Do you even answer your phone any more?
JetBlast member 2005.
JetBlast member 2006.
Banned 2007
JetBlast member 2006.
Banned 2007
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: The US of A - sort of
Posts: 16

Obviously I mean cell phone, because who even has a landline any more right? but I guess the same thing applies
I should get back on the Federal do-not-call list, but it's almost as much trouble to report someone as it is to just vet the calls
Two points come to mind:
- My phone rings
- I look at the caller's number
- If I recognise it (and want to) I answer it
- If I don't recognise it I don't answer it
I should get back on the Federal do-not-call list, but it's almost as much trouble to report someone as it is to just vet the calls
Two points come to mind:
- It's amazing that humans invent fabulous technologies, then other humans invent ways to make those technologies unusable
- What do people who HAVE to answer their phones do? Like surgeons, or detectives, or my air conditioning guy (I suppose I should ask him)?
Join Date: May 2001
Location: south of Cirencester, north of Lyneham
Age: 73
Posts: 1,252
I have a landline. They tend to keep going when cellphones don't. After the Boston Marathon bombing, cellphone coverage was switched off in case there were other bombs that could be deliberately detonated from a cellphone.. When the hurricane hit New York and the subway flooded and a lot of cell sites were knocked out - no just for hours - some landlines still worked.
Plus cellphone coverage in my house is very poor ….
Plus cellphone coverage in my house is very poor ….
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: Everett, WA
Age: 65
Posts: 3,196
Sometimes, if I'm not doing anything, I'll answer a call - just turn on the speaker and say 'hello' - or sometimes not say anything at all. Nine times out of ten the other end doesn't even pick up and it disconnects...
Gnome de PPRuNe
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Too close to Croydon for comfort
Age: 57
Posts: 8,024
Doctors only ring me when I'm expecting a call - the surgery reception comes up OK as it's in my address book.
My building society finance advisor was apparently trying to ring me for a chat from the same kind of number that Virgin use to offer me a new phone/deal/whatever. I got a sniffy letter "well if you don't want our help..."
Contact with friends/family is nearly all WhatsApp now, plus the occasional call.
My building society finance advisor was apparently trying to ring me for a chat from the same kind of number that Virgin use to offer me a new phone/deal/whatever. I got a sniffy letter "well if you don't want our help..."
Contact with friends/family is nearly all WhatsApp now, plus the occasional call.

Join Date: Jan 2018
Location: London
Posts: 1
The iPhone has a setting to Silence Unknown Callers.
With the feature enabled, the only time an incoming call will make your iPhone ring is if the phone number is found in your Contacts, recent outgoing calls, or is a Siri Suggestions (sourced from the Mail or Messages apps). Any other calls will go directly to voicemail, where the caller can then leave a message.
I would imagine there is a similar setting for Android phones.
For iPhone users to turn this feature on
With the feature enabled, the only time an incoming call will make your iPhone ring is if the phone number is found in your Contacts, recent outgoing calls, or is a Siri Suggestions (sourced from the Mail or Messages apps). Any other calls will go directly to voicemail, where the caller can then leave a message.
I would imagine there is a similar setting for Android phones.
For iPhone users to turn this feature on
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Find and select Phone from the list of options.
- Scroll down until you find Silence Unknown Callers and slide the switch to the On position.

Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Florida
Posts: 2
mostly same except
I scan the number and name, then delete and block in the same action, then go to messages to confirm empty. All this done in seconds.
If I miss something important out of hundreds they just got routed directly to my messaging without ringing I have never had one of these yet where they ultimately left a voice mail)
what worries me is whaqt
I scan the number and name, then delete and block in the same action, then go to messages to confirm empty. All this done in seconds.
If I miss something important out of hundreds they just got routed directly to my messaging without ringing I have never had one of these yet where they ultimately left a voice mail)
what worries me is whaqt
JetBlast member 2005.
JetBlast member 2006.
Banned 2007
JetBlast member 2006.
Banned 2007
Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: The US of A - sort of
Posts: 16
I used to block them, but I soon realised they just spoofed the incoming number so it wasn't really a successful strategy
Over here in the US our numbers are XXX-YYY-ZZZZ and they tend to spoof a number with a matching XXX and YYY part, so it looks like someone close by
Over here in the US our numbers are XXX-YYY-ZZZZ and they tend to spoof a number with a matching XXX and YYY part, so it looks like someone close by
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Kiribati
Posts: 27
"If you get a phone call, don't answer, they might have dialled the wrong number" (Groucho Marx)...I stick to this philosophy, as I am pretty much fed up with all those "commercials", generally from communication operators, which want you to switch contract to them, promising a "paradise on earth"... that's enough to me! I only reply, of course, to numbers which are in my list, if I remember to activate the ring tone, otherwise I revert later when I realise it.

Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Florida
Posts: 2
I used to block them, but I soon realised they just spoofed the incoming number so it wasn't really a successful strategy
Over here in the US our numbers are XXX-YYY-ZZZZ and they tend to spoof a number with a matching XXX and YYY part, so it looks like someone close by
Over here in the US our numbers are XXX-YYY-ZZZZ and they tend to spoof a number with a matching XXX and YYY part, so it looks like someone close by
XXX-YYY-ZZZZ
I think that was one of the numbers I blocked.
It seems to work I haven't had another call from that number
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: River Thames & Surrey
Age: 72
Posts: 8,999