blocking calls

[rbreedon]

Good afternoon all

Is there such a feature on rogers home phone that will enable me to block someone from calling my home phone

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[debbieferrill]

how do you block numbers from a land line? using rogers phone service.

[57]

@debbieferrill :  You have several options for blocking:

1. You can purchase a call blocking device - available online with various features for various $.

2. You can purchase/use a home phone (like Panasonic cordless) that has the call blocking feature.

3. You can try to use the Rogers Online Manager, if it's available to you, but I found it slow, useless and only takes up to 30 numbers.

As discussed in posts 57, 60, 62 of this thread, the call blocking feature is now next to useless because all/most telemarketers now rotate their spoofed phone numbers, so that the number you blocked is not used again and they use another one that you have not yet blocked.  I used to always block a number once they phoned me twice. I almost never get telemarketing calls from the same number any more and rarely is a number blocked. The numbers are always different.

That is why I recommend you utilize a "white list" on your phone.  Again, most Panasonic (and some other) cordless phones have this feature.  You programme your contacts into the directory and can set a distinctive ring for the numbers in the directory. When a call comes in from someone in your directory, you can hear the distinctive ring and answer the call. If you don't hear the distinctive ring, you know that the caller is not in your directory and is often a telemarketer.  You can decide how to handle this - whether to pick up that call or let it go to voicemail.

Some of the call blocking devices can also set up a white list and "reject" any calls that are not on it. That's how the Rogers Online Manager whitelist works.  The Online manger only allows for 30 phone numbers in the whitelist though, which is not enough for most people (see link in post 62). Also, you may not want the call from a Doctor or Revenue Canada rejected if it's not in your whitelist.  That's why I use the distinctive ring feature, which still allows me to use call display to see if the call is from someone I want to talk to.

[debbieferrill]

519 IS ONTARIO, i have relatives there and they do call a few times a week, i want to block a local number. actually 2 of them.

[57]

@debbieferrill : 

Did you read my previous post?  You can certainly block two numbers in any of the ways I mentioned.  Do you know for a fact that these are the sorts of numbers that don't change?  Are they telemarketers or somebody else?

[debbieferrill]

people we know, we dont want them calling us anymomre

[57]

@debbieferrill :  As I indicated in post 65 of this thread, there are several ways to block calls on a Rogers Home Phone.  If you have a cordless phone with the call block feature, like the Panasonic that I mentioned, that would be the easiest.  If you want, you can purchase an external call blocking device - search the internet for various models.

If you have Rogers Home Phone and subscribe to Home and Away Online Manager, then you could give that a try, but I (and others) have found it extremely frustrating to set up.

- Login to MyRogers, click "Home Phone", Click "Home and Away Online Manger" link that should come up if you subscribe, click "Privacy", You then need to configure the unwanted caller settings to your preference and enter any numbers into the list of unwanted callers. I found this latter portion to be extremely frustrating and gave up - I'm a very technical person and it's frustrating to set up - for example, you need to click Yes, then no for adding a number, etc.  If you wish to attempt this procedure, I wish you luck.

[debbieferrill]

ok thanks a lot

[4stressed]

Call Block Ring Tone

Just had Rogers Home Phone installed.   With Bell all my call blocked numbers just rang once then went to voicemail!  Now with Rogers it has a 2 quick plus one ring, so three rings before it says call block!  How do I set it for just ringing once!  The reason for call block is to block the number right away and not have it bother you.  Any ideas or if this is just Rogers way of blocking numbers with this annoying 3 ring tone!!?   Thanks

[4stressed]

Never mind! I figured it out.

[debbieferrill]

how tell me, i still cant figure it out

[4stressed]

*49 to take it off International dial tone to ring just once instead of three times for blocked calls.  

[Chris70]

From what I'm reading, in order to block a private number we need to pay Rogers an additional monthly fee?  It is not included in any existing package?

[RogersCorey]

Hello @Chris70!

Welcome to our Community!

I know call blocking is an important feature for some but it's not available in the base package. You need to subscribe to an additional service.

Regards,

RogersCorey

[Chris70]

What is considered basic package.  I have call waiting and call display.  I don't consider that to be basic

[57]

@Chris70 :  I believe you need "online manager" to block calls, however, as discussed earlier in this thread, call blocking is pretty useless these days - see posts 57 of this thread onwards for tips on how to deal with Telemarketers, etc.

In addition, most blocking devices/software may not block calls that come to you as "private number" or "unknown" or similar.  You may need an external blocking device for that kind of flexibility as the blockers on most (cordless) phones, etc only block specific numbers and Telemarketers are always rotating those numbers these days, so Telemarketers don't "hide" behind "private number" much any more - they just spoof all kinds of numbers and rotate them regularly.  As I mentioned in previous posts I recommend a "white list" option, since the "black list" option doesn't work any more, unless you have one or two bothersome numbers that don't change.

[OldTech]

Good morning all...

I am new to this forum and have read the previous messages.  I have not seen anything mentioned about the scammer calls that come in during the sleeping hours. In the last two weeks we have experienced three calls all in the 4am to 5am window. I like the idea of a white list, if it could be practiced at a specific time rather than a blanket time frame. I wonder how hard it would be to have a feature like this available on the Rogers Home phone service. If it was optional for eight hour periods then those that are working shift could incorporate it in their lives as well...it would be a nice option or is it already there and I missed seeing it.........tnx Bill

[57]

@OldTech:  Not sure if it's any use for you but my Panasonic cordless phones have a "night mode" feature, wherein you can programme hours when the phone will not ring.  Some people don't like this in case there's an emergency.  Some of the external blockers have a night mode and also have a "white list" for emergency calls, so that they ring through despite being in night mode.

I mentioned earlier that "unknown" or "private" numbers may not be blockable on my cordless phones, but in fact they are, however, it's not much use any more since most telemarketers now spoof numbers, rather than coming in as "private number". 

[rye_encoke]

Blocking unwanted callers

I am looking at the online manager and I can see how to set up numbers for callers I want to block, but it seems the only way to  turn it on is to allow a message to be given to those calling that I am unavailable.  I would rather the call just be disconnected or hung up.  Is there no way to do this?  Do I have to choose the yes option on them receiving a message that I am unavailable?

[57]

@rye_encoke :  Call blocking is pretty useless these days because most telemarketers now spoof numbers and they rotate the numbers so that the same number will not come up the next time. See posts 57, 60, 62, 65 onwards in this thread for my recommendations for handling telemarketers, depending on your preferences.

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@rye_encoke wrote:

I would rather the call just be disconnected or hung up.  Is there no way to do this?  

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See the following link. You can set up a "white list", however, unfortunately, that (online manager) white list can only handle 30 numbers, which is not enough for most people who may have 50-100 people in their contact list and it appears you still get the "announcement".

http://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/Home-Phone/blocking-calls/m-p/355067#M1846

[Elochai]

I been getting calls repeatedly. Not from a telemarketer or scammer but from an old man who probably shouldn’t have access to a phone without supervision. He called 7 times within 10 mins yesterday. Today he called 5 times within 7 mins. He can’t figure out after being told repeatedly that he got the wrong number. He after waking us up repeatedly (I work long hours doing night shifts where I do up to 60 hours in only 5 days).

But as usual I see Rogers is behind the times and asking for a fee to give you access to block a number. Something that most companies give for free or built into the service.

Guess the real solution is filling out a police report and having them deal with a man who may or may not have dementia. Pretty sad when that’s the solution your left with because Rogers want to milk every penny from you but at least it’s FREE !

[57]

@Elochai : Do you have call display? Do you have a cordless phone with a call blocking feature? if the old man's number appears in the call display it would be very easy to add it to the call blocking feature of most cordless phones.  See post 57 onwards in this thread:

https://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/Home-Phone/blocking-calls/m-p/383007#M2018

Also, it's possible with some cordless phones to put them in "night mode" for certain times when you'd like to sleep.   They will then not ring at those times.  Some call blockers and "night mode" functionality even have a "white list" so that you can receive calls in the event of an emergency even if you're in "night mode."  Another option is to turn off the ringer when sleeping and then turn it on again when you wake.  

In my view, bothering the police for this is not on.