Call Blocking Devices

I have a pizza place with about 8 lines. I have a caller who will call non-stop about 800 a day!  he uses a spoofer so my provider's 10 number limit is useless. will call blocker pro or digitone device work for me?  do I have to purchase one for each phone? also, can I attach directly to each phone or does it have to be connected at the panel where the lines cone in?

Sequential call hunting works a little differntly between cellular, landlines (POTS), and VoIP services.  There are also different blocking methods available for the different services.  What service do you have and do you have a device that does the routing/hunting?

I have AT&T and nortel networks phone system that does the hunting when the first line is busy, it will hunt to next available line. we have AT&T call clocker but very limited to 10 numbers.  The caller will busy out the 1st line and then get in on the other lines in the group.   He must be using 3-4 phones with spoofed numbers.  I'm taling 800+ calls a day!

There are several Nortel systems supported by AT&T, some are user programmable.  What is the Norstar model number and what type of service is AT&T feeding it (VoIP or traditional landline service)?

I accidentally have 2 threads on this topic.  I am considering getting phonetray.  I don't know if you have answered to both, but Herman assures me that phonetray will work on my system.  By the way, I have a Nortel Networks Norstar Modular ICS, nex to it there is a Norstar Trunk Module M12XG and off to the side is a Nortel Networks Call Pilot 150 Mini with an I.P. address label on the front of it.

Your ICS equipment was initially designed for us with ISDN service. ISDN is similar to the newer VoIP service supplied by AT&T with their U-Verse product. Should Phone Tray not work out for you, you can see if AT&T will support Nomorobo on your ISDN service. If they do, their blocking service is free to you.

If your '800 calls per day illegal caller guy' uses robocalling (automated sequential dialing), Nomorobo will recognize the call pattern (by call frequency and velocity) and then challenge the caller (via audio Captcha). If the caller doesn’t answer the challenge, the call is rejected before it can enter your hunting system. You can also request to have the illegal caller guy’s numbers added to Nomorobo’s blacklist, but if he is spoofing real numbers, that could backfire by stopping potential customers from calling you.

If you can find out who the illegal caller guy is, you should file a complaints with the FCC & FTC since he is in violation of several TCPA/FTC/FCC regulations: http://www.fcc.gov/complaints & https://www.ftccomplaintassistant.gov/#&panel1-1

More pros/cons about Nomorobo can be found in this thread: https://800notes.com/forum/ta-86c10e74f9f4d99/nomorobo

I use a Screen Machine.  It works 99.9% for me.  I get next to zero junk calls.  The only problem is with robo-dialers that I would sort of like to hear (doc appt reminders, prescription drug shipment info, etc.).  Right now I just live without them.

I have suggested to my POTS carrier that they add:

I want a virtual receptionist. It works like this:
1. An incoming call hears: "This is the receptionist. With whom do you wish to speak?"
If any answer is given: 2. "I'll try to put you thru, please hold". and the number rings me.
If no answer is given: 2. "I'm sorry, they are not available" and hangs up on caller.

I had a Screen machine, and it did everything I wanted a blocking device to do, plus it was so simple to plug in.  If a salicitor       called it rang 1 time and cut them off.  I'm trying to remember 5 years+ back. I had a business to run and those calls interupted my work.  I loved the Screen machine and when it started acting up I looked for another one.  I had no luck , they were gone.  I still have my Screen machine and will try using it again.  Right now I just turn off the ringers or keep one on low if my husband calls.  I call people back, if I missed one.  They had a good thing.  Why discontinue something so wonderful.

Search on eBay for "Telephone call blocker" and you'll find lots of them

I paid the money for the TeleBouncer and it has probably saved my sanity. More than once. I was leaving work livid every day after chasing the phone only to find "Google Webpage" peddlers, Yellow Page BS or some nonsense like that.

After leaving it in "Telemarketer" mode for well over a year, I decided that surely these skeevy phone idiots had given up calling me after so long and changed it to "Caller ID" mode so I could see who was calling. Au contraire, the same old idiots from the same old numbers, most of them spoofed. (Why would a beauty salon or florist be calling me from California, anyway? I live halfway across the country! That is usually Ace Industrial Tools, ugh!) Within a week I had it back in Telemarketer mode.

The TeleBouncer DOES allow a custom message and it does allow setting a code to be DIALED in...something the spammer idiots cannot do when calling from a computer; no buttons, you know. I use it for my business... "Customers, please press 1. Vendors, please press 2. Telemarketers, please remove this number from your list". That is my message. Of course we all know that NO numbers are EVER removed from anyone's call list.

The telemarketers have been listening to that message for over a year and will be listening to it forever as far as I am concerned. When my phone rings, it is someone I want to talk to. Otherwise, I exist in blissful silence. Let 'em suck on that!

I got a call from 703-988-6387 about THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE TO QUALIFY FOR A LOWER INTEREST RATE ON YOUR CREDIT CARDS." A recording. Then I got a call from 877-497-0945 about some legal documents. Since I have "Extreme Call Blocker" on my Phone, I just setup my phone when it receives the 703 number to black list it and to forward their message to the 877 number and it will never ring on my phone. I will do likewise to the 877 number, their message is forwarded to the 703 number. And any further annoyance i will repeat the process with other number.  Or you can just block the numbers.  In the Black list you can block the number, send to voice mail only, or do not sent to VM just hank up, and you can forward the number to another number which is what I do.  Rod

I have had a Tele-Zap Pro for about 10 years.  It still works perfectly. All calls are blocked and receive a message informing the caller that we do not except telemarketing calls. It then tells the caller that if they are not a telemarketer press "2" to complete the call.  calls from family and friends can be added to a "VIP" list once they have called through once. Because the message is fairly long, many autocall telemarketers get dead air by the time my number comes up.  Unfortunately this device is no longer available. I have found a device that has a black and white list but you have to block the numbers individually rather than blocking all calls and then listing "good" calls.

Try Phone Tray on your computer using a CID modem.  Works for me. (www.phonetray.com)

Been using NOMOROBO since February of this year and it totally works great. Once in  a while it will miss a call, but I report the number to them and it will be blocked if they call the next day. Contrary to what some people have mentioned, it will not block robocalls from doctors, pharmacies, or school/city alert systems.

I don't believe in conspiracy theories, like the telemarketers and the call blocker manufacturers being in league with each other.

This is just like spam blocking technology, the bad guys will keep ahead of it. But the original poster had a great idea on the face of it. Sadly it could not be made to work, It was to make an "answering device" so that everyone has to enter a number before the call is connected. A simple random number would be too easy to subvert, by simply having the recorded message dial "0123456789" automatically on every call when challenged by an "answering machine". So a 3-digit number would avoid this.

The random number generator would be all too easy to reverse engineer and then you would know the next number and could simply call each number twice. To make this impossible you could use the last three digits of the number of milliseconds since the last call. (Calls cannot be timed accurately enough for them to call, then quickly call back and know the number of milliseconds).

However any system like this would not work, since you need to tell your caller the number they need to enter. Voice recognition software is already there to detect when there is a response to a call. So it would only be minor to make it recognize the spoken numbers and enter them all automatically.

A nice idea, but sadly the bad guys would get round it I wish I had a solution, so I use CPR Call Blocker as the best solution I have found so far.

Incidentally, if your number is still in the phone book, make it unlisted. It takes a few months, but it really does reduce the number of calls a lot. Which could be a law that could be passed? Make it free to be unlisted as it saves money in printing phone directories, not to mention being good for the environment.