Homemade Cell Phone Call Blocker?

G)-(ostly asks: "Recently, I've been plagued by a number of calls that were mis-dialed to my cell phone. They're particularly annoying because, being on a cell phone, the wrong number calls follow me everywhere as opposed to just being ignored in an empty house during the day. Verizon, of course, has scripted their drones to claim they can't do anything about it except change the number (or we can turn off the phone), which of course probably wouldn't change anything since we'd just get different mis-dials. However, since it's in my possession, would it be possible to build a software package that could be used to 'screen' unwanted numbers right on the phone? If so, how would one even begin to find APIs for phones, or load the software, once built, onto it?" How long do you figure it will take phone makers to recognize the need for this feature?

A cheap and dirty way to do this would be to add the numbers you wish to block to your phone's contact list and give them a silent ring. However, you then waste the phones memory with a phone-book entry (which can be hundreds of bytes), when all you really need is a list consisting of 10-12 digit numbers (depending on locality). The other drawback to this method is that you might need to use those contact slots, so it isn't a solution for everyone. Still, this sounds like a useful feature, but there is still the issue of how much control the cell phone's OS will give you over its basic operations (blocking messages sent from a specific number, for example). Has anyone tried doing this on their phone? What kind of luck did you have?

How long do you figure it will take phone makers

[thrillseeker]

... to offer this feature?

They'll never try to voluntarily assist their customers in limiting the number of air minutes used by their customers.

Different #s have different wrong number rates

[localman]

I once had a cell phone where I would get at least four wrong numbers per day. I'd never had that much trouble before, and never again after I changed numbers. Everyone calling was asking for a different person, so it wasn't because I had a number similar to a popular business (though that happened to me once before too).

Eventually I figured out the reason for the many wrong numbers: my exchange matched a nearby area code, and the first three digits of the rest of my number were an exchange within that area code. So, for example, let's say my number was 555 1234, there were a thousand valid numbers in the format 1 (555) 123 4###. What that meant was that anytime someone in my area code forgot to dial 1 when dialing one of those 1000 numbers, it resulted in a wrong number to me.

Once I figured that out, I got my number changed and things got much better. Don't know if that's what's happening to you, but I thought I'd mention it. If you think it is something like this, be sure to change exchanges too, not just the last four digits. Make sure the exchange does not match a nearby area code.

Cheers.

VOIP solution

[hlh_nospam]

I determined long ago that I did not want to be a captive to a cell phone company, so I got an inexpensive VOIP number to forward to my cell phone. I do not give out my cell phone number at all, but I forward my VOIP phone to my cell phone (most of the time). In addition to being able to ditch my cell phone company at any time without having any hassles over notifying people of my new number, I can also go online anytime I want to 1) get a complete list of calling stats, 2) set filters to weed out unwanted calls, and 3) set timers on various other features.

My favorite feature is the ability to assign any number that I don't want to answer again a permanent busy signal. That, BTW, includes *any* call with a blocked caller ID. I get a little kick out of seeing in my log some low-life telemarketing company trying unsuccessfully to reach me hundreds of times. I can also set timers to go directly to voicemail during certain hours (like when I want to sleep), and I can selectively filter important callers (like my family) to ring through anyway.

Costs about $15/month. Oh, yes, I can also use the VOIP phone as originally intended, too.

Nowadays, with local number portability, the 'captive' part is less of a problem, but the other features make keeping a VOIP service worthwhile.

Re:How long do you figure it will take phone maker

[michrech]

Actually, in some countries, like Belgium, you don't pay to receive calls, only the caller pays to talk on the phone and you also don't pay to receive text messages...
In other countries, like the US, you pay for calling and for receiving calls, and for sending and receiving text messages...

Just FYI

In addition to not paying for incoming calls (USCellular), I also do not pay to receive text messages.

uscc.com even has a tool that lets you send text messages to their customers for free (no one pays for the text messages in this way!)

Not all US carriers do this. This, in addition to the fact that the ONLY major provider in my area is Sprint (and they only have towers near the highway) is why I have USCellular.

I guess Alltel could be considered "major", but they suck big floppy donkey ears compared to USCellular.

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