Strange Phone Call today (Landline)

[melmerby]

Hi all

When I got in this evening my Landline answerphone was showing one message.

So I pressed play and the message was along the lines of

"Welcome to your new 1572 Voicemail Service, you have one new message................" then a list of options which obviously weren't going to work as it was a recording.

So I dialled 1572 and got the same (or similar message) so I selected play new message and it replied "There are no messages"

I checked the caller ID of the original call and it was my number!

 

N.B. I tried ringing the number from my mobile and it went to the answerphone after 10 rings as it should. No voicemail was involved.

 

What an earth is going on? Some sort of scam that wasn't going to work because it's an answering machine?

 

[Flying Pig]

Look up BT Call Protect.  1572 is the number to access and control it.  Has this feature perhaps just been activated on your account?

[The Johnster]

I've literally pulled the plug on my landline, the level of cold calling sales was beyond endurance.

[Izzy]

6 hours ago, The Johnster said:

I've literally pulled the plug on my landline, the level of cold calling sales was beyond endurance.

I’ve had  a (BT) phone with Call Guardian for some years now. All cold calling doesn’t get through. Only rings for allowed numbers or announced calls. Just not sure whether the system will work when the line goes digital - if it’s VOIP compatible - or will have to get a new one. 

[didcot]

We sometimes get something similar and it's usually a text message sent to our land line.

 

We registered our number with the telephone preference system  and went ex directory which has really cut down on cold calling.

[30801]

I don't bother answering numbers I don't recognise, but fair play to the lady from the eye clinic who kept on ringing while I stared at the number for a bit and then went off to Google it...

[melmerby]

12 hours ago, Flying Pig said:

Look up BT Call Protect.  1572 is the number to access and control it.  Has this feature perhaps just been activated on your account?

Yes. I've got that as part of the package.

It was the message I found odd, as nowhere did it mention that I had a blocked call and also telling me I had 1 message but on checking it said no messages.

I was expecting something like "You have one diverted message" etc.

It's supposed to trap it and send to the voicemail.

 

Unless of course the number hung up as soon as they realised what was happening, so no call registered by the voicemail.

 

My number has been ex-directory for many a long year and I am on the TPS so spam calls are very rare these days, usually from spoofed numbers from overseas and they hang up as soon as my answerphone kicks in.

[Re6/6]

I don't have a landline any more and never ever answer any number that is not in my contacts list which is just for family and friends. When one of these spammers ring I always let it ring out so not to indicate that the line is live. My mobile tells me that the unknown call is 'suspected spam or suspected fraud'. For commercial companies that ask for your number I give them my old pay cell number which rarely rings!

 

Trying and irritating times!😈

 

 

[kevinlms]

5 hours ago, Izzy said:

I’ve had  a (BT) phone with Call Guardian for some years now. All cold calling doesn’t get through. Only rings for allowed numbers or announced calls. Just not sure whether the system will work when the line goes digital - if it’s VOIP compatible - or will have to get a new one. 

Yes it will work on VoIP lines. That Call Guardian is sold in Australia and works perfectly on VoIP lines.

 

In fact only rural areas have traditional PSTN numbers available here. That means areas where internet is provided over mobile type towers & satellite services. The rest has been shut down.

[Izzy]

1 hour ago, kevinlms said:

Yes it will work on VoIP lines. That Call Guardian is sold in Australia and works perfectly on VoIP lines.

 

In fact only rural areas have traditional PSTN numbers available here. That means areas where internet is provided over mobile type towers & satellite services. The rest has been shut down.

Thanks, that’s good to know. 

[The Johnster]

Disco-ed the landline (Virgin) about eight years ago, and have never regretted it.  I use my iPhone, on Tesco Mobile, for everything; my friends know that my doorbell is also disconnected and to ring my mobile when they are outside the door.  This has proven slightly problematic, as it seems for some reason that the default response to this instruction is to ring when you think you are five minutes away, but hey...

 

My philosophy on the landline was 'informed' by my view that, since coldcallers were so persistently abusing the facility that I had thoughtfully provided for them and I so rarely used the line myself, they only had themselves to blame when I denied it to them.  If you want to coldcall me, do it on my mobile and pay the going rate; oh, that's not profitable?  That sounds like your problem, coldcallers, not mine.  I still pay Virgin for the line as part of my package, and have a landline phone, so that it is available to me if I need it, all I need to do is plug it in.  In eight years I have never had any cause to do this, but occasionally attach the phone to check that it's still working.

[Reorte]

Still use the landline because I don't want or need a mobile. Always thought it a bit odd that landlines get far more nuisance calls though, especially these days.

[MichaelE]

It's been more that 20 years since I had a land-line phone. Don't miss it a bit.

[melmerby]

7 minutes ago, Reorte said:

Still use the landline because I don't want or need a mobile. Always thought it a bit odd that landlines get far more nuisance calls though, especially these days.

They don't if you are ex-dir and on the TPS, as well as caller ID, so you can see who it is.

As I said nuisance calls are rare these days, any I do get go to the answer and normally ring off immediately

 

Can you go ex-dir on a Moby?

[Reorte]

8 minutes ago, melmerby said:

They don't if you are ex-dir and on the TPS, as well as caller ID, so you can see who it is.

As I said nuisance calls are rare these days, any I do get go to the answer and normally ring off immediately

 

Can you go ex-dir on a Moby?

The genuine ones pay attention to the TPS but there are enough outright scammers that unfortunately some appear. It's not every day, can often not get any for weeks or months and then the same one tries several times in a short period.

 

Didn't think there was any directory for mobiles to go ex-directory from.

[melmerby]

1 minute ago, Reorte said:

there are enough outright scammers

Invariably foreign. UK ones are very rare these days. (at least to me)

 

2 minutes ago, Reorte said:

Didn't think there was any directory for mobiles to go ex-directory from.

Didn't think that through, did I?😀

[kevinlms]

5 hours ago, melmerby said:

They don't if you are ex-dir and on the TPS, as well as caller ID, so you can see who it is.

As I said nuisance calls are rare these days, any I do get go to the answer and normally ring off immediately

 

Can you go ex-dir on a Moby?

You think that scammers from India or wherever, give a toss about local laws in Britain, Australia or wherever? They don't because they know that it's virtually impossible for legal action to take place. If things start getting hot, they just relocate their call centre and start again.

 

They also fake numbers, so it looks like they are calling from your local exchange, so you might be more tempted to answer. Some people say that they only answer known callers, the weakness in that idea, is that someone genuine could be calling from a different number - i.e. a doctors office, because they have more than one number.

 

With their calling robots, they can call all numbers in sequence. If you don't receive calls, it's probably because their computer hasn't been programmed with your range of numbers - that does happen, perhaps your number happens to be in a small range.

[t-b-g]

I still have a landline and it surprises me how many times I get a scam/sales/nuisance call shortly after the line has been used for a real call, either inwards or outwards.

 

It is as if the real call triggers the unwanted one.

 

Of course phone providers have no vested interest in cutting out these calls. It is hard for them to justify reducing usage of their system. Do providers actually help generate nuisance calls by letting people know when a line has been active?

[melmerby]

19 minutes ago, kevinlms said:

You think that scammers from India or wherever, give a toss about local laws in Britain, Australia or wherever?

As I mentioned earlier

 

19 minutes ago, kevinlms said:

They also fake numbers, so it looks like they are calling from your local exchange, so you might be more tempted to answer. Some people say that they only answer known callers, the weakness in that idea, is that someone genuine could be calling from a different number - i.e. a doctors office, because they have more than one number.

I also mentioned that

 

Mine all go to the answerphone, so the caller has to start speaking so I can tell whether it is someone who needs answering and I haven't had spoof numbers for my area ever.

My doctor's surgery only has one number, whoever is calling be it the doctor, nurse or receptionist, even though there is more than one line.

Edited January 31 by melmerby

[Michael Hodgson]

14 minutes ago, melmerby said:

My doctor's surgery only has one number, whoever is calling be it the doctor, nurse or receptionist, even though there is more than one line.

Round here the doctor always calls using a withheld number that doesn't accept incoming calls, so you can't ring back if you are a bit slow getting to the phone.

[BR60103]

Our landline has caller ID and voicemail. If we don't recognize the number or the name we let it go to voicemail. If they don't leave a message, we don't call back unless we know them well.  We ignore calls from people who don't know what their name is. 

The phone in our television room has had the ringer turned off, but it lets the voicemail message through so that we can hear it.

 

[melmerby]

9 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

Round here the doctor always calls using a withheld number that doesn't accept incoming calls, so you can't ring back if you are a bit slow getting to the phone.

That's a bit crap.

Our is one number, multiple lines.

The Doctor can ring you but if  you ring them it always goes to reception.

[Michael Hodgson]

9 hours ago, melmerby said:

That's a bit crap.

Our is one number, multiple lines.

The Doctor can ring you but if  you ring them it always goes to reception.

This is the way the system works now.  If I ring the doctor, I have to listen to a very long-winded recorded message telling me they're recording the call, to ring 999 if it's an emergency, to go online where they have helpful tips on giving up smoking etc, and if that doesn't work to try and book an appointment on line (though they're already fully booked).  If you hold on for long enough ("We are very busy today.  You are number 8 in the queue") to finally get to speak to a receptionist, who will ask what the problem is - in case they can fob me off on a chemist or something.  If I manage to convince them it's important enough, they say the doctor will call me but can only say "some time today".   So when I get a missed call from the doc, and have to ring them back, and I still can't get through ....

 

As it happens while I was driving back from the dentist's this afternoon, I unexpectedly got a call from the local hospital and told them I didn't need to come in, as the problem had already been resolved.

[melmerby]

19 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

This is the way the system works now.  If I ring the doctor, I have to listen to a very long-winded recorded message telling me they're recording the call, to ring 999 if it's an emergency, to go online where they have helpful tips on giving up smoking etc, and if that doesn't work to try and book an appointment on line (though they're already fully booked).  If you hold on for long enough ("We are very busy today.  You are number 8 in the queue") to finally get to speak to a receptionist, who will ask what the problem is - in case they can fob me off on a chemist or something.  If I manage to convince them it's important enough, they say the doctor will call me but can only say "some time today".   So when I get a missed call from the doc, and have to ring them back, and I still can't get through ....

 

As it happens while I was driving back from the dentist's this afternoon, I unexpectedly got a call from the local hospital and told them I didn't need to come in, as the problem had already been resolved.

The size of the queue on ours varies considerably on day and time.

Monday Morning - forget it, everyone's ringing in sick.

Late afternoon, especially not Monday, not too bad, usually 1 or 2 in queue max.

I ask for a Doctors appointment and usually get one in two or three weeks, if you plead urgency often a lot quicker.

[andyman7]

On 30/01/2024 at 17:51, Reorte said:

Still use the landline because I don't want or need a mobile. Always thought it a bit odd that landlines get far more nuisance calls though, especially these days.

My cynical view is that because pretty much no-one under 60 uses landlines anymore, they figure that anyone answering a landline is much more likely to be a potentially vulnerable pensioner.