You know, I'm so whipped by the incessant whining of
some of my readers/viewers/listeners that get all twisted-off when
I decide to empower you with inside information from time to time.
These lame accusations of teaching people how to harass others
because I've shown them how to block their name/phone number from
showing up on Caller ID is the latest example of this cry-baby
crapola.
My position's pretty clear...and my desire to beat the phone
company at their game of up-selling a slew of services to
consumers while readily giving up our private info should be easy
to grasp.
READ ALL OF THE FOLLOWING COLUMN EXCERPTS CAREFULLY.
I've done all of the hard work for you, so don't be lazy
and write to me until you've read through the info I've compiled.
There's some really good insight into how the Caller
ID system works...why you need to know that the
phone company has already blocked Anonymous Calls for you if you
subscribe to Caller ID [and how to turn it off in 3
seconds!] and how this semi-new Privacy Manager
service works and screens out calls.
So what are you waiting for?
It's time to wrest control of your phone world back from
strangers. Have fun!
From my July 16, 1998 column:
Dear Ben: I've tried to follow your advice about
protecting my privacy, but am tired of pushing *67 every time
I place a phone call to prevent revealing my name and phone
number (to Caller ID subscribers). What can I do to permanently
block my identity? And what about my cell phone number?
--Dan in Highland Park
Dear Dan: Do what I did and get your telephone
numbers permanently blocked. You'll avoid the headache
of having to punch in a code every time you want to make an
"anonymous" call. But many local phone service providers
automatically add a service called Anonymous Call Rejection (ACR)
to customers subscribing to Caller ID) service. If you
permanently block your identity and then attempt to call someone
who unknowingly has ACR on the phone, your call will be rejected.
You can get around this by either pushing *82 (which will reveal
your name and phone number and allow your call to go
through), or call the operator, who can place the call for
you at an average cost of $1.15 a call. If you have Caller ID and
ACR and want to accept all calls, regardless of the
availability of a caller's identity, press *87 when you hear
the dial tone. Two quick beeps confirms that ACR is disabled.
If you wish to have your name/phone number identity permanently
blocked, contact your phone carrier by mail. Southwestern
Bell customers can write: Southwestern Bell, P.O. Box 80349,
Austin, Texas 78708. GTE customers can write: GTE Customer
Contact Center, Attn: Walter Reddick, 9999 W. Technology Lane,
Dallas, Texas 75220.
From my July 22, 1999 column:
Dear Ben: I just read an article that said over
half of Texas phone service customers have Caller ID; how can
I block my identity without pushing *67 every time I make a
call?
--Buck in Ft. Worth
Dear Buck: Contact your local phone service
provider to get the mailing address to send your permanent
block request letter. Be sure to include all residential or business
phone numbers that you wish to be permanently blocked, and the
address where the phone service is located. Or go to my
website at www.benjamindover.com/dmnews.asp
for sample letters and addresses for Southwestern Bell and
GTE.
From my July 20, 2000 column:
Dear Ben: I've taken your advice and permanently
blocked my identity from both my home and cell phones, so my
name and number doesn't show up when I call someone equipped
with Caller ID. But I've been told me about a new service which allows
customers to strip away "Anonymous Caller"-type
identifiers that show up on Caller ID...is this possible?
I've gone to great lengths to protect my privacy, even
paying a premium to the phone company to un-list/non-publish my
phone numbers, and now this new service pops up that could
neutralize my efforts!
--Stephanie,
Dallas
Dear Steph: Relax! It's not
what you think. The service you're referring to is called "Privacy
Manager" and according to Southwestern Bell's website
summary, it's "...a new call screening service that
stops unidentified calls before your phone rings. It works
with Caller ID to identify all incoming calls which are identified
as Anonymous, Unavailable, Out-of-Area, or Private, and makes
callers identify themselves in order to complete the
call."
Here's how it works: "When an unidentified call
reaches your line, the caller will hear: "The person you
are trying to reach does not accept unidentified calls. Your Caller
ID was not received. To enter an access code, press 1. Or, to
record your name so that we may announce your call, press
2." If the caller announces his or her name, your phone
will ring and "Privacy Manager" appears on the Caller ID box.
You will know that this is a screened call and will have four
options to handle the call: 1-Accept the call. 2-Reject the
call: "The person you are calling is not available at
this time. Please try again later." 3-Send the call to Call
Notes or an answering device. 4-Send a solicitor's rejection:
"Attention! Phone solicitors–Please add this person's
name and telephone number to your Do Not Call list. The person you
are calling does not accept phone solicitations."
"Callers with blocked numbers will be given the option to
unblock their number for just this call, and the call will be
connected. You can provide frequent callers whose numbers are
unidentified with an access code which will allow people who enter them
to ring through to your phone without recording their name. Each
access code must be ten digits long. We suggest using the
area code and telephone number of the person who'll be using
it. This makes it easy for the caller to remember and easy for
you to recognize." The cost of this latest wrinkle in
telephone technology? Southwestern Bell charges $2.70 to
initiate service, and $5.00 a month, but discounts it to
$4.00 if bundled with other calling services. Is it worth it?
That's your call. Personally, I like to harass telephone
solicitors when they call me at home (I've been inspired by
Tom Mabe's best-selling comedy CD "Revenge on the Telemarketers"...very
funny, a great source of ideas and available in music stores nationally
or online from places like www.Amazon.com
or direct from Tom's site: www.tommabe.com).
From my January 4, 2001 column:
"If you've got Caller ID at home: Do everyone a favor,
pick up your phone and press *87. Unbeknownst to most
consumers, when you sign-up for Caller ID, your friends at
the local phone company "help you" by installing ACR
(Anonymous Call Rejection) on your phone line. ACR rejects
any incoming phone calls from anonymous callers; the phone
company does this because they don't want everyone blocking
their identity when calling, potentially rendering Caller ID
useless. Because I believe you're smart enough to decide
which calls to take (and which calls to ignore), I'm
empowering you with the technical knowledge necessary to
neutralize the phone company. "
From my August 9, 2001 column:
Dear Ben: How do I permanently block my identity
from showing up on all outgoing phone calls that I initiate?
I know you've covered this before; I don't want to have to
press *67 before every call in order to keep my name and number
from showing up on someone's Caller ID.
-- Barbara C., via e-mail
Dear Barbara: Contact your local phone service
provider to get the mailing address to send your permanent
block request letter. Be sure to include all residential or
business phone numbers that you wish to have permanently blocked, as
well as the address where the phone service is located. Or go to
my website: www.bendover.com/callerid.asp
for sample letters and addresses for Southwestern Bell and
GTE (oops, I mean Verizon) customers. And since we're focusing
on special/programmable phone codes, check out the compilation of programming
codes I've posted to make your life a little easier: www.bendover.com/phonecodes.asp
Also available in this section? Reverse directory information
that lets you to find where phone service is physically located by
punching in just the phone number.
From my September 6, 2001 column:
Dear Ben: In your August 9, 2001 column a
reader requested information on how to block their identity from
showing up on Caller ID every time they initiated a phone call,
and you provided the answer. Why would you give this type of
information to someone who obviously wants to secretly harass
someone by telephone? Why wouldn’t anyone who calls another
person not want their identity known? Am I missing something? --
Judson, via e-mail
Dear Judson: Yes, you are missing something.
Many people do not want their private telephone numbers showing up
for a variety of legitimate reasons. For example: Calling a doctor
after hours for assistance with (what you deem) an urgent medical
need. Why should that doctor have to give up their private
telephone number, especially since they frequently return calls
from their homes or cell phones? I’ve heard countless stories
from doctors that have been called at all times of the night, on
weekends and on holidays by inept and insensitive patients who
abuse the doctor-patient relationship. Rude patients that forgot
to get prescriptions filled before going on vacation and decide to
disrupt their doctor at 4 a.m. to get them to call in a refill so
they can pick it up on their way to the airport Sunday morning.
Just because you’ve decided to subscribe to Caller ID service
doesn’t give you the right to know a caller’s private phone
numbers. And to drive home my quest for leveling the privacy
playing field, I’ve compiled a comprehensive summary of
telephone insight guaranteed to vex your friends with Caller ID
and other privacy-intruding services: www.bendover.com/noacr.asp
Wanna know some of the secret telephone programming
codes they forgot to include with your phone service
instructions? Here's a special section devoted to the world of *??
codes: www.bendover.com/phonecodes.asp
|
