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  1. #1

    Question How do you block someone from calling you on the phone?

    Hi everyone

    There is a certain person who keeps attempting to contact me in various ways and they will not stop - even though I have repeatedly asked them to stop. It is a family member so I'm not going to just "run screaming and crying" to the police or have my phone tapped, etc. I love this family member but at least for now, I just need some "distance" between them and me. What I'm asking here involves blocking them from calling me on the phone or at least being able to see who's calling so I can just not answer if it happens to be them.

    Anyway, all I have is basic phone service, a basic answering machine and a computer. I don't want to get caller ID/Call Blocking (an extra $20.00 per month) because I have spent enough money already trying to prevent them from contacting me and why should I have to spend any more?. I can't use services/software like Pagoo because that requires Caller ID/Call Blocking in addition to the monthly service fees that Pagoo (and similar services) charge.

    So how can I block them from calling me or see if they are calling me without using Caller ID or Call Blocking?. Are there any alternatives?. I know there are a lot of free software products and services out there and with all the brainiacs on this forum, there's got to be SOME way to do this, right?.

    Thank you for any help I can get (I'll gladly and greatfully accept it!).

    - Dr_doolittle _guy
    Last edited by dr_doolittle_guy; 09-28-2006 at 12:05 PM. Reason: Typos

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
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    AR
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    2,382
    Get a cell phone...problem solved

  3. #3
    Quote Originally Posted by kvnband
    Get a cell phone...problem solved
    Thanks for the quick reply. We tried that awhile back but there is no tower in our area (we live way out in the country) and besides, that costs money and I refuse to allow them to cost me any more than I have already spent. I also don't want to get a second phone line, change my phone number or get an unlisted number. I'm really just looking for a free alternative to caller ID and/or call blocking.

    - Thank's, Dr_doolittle_guy

  4. #4
    Join Date
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    why cant you just get caller id ?
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  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by NTHosts
    why cant you just get caller id ?
    Because I feel that I've already spent enough money trying to prevent them from contacting me. Also, we are on very limited budget.

    - Regards, Dr_doolittle_guy

  6. #6
    Join Date
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    I'm actually curious about this too - for a while there I was getting literally 10 calls a day from credit card solicitors. Of course I didn't figure that out for several weeks, because for a good while they couldn't work their automated calling system, and it just hung up as soon as I picked up.
    Corey Northcutt | Electric Goat Media
    Currently building this nifty small business ROI calculator.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2001
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    Quote Originally Posted by dr_doolittle_guy
    Because I feel that I've already spent enough money trying to prevent them from contacting me. Also, we are on very limited budget.

    - Regards, Dr_doolittle_guy

    Change your phone number.

    --Tina
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  8. #8
    How much for caller ID?

  9. #9
    As I've already stated, I don't want to change my phone number or purchase caller ID, etc. So does anyone here know of any other alternatives?.

    - Regards, Dr_doolittle_guy

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2001
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    Don't answer the phone.

    If you only have a few people that call you, tell them to call and let it ring once...then hang up and call back. Poor man's Caller ID.

    --Tina
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  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by AH-Tina
    Don't answer the phone.

    If you only have a few people that call you, tell them to call and let it ring once...then hang up and call back. Poor man's Caller ID.

    --Tina
    Hmm...interesting idea. However, we have ads in the local newspaper and a lot of people who call us on a regular basis so this won't work for us unfortunately. I was thinking more along the lines of finding some clever computer program or service that would allow me to deal with this issue.

    - Regards, Dr_doolittle_guy

  12. #12
    Join Date
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    When the family member calls, simply hang up. I bet they get bored after a few days. Don't give them any kind of reaction, just simply hang up.

    --Tina
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  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by AH-Tina
    When the family member calls, simply hang up. I bet they get bored after a few days. Don't give them any kind of reaction, just simply hang up.

    --Tina
    Really, this is probably the best thing to do and we thought about doing this a few times ourselves but I don't want this family member to even get one word in and in order to "hang up" on them, I'm going to have to pick up the phone in the first place and a lot can be said before I have time to discover it's them and actually hang up and there are a few things that I DON'T want to hear coming from the mouth of this person so even an answering machine is out of the question. I just don't know what to do. I appreciate the advice and I'm not trying to shoot everything down but I really do have a delicate situation on my hands here and I'm at a total loss as to how to deal with it.

    - Regards, Dr_doolittle_guy

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
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    290
    How about Priority Ringing just for them and then answer all other calls?

    Priority Ringing: You can assign a special ring to calls from up to 10 numbers - the calls you are most likely to want to answer. The rest can be routed to voice mail. There are ways callers can get around Priority Ringing when it is used as a screening tool. The harasser can switch phone lines and avoid the distinctive ring.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by WebHostWoman
    How about Priority Ringing just for them and then answer all other calls?

    Priority Ringing: You can assign a special ring to calls from up to 10 numbers - the calls you are most likely to want to answer. The rest can be routed to voice mail. There are ways callers can get around Priority Ringing when it is used as a screening tool. The harasser can switch phone lines and avoid the distinctive ring.
    Sounds good but...

    * Costs $$$ (both for service and installation)
    * Takes 3-4 days to set up (time is of the essense here)
    * Local area calls only (I believe)
    * I'm not even sure our phone Co. offers this.

    It did sound interesting though...

    - Regards, Dr_doolittle_guy

  16. #16
    Well, we just got off the phone with the phone company and we are getting the TOTAL package. My friend/room mate is out buying a couple of caller-ID equipped phones too and we got a great deal on the whole package and we will be hooked up sometime tommorow (which is pretty fast).

    Thank's for all the suggestions. Nice forum here. A lot of people.

    - Regards, Dr_doolittle_guy

  17. #17
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    Hope it works out for you...it can always be a hard situation to handle when family is involved.

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
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    California
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    Buy an answering machine and monitor calls. If it's not your relative, pick up.

    Get the http://www.telezapper.com

    Other tips: http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs3-hrs2.htm

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Jul 2006
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    287
    Quote Originally Posted by dr_doolittle_guy
    Well, we just got off the phone with the phone company and we are getting the TOTAL package. My friend/room mate is out buying a couple of caller-ID equipped phones too and we got a great deal on the whole package and we will be hooked up sometime tommorow (which is pretty fast).

    Thank's for all the suggestions. Nice forum here. A lot of people.

    - Regards, Dr_doolittle_guy
    Wait until they start blocking their caller ID so you can't tell it's them. Seriously, I have had this same issue AND I have caller ID and everything. They get wise to it and start ID blocking and you get "unknown" all the time instead. So now I have resorted to screening all calls. I never answer it. If it's important, whoever is calling will leave a voicemail and I can call them back. Actually, since I started doing this I am much happier now. No more nasty surprises on the other end, no more telemarketers to get annoyed at etc.

  20. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by Iwannasite
    Wait until they start blocking their caller ID so you can't tell it's them. Seriously, I have had this same issue AND I have caller ID and everything. They get wise to it and start ID blocking and you get "unknown" all the time instead. So now I have resorted to screening all calls. I never answer it. If it's important, whoever is calling will leave a voicemail and I can call them back. Actually, since I started doing this I am much happier now. No more nasty surprises on the other end, no more telemarketers to get annoyed at etc.
    Yup, already know all about this (call block, call block blocking, call block block blocking, call block...ad nausium) but if it does get to be a problem, I will simply *69 the people who I want to block and being family, I doubt they would have the nerve to call from multiple locations (ie; payphones, etc) because they are not like that. It's just a pretty big family fight thats been building up over the months now but it's on a professional and civil level (for now anyway...I hope!). We just need to be separated like two dogs fighting for awhile until things cool off a little.

    - Regards, Dr_doolittle_guy

  21. #21
    Join Date
    Oct 2004
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    I understand that you do not want to have a legal issue with this family member. However, what they are doing is harassment. Call the police and file a complaint. State in the complaint you do not want an arrest made. Typically a call from the police will be enough of a deterrent.
    Big things coming soon

  22. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by Nick H
    I understand that you do not want to have a legal issue with this family member. However, what they are doing is harassment. Call the police and file a complaint. State in the complaint you do not want an arrest made. Typically a call from the police will be enough of a deterrent.
    Your right, it is harassment. I have already politely asked this person not to contact me via email, postal mail, through another family member, my phone, my answering machine, etc and what does this person do?...they turn right around and send me an email (which did'nt get through because I've blocked everything) and then when that did not work, they got angry and sent me a letter via postal mail which I took down to my local country post office and they stamped it "refused" and sent it back to this person. I've had to back up (on CD) and shut down an email account which I have had for 7 years now just to keep them from contacting me through other family members.

    I did'nt want to bring this up on a public forum but this all has to do with childhood abuse, denial, alcoholism and a whole lot of other sordid details. I have the entire story posted on another forum which I would like to post here but I am scared that people would say that I was just playing the "victim card" because that's what my abuser always said and they told me I just imagined it all and painted my whole childhood like something out of a fairy tale

    - Regards, Dr_doolittle_guy (because sometimes animals treat you better then your own family).

  23. #23
    Ok...I must have said something wrong here because sudenly this thread has gone silent and I'm starting to recieve some PM's. If I said something wrong, I apologize. I was just trying to share, that was all. I won't bring the topic up again if it is inappropriate.


    - Regards, Dr_doolittle_guy

  24. #24
    Join Date
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    Your phone problem is solved. The rest, seek counseling...WHT isn't the place to get help with that.

    --Tina
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  25. #25
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    If you can't afford $2.00 a month for caller id the phone calls are the least of your problems
    Show your reciprocal links on your website. eReferrer

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