NLC - call blockers which use a PIN?

[Eric K]

I'm sure I read about a landline call blocker device which requires the caller to enter a PIN code before the phone rings.

Maybe I dreamed it though because I can't find any such thing now.

I imagined that you'd tell your friends the PIN. If a caller failed to enter the correct PIN, their call would hang up.

Any ideas or anyone heard of something similar?

This is for my elderly parents who are about to move in to a care home. They couldn't manage one of the units where you have to push a button to store a number and subsequently block it.

[Sanjøy]

I am sure a chap in teh office has some BT phones that do somethign similar, has eliminated all his unwanted PPI calls overnight. will find out.

S

[Sanjøy]

This is the model he used, on offer too.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keyw ... x8ssub4l_e

[tut]

I don't think we have had a single nuisance call since we moved home and Sky gave us a new number.

tut

[Fluoxetine]

http://www.truecall.co.uk/

Bloke at work had one, and waxed lyrically about it. (Not that cheap, though!)

[tut]

From what I can see, TrueCall is identical to the BT Call Blocker, excepting it costs £99 and for £49 you get two BT phones. This is the same company with Director Steve Smith but it does not look too healthy today. Just watched the Dragon Den interview in 2009 where it went down a bomb and received the £100K that he asked for.

https://companycheck.co.uk/company/0656 ... ED/summary

You do however have to subscribe to Caller ID with both of them to get the full features.

tut

[neil]

This one gets good write ups and looks pretty simple to use:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/CPR-Capacity-Nu ... s=CPR+1200

[robin]

You could also consider buying a mobile and then you can manage their contact list via (for example) a Google account that you know the password to.

Most phones allow you to manage auto call rejection.

Their number wouldn't be known to anyone and most could calls are to land lines I think.

By now somebody is bound tho be making a "look after you've parents phone".


Just an idea.

[Eric K]

http://www.truecall.co.uk/

Bloke at work had one, and waxed lyrically about it. (Not that cheap, though!)

That's the one - thanks.

There's a wee vid here which shows what it does.

Watch on YouTube

This one is £125.

I'm afraid my folks are beyond using a mobile - both in terms of their understanding and their manual dexterity.

They wouldn't even be able to work a call blocker which required any kind of user interaction.

It has to be a conventional handset / cradle with BIG buttons or it won't get used.

Thanks for all the suggestions.

The week after next, they move in to a care home together. Tough times.

[tut]

Just tell them to do what I do, if they do not know/do not want to talk to them, HANG UP. They may be parents/grandparents/etc, but if they can not take decisions for themselves then spell it out to them.

I truly sympathise, I am in that bracket myself for gawds sake, but if they do not have Alzheimer's or Dementia they are capable of making decisions.

tut

[Eric K]

With all due respect Tut ...

[tut]

This was not aimed at your parents Eric, I have sisters of 80, 85, and 90 who are on their own and I have to help them out with the increasing number of nuisance, scam, and fraud calls. It is not easy but I have some success with getting them to promise that if they do not know who is calling they hang up straight away and do not talk to them at all. They have caller display so can give me the number to call if it warrants checking.

You would have read on the news of the increasing number of scams that are selling people mining shares, plots of land, repossessed properties, etc, plus the latest one of their bank calling to tell them they have to transfer their money into another account. It is hard to sympathise with a lot of the cases as it is down to greed which is what the scammers work on, and there are many instances of tens or hundreds of thousands of pounds being handed over, very often more than once.

In our families cases there is no single solution, just hang up is the best one, as introducing gadgetry to try and control it is only likely to confuse them further. Also insist to them that they give no personal details to anyone over the phone, the scammers work on the older folk being polite and not wanting to hurt feelings as opposed to you or I who would just tell them to fcuk off and die slowly, or sometimes if I am bored and S_E is quiet, leading them along for a laugh.

I remember once when I had four DG companies, two kitchen companies, and an energy company all given the same date and time at the house for quotes, but that was back in my bad old days.

tut

[robin]

I understand that they cannot operate a conventional mobile telephone - but there are desk phones that are still using mobile technology - one of these could perhaps work - anyway, if all you need to do is block withheld number calls then I am sure that box will also work.

Cheers,
Robin