Two points to make initially.

Firstly, this is not the answer to Silent Calls. It is a device that some might find useful in their home.

Secondly, this is not strictly anything to do with saynoto0870. If a blacklist is to be provided, which is a questionable proposition anyway, there is no suggestion as to how it may be funded. Whilst a properly declared premium rate number could provide a simple way of charging for distribution, that has not as yet been suggested.

Apart from the blacklist (which could be evaded by withholding CLI), CLI is only used to identify listed known callers, who bypass the system. All other callers are asked to identify themselves.

If no identification is provided the call is dropped immediately. This would deal with Silent Calls and any caller who would not want to waste their time trying to get through. If an identification is provided, then this is offered. If the user does not wish to accept the call, they are not connected to the caller.

This is very different from using caller display as it introduces the additional step of providing an unrecognised caller with the chance to identify themselves. One might expect that many callers who do not expect to get through will hang up at this stage, whereas "genuine" callers will hopefully not be inconvenienced by the delay caused by the screening process.

I think that TrueCall is fairly described as being nothing more than having calls screened by an automated PA, but with the option for known callers to get straight through. As such, I think that many will find it valuable.

It is not the answer to the problem of Silent Calls as it is not distributed free of charge to every UK household. It does however have many other benefits.

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There is much confusion about the regulations covering "cold calling". The Lib Dems provide one recent example, although they should have known better!

Pre-recorded marketing messages are not "exempt" from the TPS, they are prohibited without explicit consent. A failure to register with the TPS amounts to consent to receipt of attended marketing calls (unless explicitly withdrawn from any company). Recorded messages can only be played to those who give explicit consent.

Registration with the TPS is actually irrelevant in principle to the issue of recorded messages, as it is to Silent Calls. There is a case for the idea that many cold callers will not waste their time ringing TPS-registered numbers as they are unlikely to be successful. Registration may therefore exclude one from the lists used by those who may make Silent Calls or use recorded marketing messages.

With a very high proportion of the population now registered however, unsolicited cold calling is rarely worthwhile at all if one only calls non-registered numbers. As saturation is being reached, worthy organisations and those who behave politely and properly are being denied use of telemarketing as a valid channel whereas the cowboys and those outside the scope of UK (and EU) regulation continue to exploit it.

SilentCallsVictim wrote on Oct 22^nd, 2008 at 3:05pm:


This is what I couldn't find out. How are they asked to identify themselves? If they have to speak their name, they can say "Debt Consolidation Ltd" or whatever, as the box won't have the intellegence to know they are unwanted, unlike a real PA. If they have to enter their number so it can be stored or presented to the person receiving the call, what's to stop them entering a bogus number?

Going even further off-topic, I suspect I receive cold calls and automated messages because my number was previously allocated to someone else, and he had a relationship with the companies concerned. However, I've never had any dealings with those companies. Are they therefore breaking the regulations by calling me?

It's nothing particularly revolutionary.  Just existing technology packaged up into a user-friendly box.

I run asterisk (open-source PBX ) at home, on a little PC I got free off freecycle.  I've got a blacklist set up that I add pests to manually, but there are scripts available to bar calls based on looking up the number in various online databases.  It's also fairly easy to set up different ways of call screening for withheld callers.

trevormc wrote on Nov 19^th, 2008 at 11:02am:

How about callers who have a genuine reason to call you, but aren't (yet) on your list? Have they managed to negotiate the system OK?

Another potential issue I can see with the system is that it will take calls when I'm out, meaning that the caller has to pay for them (we could get into the answerphone debate again here!) Would that also happen to callers on the star list, or does the phone just keep ringing for them until you answer?

The Star list is capable of holding 500 numbers hopefully I've got everybody on it, you can paste from word list.
The answerphone feature is programmable I have set mine to 25secs so Star callers can hang up at no charge other callers simply get ring tone & no answer machine. Hope this answers your question.      

Trevormc,

You seem to be happy so I am reluctant to challenge you, please forgive me as I do so.

You seem to suggest that unstarred callers cannot get through to you at all. This would include those you know calling from a payphone or some other unknown location. I would not wish you to be surprised at missing an important or urgent call from someone who is perhaps in distress, or perhaps from the emergency services.

If you are aware of this risk and are content, then accept my apologies for raising the point, although it may be of use to others. Whilst the "whisper" feature can be abused, it provides the means of enabling important calls from unknown or withheld CLI to get through.

A new development in the TrueCall story - 5 celebrity endorsements, some free advertising on the BBC and gaining a potentially helpful business partner, see - http://www.bbc.co.uk/dragonsden/entrepreneurs/stevesmith.shtml.

I am advised that this could lead on to some discussion of the subject of nuisance telephone calls with a highly suitable interviewer, on BBC1 next Friday evening (24 July) at 22:35.