A Whitelist for Phone Calls?

javacowboy asks: "I've been getting lots of strange phone calls lately. Most of the time, my phone would ring less than three times and then stop before I can answer. Then, a couple of nights ago, I got a call at 3am in the morning. It had stopped ringing by the time I woke up. *69 revealed a number with an area code of 632, which does not exist. I called the number, and the call would not complete past the area code. I want a product or service with which I can set up a -whitelist- of numbers that I allow to make my phone ring. Any number not on the list, or an unlisted phone number, tries to call me, and the phone doesn't ring at all. I would pay as much for this service as I would pay to have my number removed from the phone directory. Is something like this possible? If so, how would I do it?" I'm getting fed up with: wrong numbers; callers hang up on me as soon as I speak into the phone; telemarketers; crank calls; late night calls; people I know that I no longer wish to speak to; etc. My telco charges $8 a month for call display, which is exorbitant. Still, a call display won't prevent my phone from ringing. A do not call list will not prevent my phone from ringing. Getting my phone number removed from the phone directory will not prevent wrong numbers. How can filter out the calls that I don't want to deal with?"

Comments

Looks like Manila to me

[Marxist Hacker 42]

Looks like your mysterious 632 area code is really Manila, probably an outsourced call center in the Philipines.

Your topic is a Dupe, but a simple google search turned up these guys.

Asterisk / Broadvoice?

[karnal]

I have two solutions:

1. If you're a geek, try to wrap your head around Asterisk - I'd have to think either it would have that functionality built in, and if not - wouldn't be too hard to tell it to pass whitelisted #s, but dump everything else to voicemail....

2. I use Broadvoice at home, and when I don't want to be disturbed, I *77 the phone. *78 unblocks it (takes it out of Do Not Disturb) - of course, this doesn't help when it's late at night and I don't do the *77 ahead of time, but I can make sure I don't get awoken again.

Both of these implementations almost require an internet connection. While you can purchase FXO modules for Asterisk, I've just not had the interest in making a go at it with a PSTN connection....

Another alternative - only one phone in our whole house rings. I sleep rather well, so I probably wouldn't hear it if it rang at night...

Re:Asterisk / Broadvoice?

[darnok]

> 1. If you're a geek, try to wrap your head around Asterisk - I'd have to think either it would have that
> functionality built in, and if not - wouldn't be too hard to tell it to pass whitelisted #s, but dump everything
> else to voicemail....

Absolutely - I'm putting in an Asterisk box progressively over the last few nights to do all this and more. The rules aren't absolutely fixed in my head yet, but will be something like:
- voicemail for everyone in the house; if someone calls, they can choose who they leave a message for
- no calls after 10pm, unless it's from a whitelisted number (i.e. parents, friends)
- no calls between 7pm-8:30pm, unless it's from a whitelisted number
- *all* calls from numbers without caller ID go direct to voicemail (i.e. phone doesn't even ring), regardless of when the call comes in

Asterisk basically gives you full-on routing capability for your incoming and outgoing calls. You can define rules based on caller ID, time of day, ... - pretty much any "property" of either incoming or outgoing calls.

Re:Asterisk / Broadvoice?

[Anonymous Coward]

I did this with asterisk earlier this year. When a call comes in, the number is checked against a mysql database to see if the number is whitelisted or blacklisted. Whitelisted calls go straight through, and blacklisted calls hear a message that their number is blacklisted and then asterisk hangs up. Greylisted calls go to a message that says telemarketer calls are not allowed, then proceeds to give the user the option of ringing through or leaving a message. Calls between 10pm and 9am get an 'after hours' message which will go to voicemail unless the user enters the 'emergency' code which will then ring through. Works like a charm, and we've not been bothered by unwanted calls since.

Grand Central

[EMeta]

The NYT had a very interesting article about Grandcentral.com, which I believe would whitelist and much more, if you sign up for them, which at the time, I believe was free. Here's the article.

telezapper

[phatvw]

I think you're talking about the Telezapper A quick google search turned up a nice privacy page with useful, although fairly obvious recommendations: http://www.privacyrights.org/fs/fs3-hrs2.htm

Re:telezapper

[stephanruby]

Someone mod the parent down before too many slashdotters waste their money, the telezapper used to work -- but now it doesn't anymore. A few years back the automatic dialers relied on the standard telephone tones to know that a telephone had been disconnected, or busy, or whatever. The telezapper exploited that functionality by faking those tones whenever someone called. And the telezapper got so popular, that the makers of the automatic dialers stopped relying on those tones alone to know that a phone was disconnected, so now the telezapper is completely useless. Not only that, but the telezapper was also rarely used once purchased since *everyone* not just the telemarketers -- got to hear the annoying tone at the beginning of the call. Now, the people selling telezappers are just rip off artists, they know their products don't work -- so don't expect a refund.

No, the real solution is to get caller id from your phone company (assuming you live in a State or a Country that allows it) and buy one of those devices that white lists the phone numbers you want to receive, and otherwise allows your callers to punch in a special code in case they're not white listed yet. That special code, you could give it out only to your friends, or you could simply leave it on your outgoing message -- since even leaving it as an outgoing message will probably screen out a good portion of automated telemarketers. And notice, I said buy a device, don't rent, do not lease it from your phone company, those things are dead cheap, and the phone company is just going to make a nice profit on the monthly fee.

And someone said it already, but I just want to repeat it in case some of you missed it. If you have a cell phone, check your manual to see what kind of built-in functionality it already has. Even the basic cell phones these days have some pretty decent scheduling functionality, ring tones or vibrations for different numbers (or categories of numbers), and automated forwarding of certain phone calls directly into voice mail.

Super Simple

[TubeSteak]

I'm not sure how this made it to the front page.

The easiest solution:
Go down to your local big box store & check out the various cordless phones. You'll find the ones with fancier base stations will allow you to deal with incoming calls however you like.

After the person has called. You just setup that # not to ring, to go directly to voicemail or if the phone supports it, it'll just hang up.

You don't even have to give up your corded phones & buy extra handsets.