Call Tracing

[daveob]

If they want to waste their phone bill / airtime, etc calling me, good luck to them.

Telemarketers hold a special position - they the only people that I hang up on without saying a word.

[AmithS]

Agreed Private Numbers\Blocking your number should not be allowed

[Dave A]

Our switchboard's premicells are private numbers. It was set up that way on recommendation of the installers to keep those lines available for outgoing calls, and also because there's no hunting line facility or message service if someone calls back on it and the line happens to be busy.

For the people who don't answer when we call, we assume it's the private number issue, and just call from our after-hours standby cellphone which resides at the office during the day.

We only leave messages on cellphone numbers if we've failed to get through after a few attempts, and even then it's with the full knowledge that most people don't get around to returning the call. We do it more to let them know we've been trying to get hold of them, and we'll just keep trying 'til we get through.

[Just Gone]

lately when I get a call from a private number and it is some telesales person I just say hold on and put the phone down on the desk or in the car still connected. If they phone back i do the same - They soon get the hint !!

Unfortunately it is rough on them................... but it is just as rough on me - especially when I am running an ad in a newspaper or something - it seems my private number calls goes up with telesales !!!

[AmithS]

I recently discovered that my Samsung i9000 Android has a feature to reject all private number calls automatically.

Only problem is it cuts the call with an engaged tone and doesn't send the call to voice mail!

[irneb]

My problem is that very often my clients are phoning through their switchboard (similar to Dave's system). Some of these clients get highly upset if they have to try you numerous times. Some even get irritated when that "please leave a message" comes along. So unfortunately for me, I "have to" answer these - though I've made a rule never to answer private numbers after hours.

As for telesales, at best I'd say: "No thank you!" AND THEN HANG UP!!!

I've had a few call me back directly afterwards, stating some idiocy about the line went dead. "Ag shaaaaimmmee!" I tell them ... "Did it sound like this? ... " click!

[wynn]

Leave a voicemail saying that if the caller is using a private number please to send a SMS saying who it is and what their number is so that you can load it to your phone that way you will know it is them and not some spammey caller

[AndyD]

Unknown numbers on my personal cellphone get dispached to my voicemail as fast as possible using the red button. If they leave a message I'll pick it up later when it suits me.

[Just Gone]

I've had a few call me back directly afterwards, stating some idiocy about the line went dead. "Ag shaaaaimmmee!" I tell them ... "Did it sound like this? ... " click!

lol ..................... like that one

[irneb]

Yep, I got that idea from some comedy I saw once!

Anyhow, I've got an app installed on my smartphone (called Mr. Number). It can block calls & sms's . Basically after receiving a call/sms you can simply tell it block that number in the future. You could tell it to automatically block private numbers as well, either to pick-up and hang-up immediately or to send them to voicemail.

I don't use the private number blocking for my previously stated reasons, but thus far I've got something like 150 numbers of telesales which simply don't get through to me. It does keep a history of events if you think something's been blocked which shouldn't - so you can add an exception or remove that number from the block-list. I see that this app has a collection for US numbers where people can share these "spam" numbers - much like spam ratings happen on emails. Wish that was available in SA though.