Call Protect vs Call Guardian (Blacklist vs Whitelist)

[RJeremyB]

Blacklisting numbers, as has been observed  elsewhere in this Community, is essentially useless, as scammers spoof the number that they are calling from.  BT's Call Protect falls into this category.

Conversely, Whitelisting, while it takes a while to accumulate the dataset for smooth operation, is a near-100% block on scammers and cold-callers.  Call Guardian falls into this category.

However, while Call Protect is based at BT's end of the telephone line, Call Guardian is implemented only within certain handsets and these, moreover, can only operate on the analogue system. So far, there do not appear to be any Digital Voice Handsets with Call Guardian implemented.  (I am aware that analogue handsets can be plugged into the back of a suitable router, and thus Call Guardian could be implemented, but this is very much a Kludge and is certainly not future-proof.)

To my way of thinking there are 2 possible solutions to this issue:

• BT (or other developers) produce DV handsets with Call Guardian implemented (or offer a software update to present DV handsets that implements Call Guardian.
• BT implements Call Guardian at their end, ideally replacing Call Protect.

As a service to the vulnerable and as a major contribution to defeating telephone fraud, BT (and all telecom providers) should adopt the latter option.  I would happily pay a small premium to have Call Guardian instead of Call Protect.

My question is this: how do we prevail upon BT to do the decent thing?

[jac_95]

Hi RJeremyB,

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[licquorice]

Why is a built in ATA in the router a 'kludge'.

It allows folks to continue using equipment they already have rather than having to purchase new handsets.

[RJeremyB]

Thank you @licquorice for your comment - I agree wholeheartedly that existing kit should be useable for its' practical life. The port on the back of the router is invaluable for that - and I use it to connect an old handset.

What I thought I had said was that continuing to use analogue when digital was the future was a bit of a bodge and not future-proof.  The theme I was trying to develop was that one of the services provided by my telco could usefully be a Whitelist system and I was seeking support for this.

Whitelisting on phone systems would definitely make a major contribution to defeating telephone fraud.

[ClaphamOmnibus]

Your 6 June 2024 post came up when I did a search this morning about Call Protect.  I don't pretend to understand the IT side of this at all, but I quite agree with you that BT (and the other phone providers) should be doing much more to protect the vulnerable and elderly.

I moved in to my 88 year old Mum's house some time ago to live with her as her carer.  She was getting so upset about the endless phone calls from strangers that we agreed that I would always answer the phone.  I'm appalled at just how many calls we get that are clearly targeting the elderly - these people obviously do their research.  If we only get 3 calls a day, that is a good day.  We even had scam calls on Good Friday, which appalled my Mum, who was a churchgoer until she became housebound.

My late father, and subsequently my Mum, have been BT customers for over 60 years.  It would be nice if BT could reward customer loyalty of my Mum, and many others like her, by providing a robust level of protection, but I won't hold my breath!

[gg30340]

It would appear that BT are robust when trying to stop Scam calls but as always most telecom companies are playing catch up when trying to stop scammers. See link.

 https://newsroom.bt.com/bts-new-home-phone-scam-protection-service-stops-201-million-scam-and-spam-a...

A white list is a good idea and works the vast majority of times but there is a down side which is that no new genuine callers will get through until they are added to your white list. This could prove problematic if some person or company is trying to call you and their number, which may not be known to you at that time, is or has not been added to the white list.

As long as the user is aware of that it may well be a small con as against the plusses that a white list can provide.