I have just replaced our phones, with a set which filters out nuisance
callers, unless they are live callers who can follow a proceedure to
get through.

My new concern is that we sometimes get automated calls from the
electric, gas, flood and water utilities, when they have an issue and
we obviously want these calls to get through - so I need to find out
the numbers they use to ring us from, so I can include them in the list
of accepted numbers.

Has anyone found such a list, or even a proper name for this type of
prerecorded warning phone call?

Harry Bloomfield wrote:
I have just replaced our phones, with a set which filters out nuisance
callers, unless they are live callers who can follow a proceedure to
get through.

My new concern is that we sometimes get automated calls from the
electric, gas, flood and water utilities, when they have an issue and
we obviously want these calls to get through - so I need to find out
the numbers they use to ring us from, so I can include them in the list
of accepted numbers.

Has anyone found such a list, or even a proper name for this type of
prerecorded warning phone call?


The obvious answer is to ask the utilities concerned.

Do they really call so frequently that missing the call would be a concern?


Incidentally our Truecall unit blocked 8 nuisance calls on Wednesday. Best
thing we've ever bought.

Tim

--
Trolls and troll feeders go in my killfile

On 26-Aug-16 11:23 AM, Tim+ wrote:
Harry Bloomfield wrote:
I have just replaced our phones, with a set which filters out nuisance
callers, unless they are live callers who can follow a proceedure to
get through.

My new concern is that we sometimes get automated calls from the
electric, gas, flood and water utilities, when they have an issue and
we obviously want these calls to get through - so I need to find out
the numbers they use to ring us from, so I can include them in the list
of accepted numbers.

Has anyone found such a list, or even a proper name for this type of
prerecorded warning phone call?


The obvious answer is to ask the utilities concerned.

Do they really call so frequently that missing the call would be a concern?

I've only ever had on flood warning call, but I wouldn't have wanted to
miss it.


--
--

Colin Bignell

Nightjar wrote:
On 26-Aug-16 11:23 AM, Tim+ wrote:
Harry Bloomfield wrote:
I have just replaced our phones, with a set which filters out nuisance
callers, unless they are live callers who can follow a proceedure to
get through.

My new concern is that we sometimes get automated calls from the
electric, gas, flood and water utilities, when they have an issue and
we obviously want these calls to get through - so I need to find out
the numbers they use to ring us from, so I can include them in the list
of accepted numbers.

Has anyone found such a list, or even a proper name for this type of
prerecorded warning phone call?


The obvious answer is to ask the utilities concerned.

Do they really call so frequently that missing the call would be a concern?

I've only ever had on flood warning call, but I wouldn't have wanted to
miss it.



That seems to be the only one that I can imagine not wanting to miss if I
lived in a flood zone.

Tim

--
Trolls and troll feeders go in my killfile

On Fri, 26 Aug 2016 11:12:30 +0100
Harry Bloomfield wrote:

I have just replaced our phones, with a set which filters out
nuisance callers, unless they are live callers who can follow a
proceedure to get through.

My new concern is that we sometimes get automated calls from the
electric, gas, flood and water utilities, when they have an issue and
we obviously want these calls to get through - so I need to find out
the numbers they use to ring us from, so I can include them in the
list of accepted numbers.

Has anyone found such a list, or even a proper name for this type of
prerecorded warning phone call?

Be wary that some companies might not have 'visible' CLI numbers. Our
local health centre comes up as private, and I read that some Councils
also do that.

--
Davey.

Davey wrote:
On Fri, 26 Aug 2016 11:12:30 +0100

Be wary that some companies might not have 'visible' CLI numbers. Our
local health centre comes up as private, and I read that some Councils
also do that.


Well IMO they can just **** right off then. I mean, would you open your
door to a masked man?

Tim

--
Trolls and troll feeders go in my killfile

In article ,
Tim+ wrote:
Incidentally our Truecall unit blocked 8 nuisance calls on Wednesday.
Best thing we've ever bought.


I've been thinking about this or similar.

Is there a version which fits the incoming line so does all extensions in
the house?

Not sure I like the idea of a £20 service charge after the first year.

--
*Save the whale - I'll have it for my supper*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 26/08/2016 11:12, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
I have just replaced our phones, with a set which filters out nuisance
callers, unless they are live callers who can follow a proceedure to get
through.

My new concern is that we sometimes get automated calls from the
electric, gas, flood and water utilities, when they have an issue and we
obviously want these calls to get through - so I need to find out the
numbers they use to ring us from, so I can include them in the list of
accepted numbers.

Has anyone found such a list, or even a proper name for this type of
prerecorded warning phone call?


Try just blocking International and number withheld first and see how
many calls stop. I've found with just these two filters 100% of
unwelcome have been stopped in a period at over 3 months.

This will allow your warning calls through as long as they present a
number. If they don't present a number then you have no way of filtering
them to a white list in any case.

Bank and credit card fraud departments will not reveal from which number
they will call you as its easy for the criminals to spoof a calling number.

--
mailto: news {at} admac {dot] myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

On 26/08/2016 11:46, Davey wrote:

Be wary that some companies might not have 'visible' CLI numbers. Our
local health centre comes up as private, and I read that some Councils
also do that.


If a human is making the call they can still get through to you, or your
answering machine, even if they do withhold a number and withheld
numbers are filtered out. With these systems any blocked number can be
automatically answered by the phone and the caller informed of an
alternative way of getting through which requires a simple human
response - something the autodialler with pre-recorded messages don't
yet manage and cold callers don't seem to bother with.

Even if a cold caller bothers with the alternative means a second level
of checking allows the call to be rejected without being answered and/or
a presented number being added to a black list.

--
mailto: news {at} admac {dot] myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

In article ,
Chris French wrote:
Depends on how important it is to you that they contact you. We
wouldn't use it as my wife's workplace (local hospital) need to
be able to contact her when she is on call. And anyway we don't
get that many junk calls. (1 per day on average)

I'd call that far too many. 1 a month probably wouldn't worry me. Although
it would depend on how many calls you get per day.

--
*Xerox and Wurlitzer will merge to market reproductive organs.

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On 26/08/2016 14:12, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

I've been thinking about this or similar.

Is there a version which fits the incoming line so does all extensions in
the house?

Most of the better versions are DECT cordless. One base station/answer
machine and up to a total of 5 cordless handsets connected to the base
station.


Not sure I like the idea of a £20 service charge after the first year.


I don't pay any subscription/service charges. I need caller display
enabled which with BT can be free.

The BT8600 phones have the technology in-built and the phones can be
used on 'other' phone networks.
http://tinyurl.com/z3x9nk2

Manual can be downloaded from
http://tinyurl.com/zd7984g

(Is anyone else finding tinyurl very slow to respond these days?)


--
mailto: news {at} admac {dot] myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

Tim+ Wrote in message:
Davey wrote:
On Fri, 26 Aug 2016 11:12:30 +0100

Be wary that some companies might not have 'visible' CLI numbers. Our
local health centre comes up as private, and I read that some Councils
also do that.


Well IMO they can just **** right off then.

Depends on how important it is to you that they contact you. We
wouldn't use it as my wife's workplace (local hospital) need to
be able to contact her when she is on call. And anyway we don't
get that many junk calls. (1 per day on average)


I mean, would you open your
door to a masked man?


No, but that's not the same situation.

--
--
Chris French

On 26/08/2016 14:12, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In ,
wrote:
Incidentally our Truecall unit blocked 8 nuisance calls on Wednesday.
Best thing we've ever bought.


I've been thinking about this or similar.

Is there a version which fits the incoming line so does all extensions in
the house?

Yes, my trueCall unit does. [It's a stand-alone unit, not one built into
a phone]

It plugs into the phone line, and the phones(s) plug into it. It only
has a socket for one phone so, if you want to use multiple phones (as I
do) you need to arrange your extension wiring so that it radiates from a
single BT plug rather than being kroned into the faceplate.

Not sure I like the idea of a £20 service charge after the first year.


It's optional. It gets you the online control panel which makes it
easier to configure the unit and maintain your star and zap lists - but
you *can* manage without it. I've chosen to renew mine each year because
I find it useful - particularly for being able to see who's been calling
me when I'm away from home.
--
Cheers,
Roger
____________
Please reply to Newsgroup. Whilst email address is valid, it is seldom
checked.

Dave Plowman wrote:

Chris French wrote:

we don't get that many junk calls. (1 per day on average)

I'd call that far too many. 1 a month probably wouldn't worry me.

Most months I get none.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...

In article ,
Chris French wrote:
Depends on how important it is to you that they contact you. We
wouldn't use it as my wife's workplace (local hospital) need to
be able to contact her when she is on call. And anyway we don't
get that many junk calls. (1 per day on average)

I'd call that far too many. 1 a month probably wouldn't worry me. Although
it would depend on how many calls you get per day.

You'd worry about junk calls?

On 26-Aug-16 1:45 PM, Tim+ wrote:
Davey wrote:
On Fri, 26 Aug 2016 11:12:30 +0100

Be wary that some companies might not have 'visible' CLI numbers. Our
local health centre comes up as private, and I read that some Councils
also do that.


Well IMO they can just **** right off then. I mean, would you open your
door to a masked man?

One of my most important customers blocks its numbers. It wants people
to call through the switchboard, not direct to individuals' lines.


--
--

Colin Bignell

Nightjar wrote:
On 26-Aug-16 1:45 PM, Tim+ wrote:
Davey wrote:
On Fri, 26 Aug 2016 11:12:30 +0100

Be wary that some companies might not have 'visible' CLI numbers. Our
local health centre comes up as private, and I read that some Councils
also do that.


Well IMO they can just **** right off then. I mean, would you open your
door to a masked man?

One of my most important customers blocks its numbers. It wants people
to call through the switchboard, not direct to individuals' lines.



Then they could present a switchboard number. The technology exists. Our
local hospital does it.

Tim

--
Trolls and troll feeders go in my killfile

alan_m wrote :
Try just blocking International and number withheld first and see how many
calls stop. I've found with just these two filters 100% of unwelcome have
been stopped in a period at over 3 months.

This will allow your warning calls through as long as they present a number.
If they don't present a number then you have no way of filtering them to a
white list in any case.

Bank and credit card fraud departments will not reveal from which number they
will call you as its easy for the criminals to spoof a calling number.

We had Talktalk's call filter enabled a couple of years ago, which
allowed us to blacklist many of them, including those who withheld
their numbers. It initially worked well, to bring the calls down from
10 per day to close to none over weeks.

Now they seem to spoof numbers, or even local numbers to get through,
so I bought a quad set of BT8500's. I have this set up to block all
anonymous callers, all international, all begining 00, but everyone in
the call book gets straight through. I was being pestered by spoofed
020 area codes.

If someone rings and presents a number and is a human, they can
indicate who they are with their name, then press #. The phone then
rings, plays back the name and show the number, I can then decide what
to do with the call.

It has so far filtered out 4 nuisance callers, but the pre-recorded
calls from utilities I mentioned in my OP, will not get through unless
I can find a way manually add their numbers to the approved list.

--
Regards,
Harry (M1BYT) (L)
http://www.ukradioamateur.co.uk

On Fri, 26 Aug 2016 14:26:40 +0100, alan_m wrote:

On 26/08/2016 11:46, Davey wrote:

Be wary that some companies might not have 'visible' CLI numbers. Our
local health centre comes up as private, and I read that some Councils
also do that.


If a human is making the call they can still get through to you, or your
answering machine, even if they do withhold a number and withheld
numbers are filtered out. With these systems any blocked number can be
automatically answered by the phone and the caller informed of an
alternative way of getting through which requires a simple human
response - something the autodialler with pre-recorded messages don't
yet manage and cold callers don't seem to bother with.

Even if a cold caller bothers with the alternative means a second level
of checking allows the call to be rejected without being answered and/or
a presented number being added to a black list.

Yes, that's how I handle it on my Asterisk box. As it happens, we've had
a number of calls from the local hospital over the last few days, and
they've all got through fine.



--
My posts are my copyright and if @diy_forums or Home Owners' Hub
wish to copy them they can pay me £1 a message.
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK: http://www.mirrorservice.org
*lightning surge protection* - a w_tom conductor

Harry Bloomfield wrote:

It has so far filtered out 4 nuisance callers, but the pre-recorded
calls from utilities I mentioned in my OP, will not get through unless
I can find a way manually add their numbers to the approved list.


I've often lain awake at night worrying about those missed calls from
utility companies. ;-)

Tim

--
Trolls AND TROLL FEEDERS all go in my kill file

On Friday, 26 August 2016 11:12:36 UTC+1, Harry Bloomfield wrote:
My new concern is that we sometimes get automated calls from the
electric, gas, flood and water utilities, when they have an issue and
we obviously want these calls to get through

If you've no electricity because of a power cut or a flood, most call filtering devices (and cordless phones) won't work anyway, and won't pass the call through to you.

Owain

"Tim+" wrote in message
...
Harry Bloomfield wrote:
I have just replaced our phones, with a set which filters out nuisance
callers, unless they are live callers who can follow a proceedure to
get through.

My new concern is that we sometimes get automated calls from the
electric, gas, flood and water utilities, when they have an issue and
we obviously want these calls to get through - so I need to find out
the numbers they use to ring us from, so I can include them in the list
of accepted numbers.

Has anyone found such a list, or even a proper name for this type of
prerecorded warning phone call?


The obvious answer is to ask the utilities concerned.

Do they really call so frequently that missing the call would be a
concern?

Its not the frequency that matters, its the nature of the calls.
Some can be real emergencies that you dont want to miss
and by definition those are not likely to be frequent at all.

Even just a warning that power will be off for hours as they do
maintenance on the system is useful to get even if uncommon.

Incidentally our Truecall unit blocked 8 nuisance
calls on Wednesday. Best thing we've ever bought.

"Tim+" wrote in message
...
Nightjar wrote:
On 26-Aug-16 11:23 AM, Tim+ wrote:
Harry Bloomfield wrote:
I have just replaced our phones, with a set which filters out nuisance
callers, unless they are live callers who can follow a proceedure to
get through.

My new concern is that we sometimes get automated calls from the
electric, gas, flood and water utilities, when they have an issue and
we obviously want these calls to get through - so I need to find out
the numbers they use to ring us from, so I can include them in the list
of accepted numbers.

Has anyone found such a list, or even a proper name for this type of
prerecorded warning phone call?


The obvious answer is to ask the utilities concerned.

Do they really call so frequently that missing the call would be a
concern?

I've only ever had on flood warning call, but I wouldn't have wanted to
miss it.



That seems to be the only one that I can imagine not wanting to miss if I
lived in a flood zone.

The other obvious one is the power or water being out for hours
because of work being done. It would be handy to know when and
how long it will be out for so you can either be elsewhere if you
need the power or water or not start something like a roast or
baking a fruit cake or bread that will be ruined if the power goes
out half way through the process.

KYW wrote:


The other obvious one is the power or water being out for hours
because of work being done.

We get a card through the letterbox for scheduled work. Much more reliable.

Tim

--
Trolls and troll feeders go in my killfile

"Chris French" wrote in message
...
Tim+ Wrote in message:
Davey wrote:
On Fri, 26 Aug 2016 11:12:30 +0100

Be wary that some companies might not have 'visible' CLI numbers. Our
local health centre comes up as private, and I read that some Councils
also do that.


Well IMO they can just **** right off then.

Depends on how important it is to you that they contact you.

And the convenience too. I have had a number of blocked calls
from people I have been glad I got the call from. One from the
cops telling me about stuff that may well have come from my
place when some stupid kids quite literally wandered the streets
with a ****ing wheel barrow late at night, helping themselves
to stuff out of parked cars. I happened to have been out to a
****up the evening before, got some grog at the drive thru
bottle shop with them putting the grog on the passengers
side front seat and then I forgot to lock that door manually
afterwards, back in the days before central locking.

I've also had a mate of mine call from Egypt after they
had had their phones and wallets stolen and they needed
to get the numbers to call to have their cards cancelled etc.

I also had another of my mates use Skypeout for all of his calls
and that was very unreliable about presenting any caller id.

We wouldn't use it as my wife's workplace (local hospital)
need to be able to contact her when she is on call. And anyway
we don't get that many junk calls. (1 per day on average)

I mean, would you open your door to a masked man?

No, but that's not the same situation.

Yeah, it's a completely silly analogy. The only downside
with answering a call which has the number blocked is
that it may waste a little of your time.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote
Chris French wrote

Depends on how important it is to you that they contact you.
We wouldn't use it as my wife's workplace (local hospital)
need to be able to contact her when she is on call. And anyway
we don't get that many junk calls. (1 per day on average)

I'd call that far too many.

Yeah, me too.

1 a month probably wouldn't worry me.

I'd still prefer to not get those, but there isnt any way to ensure
that you always get the ones you want and none of those.

"alan_m" wrote in message
...
On 26/08/2016 14:12, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

I've been thinking about this or similar.

Is there a version which fits the incoming line so does all extensions in
the house?

Most of the better versions are DECT cordless. One base station/answer
machine and up to a total of 5 cordless handsets connected to the base
station.


Not sure I like the idea of a £20 service charge after the first year.


I don't pay any subscription/service charges. I need caller display
enabled which with BT can be free.

The BT8600 phones have the technology in-built and the phones can be used
on 'other' phone networks.
http://tinyurl.com/z3x9nk2

Manual can be downloaded from
http://tinyurl.com/zd7984g

(Is anyone else finding tinyurl very slow to respond these days?)

I haven't seen that and it worked fine with those two.

wrote
Harry Bloomfield wrote

My new concern is that we sometimes get automated calls
from the electric, gas, flood and water utilities, when they
have an issue and we obviously want these calls to get through

If you've no electricity because of a power cut or a flood,
most call filtering devices (and cordless phones) won't
work anyway, and won't pass the call through to you.

But it will work fine when the utlity is warning you about an impending
flood or the power being off for hours when maintenance is being done.

"Tim+" wrote in message
...
KYW wrote:


The other obvious one is the power or water being out for hours
because of work being done.

We get a card through the letterbox for scheduled work. Much more
reliable.

Not viable with the warning of an impending flood.

On 26/08/2016 23:43, KYW wrote:

The other obvious one is the power or water being out for hours
because of work being done. It would be handy to know when and
how long it will be out for so you can either be elsewhere if you
need the power or water or not start something like a roast or
baking a fruit cake or bread that will be ruined if the power goes
out half way through the process.


Back in the real world, how many times have a utility company phoned YOU
to say that a service is going off? In 40 years they have phoned me
zero times. The utility companies don't phone you when the service is
about it go off. It will be more likely something like the fire brigade
requesting power is switched off while they fight a fire, or some JCB
driver has cut through a cable or road workers have set fire to the gas
main. The utility company 'office' will have little idea when the
service will be restored although they may set up an automatic answer if
you phone them and a lot of people are asking the same question. When
major work is planned you may get a snail mail saying the service will
be interrupted at some unspecified time of day.

Some people may have a need to accept certain calls and filtering the
junk may be more difficult but I guess that for most people a simple
universal filter will block most junk cold calling especially as many
modern systems are smarter than just dropping calls.

--
mailto: news {at} admac {dot] myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

On 27/08/2016 01:38, KYW wrote:


"Tim+" wrote in message
...
KYW wrote:


The other obvious one is the power or water being out for hours
because of work being done.

We get a card through the letterbox for scheduled work. Much more
reliable.

Not viable with the warning of an impending flood.

Doesn't common sense tell you if the weather forecast tells you there is
rain at certain times of year you look on a flood web site.

--
mailto: news {at} admac {dot] myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

On 27/08/2016 00:31, Rod Speed wrote:

Depends on how important it is to you that they contact you.

And the convenience too. I have had a number of blocked calls
from people I have been glad I got the call from. One from the
cops telling me about stuff that may well have come from my
place when some stupid kids quite literally wandered the streets
with a ****ing wheel barrow late at night, helping themselves
to stuff out of parked cars. I happened to have been out to a
****up the evening before, got some grog at the drive thru
bottle shop with them putting the grog on the passengers
side front seat and then I forgot to lock that door manually
afterwards, back in the days before central locking.

I've also had a mate of mine call from Egypt after they
had had their phones and wallets stolen and they needed
to get the numbers to call to have their cards cancelled etc.

I also had another of my mates use Skypeout for all of his calls
and that was very unreliable about presenting any caller id.

With the current systems being discussed in this thread these calls can
get through to you or your answerphone as long as a human is making the
call. There are options that calls from filtered numbers are answered
with instruction of how to get through and afterwards you have the
option of accepting or rejecting the call or alternatively routing it
straight to the answerphone in your absence.




--
mailto: news {at} admac {dot] myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

On 27/08/2016 01:37, Rod Speed wrote:


But it will work fine when the utlity is warning you about an impending
flood or the power being off for hours when maintenance is being done.


If you have signed up to a flood warning service maybe but utility
companies phoning when services are about to die is not a realistic real
world situation.

I have CC/bank fraud contacts set up but they use 3 methods in parallel,
by land-line, mobile text and email. When I have had calls from my bank
and a couple of CC companies they have presented sensible numbers - and
not numbers that UK cold callers often use nor number withheld.

--
mailto: news {at} admac {dot] myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

alan_m wrote
KYW wrote

The other obvious one is the power or water being out for hours because
of work being done. It would be handy to know when and how long it will
be out for so you can either be elsewhere if you need the power or water
or not start something like a roast or baking a fruit cake or bread that
will be ruined if the power goes out half way through the process.

Back in the real world, how many times have a utility company phoned YOU
to say that a service is going off? In 40 years they have phoned me zero
times.

Doesnt mean they wont start doing that.

Ours just has notices in the local paper and it would be a lot better
if they did have a system which automated phone calls instead.

And we have just recently introduced a system where we do get
both automated phone calls and broadcasted SMS messages to
mobile phones in the area when people should be leaving due
to bushfires making it sensible to consider leaving while you can.

Same with floods.

The utility companies don't phone you when the service is about it go off.

But it would be a good idea if they did, particularly when
it would be a lot better than a card in the letterbox when
urgent work is needed than to not give any notice at all
or send someone around to knock on the doors etc.

It will be more likely something like the fire brigade requesting power is
switched off while they fight a fire, or some JCB driver has cut through a
cable or road workers have set fire to the gas main.

Yes, but it clearly would be useful if your call
filtering system could allow those calls thru.

The utility company 'office' will have little idea when the service will
be restored although they may set up an automatic answer if you phone them
and a lot of people are asking the same question.

Still better to get an automated phone call warning you that the power
or water will be unavailable for a while than no warning at all.

When major work is planned you may get a snail mail saying the service
will be interrupted at some unspecified time of day.

I'd like to have the phone call as well because plenty dont check
their mail every day.

Some people may have a need to accept certain calls and filtering the junk
may be more difficult but I guess that for most people a simple universal
filter will block most junk cold calling especially as many modern systems
are smarter than just dropping calls.

I dont believe that a simple universal filter is feasible, because
plenty of operations choose to suppress their caller ID for very
valid reasons and while it is certainly possible to present a
different phone number than the one you are actually calling
from and have that the main switchboard number, it is hardly
surprising that quite a few of the authoritys that need to do
that have other budget prioritys than upgrading their phone
system allow that when the current one doesnt.

And plenty of the people who need to make that sort of call
need to be able to do it from their mobile today, so it just
isnt viable to have a simple universal filter that say ignores
all calls that do not present a caller ID. If a paramedic chooses
to call me from the accident scene when the injured person
has told them who they want notified, it makes no sense to
ignore all those calls. You might well end up not being able
to talk to the injured person before they die if you go that route.

"alan_m" wrote in message
...
On 27/08/2016 01:38, KYW wrote:


"Tim+" wrote in message
...
KYW wrote:


The other obvious one is the power or water being out for hours
because of work being done.

We get a card through the letterbox for scheduled work. Much more
reliable.

Not viable with the warning of an impending flood.

Doesn't common sense tell you if the weather forecast tells you there is
rain at certain times of year you look on a flood web site.

Its much more viable to have an automated system which does
ring the affected numbers than to rely on people doing that.

And we have just recently had a situation where because of
the way the irrigation system management had deliberately
shut down an automatic overflow system, much of an entire
village was flooded very badly indeed when we had a weather
event which would not have produced a flood in the past.

And with bushfires, it makes a lot more sense to notify all
the mobiles known to be in the area where people should
consider evacuating that to expect people to be checking
web sites etc.

alan_m wrote
Rod Speed wrote

But it will work fine when the utlity is warning you about an impending
flood or the power being off for hours when maintenance is being done.

If you have signed up to a flood warning service maybe

Makes no sense to have to sign up, makes a lot more sense to have
the system call all the places in the area which will be affected.

but utility companies phoning when services are
about to die is not a realistic real world situation.

That's not correct with urgent maintenance.

I have CC/bank fraud contacts set up but they use 3 methods in parallel,
by land-line, mobile text and email. When I have had calls from my bank
and a couple of CC companies they have presented sensible numbers -
and not numbers that UK cold callers often use nor number withheld.

Sure, but it isnt feasible to expect everyone to have that sort of thing
setup for warnings about urgent maintenance to the power or water
supply etc.

"alan_m" wrote in message ...

On 27/08/2016 01:38, KYW wrote:


"Tim+" wrote in message
...
KYW wrote:


The other obvious one is the power or water being out for hours
because of work being done.

We get a card through the letterbox for scheduled work. Much more
reliable.

Not viable with the warning of an impending flood.

Doesn't common sense tell you if the weather forecast tells you there is
rain at certain times of year you look on a flood web site.


rod speed does not have any sense.

On 27/08/2016 07:41, Rod Speed wrote:

And plenty of the people who need to make that sort of call
need to be able to do it from their mobile today, so it just
isnt viable to have a simple universal filter that say ignores
all calls that do not present a caller ID. If a paramedic chooses
to call me from the accident scene when the injured person
has told them who they want notified, it makes no sense to
ignore all those calls. You might well end up not being able
to talk to the injured person before they die if you go that route.

That paramedic would easily get through to me even if his number was
withheld and I filter all number withheld or numbers.

You seem to be suggesting problem scenarios where none exists for most
people.

Although it may be a good idea for utility companies to phone in the
event an unexpected event in the UK it doesn't happen so no problem with
blocking number withheld numbers from them.

More likely if they have your number they are likely to regular give you
a 'service call' aka junk cold call selling you other services such as
service agreements and/or additional insurance (for things probably
already covered in many peoples building insurance anyway). This often
bypasses the TPS which is meant to stop these types of UK sourced junk
calls because they don't treat them as cold calls as you are already a
customer. The utility companies often use third party agencies for these
service calls.

So many people are plagued by PPI, Have you had an accident, come to
Disney Land (France), You have won a prize, Your gas boiler is illegal
and needs replacing etc. cold calls that filtering is becoming very
popular. Even telephone providers are offering this filtering service at
their end of the line (at a cost). Soon any legitimate organisation
that withholds the calling number will find that it cannot operate
efficiently and will have to start presenting a number. However, in my
experience, any organisation that I've dealt with, utilities, local
doctors surgery, local hospital(s), local council, bank, credit card
company etc. all present valid calling numbers.

--
mailto: news {at} admac {dot] myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

In article , Tim+ wrote:
KYW wrote:


The other obvious one is the power or water being out for hours because
of work being done.

We get a card through the letterbox for scheduled work. Much more
reliable.

That's fine if the work is scheduled. But, when a builder two doors down
the road manages to short out the electricity feeder, as happened here 2
summers ago, you won't get any notice.

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England

In article ,
alan_m wrote:
On 26/08/2016 23:43, KYW wrote:

The other obvious one is the power or water being out for hours
because of work being done. It would be handy to know when and
how long it will be out for so you can either be elsewhere if you
need the power or water or not start something like a roast or
baking a fruit cake or bread that will be ruined if the power goes
out half way through the process.


Back in the real world, how many times have a utility company phoned YOU
to say that a service is going off? In 40 years they have phoned me
zero times. The utility companies don't phone you when the service is
about it go off.

[Snip]
but when I've phoned to query a loss of supply, I have been rung back with
an estimated time of restoration.

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England