldn't
have helped. Also, the website that screens the unwanted callers is not
available for my area. Verizon block is apparently only available as an
extra monthly charge, which I sure didn't want to add as I just dropped
two unnecessary extras recently. Unfortunately, my cordless Uniden
phones don't have the ability to block calls on their own. So that
meant either changing my number and/or getting a private number which
costs, or upgrading to FIOS which I definitely didn't want to do,
getting rid of Verizon altogether and going with someone else or getting
an inbound device that would do the screening job. I chose the latter
both due to the simplicity, cost and convenience. Now I'll see if I
made the right decision. There was another device I looked at first
called the Teleblocker, which didn't even need caller id, but it is not
being made anymore and I wanted something still manufactured and could
be returned if problems or doesn't work like I want it to.

Thanks to all,
Bill

 

On Wed, 01 Apr 2015 09:27:23 -0400, bill ashford <billa!x@top.com>
wrote:

On 03/30/2015 11:18 AM, Col. Edmund Burke wrote:
"bill ashford" <billa!x@top.com> wrote in message
news:mf8q6h$l0o$3@dont-email.me...

Bill? Are you having a happy day in spite of the phone?


Honestly? Most of my days are not happy ones, tolerable and average and
that's about it. Thanks for asking.

Really? Must suck to be you.

 

[Paul]

Ashton Crusher wrote:

If it's like mine there will be one ring even for blacklisted numbers.
For it to receive and decode the caller ID info it seems like it winds
up having to let one ring thru.

There's a timing diagram here for Caller ID. Packet burst
is after the first ring.

http://courses.cs.tamu.edu/rabi/past-projects/99a/g6/Image2.gif

Gotta love student projects.

http://courses.cs.tamu.edu/rabi/past-projects/99a/g6/final.html

Paul

 

[Ashton Crusher]

On Wed, 01 Apr 2015 21:35:20 -0400, Paul <nospam@needed.com> wrote:

Ashton Crusher wrote:


If it's like mine there will be one ring even for blacklisted numbers.
For it to receive and decode the caller ID info it seems like it winds
up having to let one ring thru.

There's a timing diagram here for Caller ID. Packet burst
is after the first ring.

http://courses.cs.tamu.edu/rabi/past-projects/99a/g6/Image2.gif

Gotta love student projects.

http://courses.cs.tamu.edu/rabi/past-projects/99a/g6/final.html

Paul

Seems like it would have been better to send the caller ID burst
first. Any idea why they didn't?

 

[Paul]

Ashton Crusher wrote:

On Wed, 01 Apr 2015 21:35:20 -0400, Paul <nospam@needed.com> wrote:

Ashton Crusher wrote:

If it's like mine there will be one ring even for blacklisted numbers.
For it to receive and decode the caller ID info it seems like it winds
up having to let one ring thru.
There's a timing diagram here for Caller ID. Packet burst
is after the first ring.

http://courses.cs.tamu.edu/rabi/past-projects/99a/g6/Image2.gif

Gotta love student projects.

http://courses.cs.tamu.edu/rabi/past-projects/99a/g6/final.html

Paul

Seems like it would have been better to send the caller ID burst
first. Any idea why they didn't?

Interesting. I didn't know there were variations.

http://www.callerid.com/files/4113/3650/6859/POS_V8_Manual.pdf

"CALLER ID DELIVERY TYPE

Caller ID signaling is sent by the local phone company's central
office in either of 4 different electronic formats.

Bellcore 202 signaling is sent between the first and second ring
in the countries such as the US, Canada, Mexico, Australia and others.

Caller ID is sent *before* the first ring by British Telecom (BT)
in the United Kingdom. Similarly, Caller ID is sent before the
first ring or after a very short ring burst using ETSI signaling
that is prevalent in eastern and northern Europe.

In countries or regions where older central office equipment is
used Caller ID is delivered via DTMF (touch-tones). Contact
CallerID.com for a different version of this unit if Caller ID
is delivered via DTMF signaling.
"

So apparently there is a workable scheme, where the CallerID
is delivered before the ringing voltage.

It's possible the first presentation of Ringing Voltage,
could "open" the CallerID module to listening to the line.
If the CallerID is listening all the time, if there
is a noise burst on the line, you might get random
displays appearing on the LCD display of your
CallerID box. The error checking may not be
fancy enough, to stop all error-filled packets.

Still, if BT can do it, why can't we ?
It would be interesting to see if they
patented their idea

Paul

 

[bill ashford]

On 04/01/2015 06:05 PM, Ashton Crusher wrote:

On Wed, 01 Apr 2015 09:18:39 -0400, bill ashford <billa!x@top.com
wrote:

On 03/29/2015 10:01 PM, Ashton Crusher wrote:
On Sun, 29 Mar 2015 08:12:53 -0400, bill ashford <billa!x@top.com
wrote:

Enough is enough. My wife is getting upwards of 10 calls daily where no
one is on the line when she answers. We have caller ID and it shows
numbers never heard of before. For about 4 years, we've both put up
with it but over the last couple of years, the calls have increased.
I'd like to add a phone call block if I can find the right kind. I see
many around the web for sale, but most of these have so-so reviews and
either end up not blocking enough numbers, or cutting off to many. Then
there is a tele device where a caller has to press 1 to reach the person
being called-- I like this, pretty foolproof, but the pricetag seems a
bit high at over $100. We have Verizon but nothing special. I just use
DSL on copper and all wired phones. So whatever is used will have to
work with this existing system. Anyone have ideas? Are there any
number pressing devices cheaper than $100?

Thanks-- bill


I bought this on Amazon. Works great. $40
Has a white list and black list as well as a screening mode.

SENTRY Dual Mode Call Blocker. Block 100% Robo Calls. Stop All Junk
Calls, Election Calls, Survey Calls. 9999 Number Capacity



After reading all of the suggestions here, this unit is what I decided
on except version 2 because it looks like I can add numbers manually. I
still have some questions about it though that perhaps you can answer:

1) Will my caller ID still work? I'm hoping to install the unit in
front of my cordless phone base unit to which a pair of cordless phones
are linked to. The cordless base unit has an announcing caller ID.


Yes, caller ID still works. I have an announcing "base" on my system
too and it says the incoming phone number.


2) I'm probably going to run it in "advanced" mode. If so, I'm hoping
the phone won't ring at all unless it is a white listed number. Is that
the case, or does it still have one audible ring? The whole reason I'm
getting something like this is to stop ALL ringing from non-wanted
numbers. An elderly person in the house is constantly awakened by the
spammers, even after one ring, so I'm hoping advanced mode won't let the
ringing through.


If it's like mine there will be one ring even for blacklisted numbers.
For it to receive and decode the caller ID info it seems like it winds
up having to let one ring thru. However, I'm running mine in parallel
with the rest of my phones. I think you can insert it in series in
which case it might not send anything thru, and hence no ringing,
unless it's actually allowing the call to get thru. It depends a bit
on how you want to set up your answering machine and where you want to
put it and where you have your wires running, etc as to whether it can
be set up parallel versus serially. I didn't want to rearrange a
whole bunch of my phone stuff to do the serial setup so I just stuck
it on an open jack.

Maybe I'll still be in luck then. Although I have the phone line split
3 ways, one for two phones and the last for my DSL/ phone combo, only
one phone combination has ringers turned on, and that's the Uniden base
and cordless phones. So hopefully if the device is serial and first in
line there, no ringing of the phones unless the number is ok.... or so I
hope.

If it doesn't, then I will have to return it and go with the
Teleblocker. That one doesn't need caller ID, but everyone calling has
to enter a 1 or 3, but they get right through if so. I would have gone
with this one first, but no longer manufactured and I didn't want to
chance it.

Thanks again for your help here. I expect the device will be arriving
today.

Bill

To all others here who have provided suggestions: much appreciated but
there have been issues with some of the recommendations. For one, I
don't have any cells or android operating phones, so those apps wouldn't
have helped. Also, the website that screens the unwanted callers is not
available for my area. Verizon block is apparently only available as an
extra monthly charge, which I sure didn't want to add as I just dropped
two unnecessary extras recently. Unfortunately, my cordless Uniden
phones don't have the ability to block calls on their own. So that
meant either changing my number and/or getting a private number which
costs, or upgrading to FIOS which I definitely didn't want to do,
getting rid of Verizon altogether and going with someone else or getting
an inbound device that would do the screening job. I chose the latter
both due to the simplicity, cost and convenience. Now I'll see if I
made the right decision. There was another device I looked at first
called the Teleblocker, which didn't even need caller id, but it is not
being made anymore and I wanted something still manufactured and could
be returned if problems or doesn't work like I want it to.

Thanks to all,
Bill

 

[Robert Baer]

Martin Brown wrote:

On 31/03/2015 00:25, Brian Gregory wrote:
On 29/03/2015 13:38, J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:
In message <mf8q6h$l0o$3@dont-email.me>, bill ashford <billa!x@top.com
writes:
Enough is enough. My wife is getting upwards of 10 calls daily where no
one is on the line when she answers. We have caller ID and it shows
numbers never heard of before. For about 4 years, we've both put up
with it but over the last couple of years, the calls have increased.

Thanks-- bill

Mention of Verizon (and $) suggests you are in US, so this probably
won't help, but: in UK, silent calls are illegal, and the originator can
suffer quite a large fine.

They're caused - or so we are told - by autodiallers, machines which
dial numbers at random (or from a list?), when such machines are
operated by a company that doesn't employ quite enough humans, so the
situation can arise where it dials someone but there's no-one to talk to
the victim when the victim answers. They've been made illegal mainly, I
think, due to distress caused to those who think it may instead be a
burglar or similar, checking in advance.

You can play them back by answering with dead air.

It is every bit as disconcerting for the system and/or the sales drudge
to be faced with a completely silent line as it is for the consumer.

* Totally USELESS; automated calls and spoofed automated calls NEVER
have people behind them.

If it isn't already, you could pester your councillor/senator/whatever
to have similar legislation passed there. In the meantime, I presume
there _is_ at least some mechanism for reporting "nuisance callers",
though like here it was probably set up to deal with heavy breathers and
the like. Otherwise, the suggestion of an answerphone set on speaker
sounds like a good compromise for now.

It's nice that silent calls are illegal here but since almost all of
them come from overseas it does no real good.

And our watchdog is still pretty toothless. The odd big fine. eg

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22199699

I think the name and shame websites are almost as effective at keeping
the excesses of the cold calling industry under control.

Until a few years ago the fines for this were low enough to be
considered as just another operating expense.

 

[Robert Baer]

John S wrote:

On 3/29/2015 11:50 AM, sharkman wrote:
If you have digital voice through Verizon, go to NOMOROBO.com and sign
up.. No charge and they are very good in blocking calls.. I've been
using them 2 years and
they work great..


Verizon digital also has a spot where you can enter up to (10?) phone
numbers to block. You don't even get one ring.

BUT NoMoRobo is un-available and thus useless if you ain't gottza
mobile phone. I gots a land line to protect...i do not give a sh*t about
a stupid mobile line..

 

[(PeteCresswell)]

Per Robert Baer:

* Totally USELESS; automated calls and spoofed automated calls NEVER
have people behind them.

Any call that I make on my tablet or cell phone using my VOIP provider
has it's CallerID spoofed to my home number. It's an optional free
service by the VOIP provider.
--
Pete Cresswell

 

[Mike]

On Thu, 02 Apr 2015 09:52:32 -0400, (PeteCresswell) wrote:

Per Robert Baer:
* Totally USELESS; automated calls and spoofed automated calls NEVER
have people behind them.

Any call that I make on my tablet or cell phone using my VOIP provider
has it's CallerID spoofed to my home number. It's an optional free
service by the VOIP provider.

Are you saying that you make automated calls? Otherwise it seems an
irrelevant comment!

Mike.

 

[Ken Blake]

On Thu, 02 Apr 2015 02:27:09 -0800, Robert Baer
<robertbaer@localnet.com> wrote:

BUT NoMoRobo is un-available and thus useless if you ain't gottza
mobile phone.

Sorry, that is not correct.

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

In message <H7sSw.245382$Ak4.167861@fx03.iad>, Robert Baer
<robertbaer@localnet.com> writes:
[]

Unfortunately, those calls are illegal here as well.
But 105% of the ones i get are illegally spoofed so the caller ID is
worse than useless.

Isn't spoofing caller ID itself either directly illegal, or potentially
an offence under something else (here in UK, I think there's something
like computer misuse)?

I know what you're going to say: how do you catch the perpetrators? but
I have an answer to that: the CARRIERS are jointly responsible. Yes, I
know, they'll invoke "common carrier" or similar, but surely at least at
the point where the spoofing occurs - be that within the country, or at
the point where the call comes into the country if it's from abroad - it
must be possible to detect that the caller ID is being spoofed.

Nobody with a modicum of "authority" gives a shit, and the FCC has
opted out ages ago.
The so-called "do not call" list is a major joke; one gets MORE calls
if you try it,and changing phone number is of no help unless you want
to change it every week.

(It's called the Telephone Preference Service here in UK; it _does_
reduce the number of from-within-UK calls by a worthwhile amount.)
>
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Her [Valerie Singleton's] main job on /Blue Peter/ was to stop unpredictable
creatres running amok. And that was just John Noakes.
- Alison Pearson, RT 2014/9/6-12

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

In message <mficjb$7rj$1@dont-email.me>, Paul <nospam@needed.com>
writes:
{}
>displays appearing on the LCD display of your
{}
As opposed to the LC display, I presume ... (-:
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Her [Valerie Singleton's] main job on /Blue Peter/ was to stop unpredictable
creatres running amok. And that was just John Noakes.
- Alison Pearson, RT 2014/9/6-12