Canadian TV, Computing and Home Theatre Forums banner

Call Screen Landline Feature

3K views 16 replies 7 participants last post by  can3gxw 
#1 ·
Hey all, I was just wondering who has Call Screen in NS on their Landline or through Bell in other parts? How to set up Call Screen (available in Nova Scotia only) - Support - Bell Aliant

Currently, I am getting alot of scam phone calls and since this feature is not available in Newfoundland yet I had to go get another cordless phone that has the Call Blocking feature for up to 20 numbers. What's the difference between the two? I'd like to know so that when it finally comes to NL I'll know if I want it or not.
 
#2 ·
The call screen feature that Bell sells is next to useless. It won't block unknown numbers, which a lot of scam calls are despite having a number on the call display. The limit of 12 numbers makes it even more useless since the scam callers that have numbers often switch and the list quickly fills up.

A rather draconian but effective way to block unknown callers is with Call Privacy.

Call blocking on phones suffer from similar issues. Mine always ring at least once since the call display info is not sent until after the first ring. Numbers used for call display by scam callers are often changed so 20 numbers will fill up quickly. I have two phones that block 50 numbers each and those lists are typically full. In addition, scam callers often use local or well known numbers that you may want to answer and might not want to block.

Another option is to use a VoIP service that has a high allowance of blocked numbers and more elaborate rules for blocking. That combines the best features of the previous methods and eliminates some of the shortcomings.
 
#6 ·
Thanks...After much consideration I decided I should change my phone number. I was on the line with my mother and dispite having two of the numbers on my Call Block on my phone I could still hear them trying to Beep through today THREE times. When I hung up, my phone rang twice then the Call Block stopped it from ringing. BA changed my number for free and gave me a nice new number because it's considered harassment !
 
#8 · (Edited)
^^^ Most of my calls are calls coming from Scammers Pretentending to be from the Government (The Fake CRA to be more precise). I've contacted the real CRA and they confirmed it is a scam. They call telling me I owe thousands of dollars, I kept information from them when filing my taxes blah, blah. blah (untrue), they even threaten that I should get a lawyer. They even ask for Credit card numbers to pay it and say that it will escalate if I don't call them back by sending Texts to Landline.What they don't know, however, is that my Uncle works for the REAL CRA and even he said it was a HUGE scam on top of others from the real CRA.

Most of my family don't get harassed like this so there's a chance I may not. Plus my number is unlisted now.

BE AWARE of this, however, they will torture you.


I will have to register this new number with NDNC tomorrow for the telemarketers.
 
#10 ·
Had the CRA scam calls twice recently (as have many people I know). Added the number to my Panasonic phone call block list after the second call. That may stop them for now, or they may change their number and try again. Usually when I've added a number to my phone's call block feature, the telemarketer or scammer gets the hint since he doesn't wish to waste his time calling a blocked phone.
 
#11 ·
Yupp, in the past week they have called me on 4 different numbers EVERY DAY. I got the call Screen recently but they seem to have my number, regardless. The new phone number will come into effect tomorrow, so I'm hoping it will STOP them or at the very worst slow them down.
 
#12 ·
So here are some things I've learned from relatives and close friends. Changing your number will only stop or slow down the telemarketers temporarily. It will only be a matter of time before their AUTO Dialer reaches your number. Registering on the DNCL did absolutely nothing for myself and people I know in terms of stopping Telemarketing. There is 2 kinds of telemarketers, the legal ones who abide by the law, newspapers, charities, etc, I rarely ever got these calls so I never had an issue with Telemarketers in my life. The second kind of Telemarketers is the ones who are illegally calling you using Auto Dialers and are typically out of the country and do not abide by Canadian legislation or our DNCL, typically those are the duck cleaning calls, Revenue Canada, you won a cruise, etc. Majority of these guys are fraud or crooks or shady. I only started getting the annoying illegal scammer telemarketing calls within the last 5 years since buying a house and having a landline telephone, though having a landline is not the problem they call my cell phone too.
 
#13 ·
Getting a new number on a well known exchange will not stop the scam or nuisance calls. My experience is that they will often get worse. Getting a new number on a newly created exchange will usually result in a reduction of telemarketers and scam calls. New exchanges are not as well known to scam callers and the number is unlikely to have been used by anyone else. New exchanges are so sparsely populated that's it's probably not worth using sequential dialing. Just don't publish the new number anywhere and don't put it on the do not call list.
 
#14 ·
I still want an option to just have the phone provider (Bell in this case) block all calls from outside North America. There is no legitimate reason why anyone from Asia would call me, ever. The ONLY reason for those calls is scammers.

Could put a huge dent in the problem in one fell swoop.
 
#15 ·
the telemarketers could be physically in Asia WITH a North American number too, ever since VoIP became mainstream this has been possible, but if you tell phone companies to block calls from Asia, those calls may still go through. Remember, with VoIP becoming mainstream, this is now a Global problem.
 
#17 ·
@timlocke - my mother does the exact same thing as you. She refuses to answer calls from any number that she doesn't recognize. The problem with that (not so much now that everyone has a cell phone) is that if a legitimate person tries to call and she doesn't recognize the number, she won't answer. They may not leave a voicemail and just try calling later. There have been times that she didn't recognize my cell number (I don't call her from it very often) so she never answered.

I answer every call - if I don't recognize it, I let it ring 3 times. Then I answer it. 99% of the time, there is no one there because they've dialed 5 numbers at the same time and someone answered theirs before me. If there is someone there, and they start with "Hello, sir, how are you today?", I start my defense voice "fine, what can I do for you?" If they start some spiel, then I just say "not interested" and hang up. Takes about 30 seconds of my day. I get about (at most) 3 a week in total.

Sunday I got a call from "5". Yes, "5". That was the number that was on my home phone's CID. Just "5". Seems like they've even stopped trying.

And as mentioned before, callers can spoof any number so if they're calling from India, China, Russia, etc... the number can actually look like it's coming from down your street and sometimes they've even picked a legitimate business number which then people complain to the police that they are being harassed by "ABC Paving".

It will never end and you will never block these calls 100%. Pick an option. Answer every call and just hang up, or don't answer any call (cell phones are great if you have everyone in your address list and "mom" or "babysitter" comes up on the display) that you don't recognize and possibly miss important ones.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top