Silence Unknown Callers

LP Slade

Well-known member
Sep 10, 2014
116
0
16
Visit site
Anyone reading this in the US is surely going to feel my pain here …

I have a US number and a local Czech number (American living in the Czech Republic). I keep my US number as a physical SIM and my CZ number as an eSIM. I would like to continue having my US number active, at least for texts, but the spam calls have gotten completely, insanely out of control.

Spam calls are barely even a thing in the Czech Republic and they call you for deliveries and things like that so I don’t want to activate the “Silence Unknown Callers” feature for my Czech number. Is it possible to do anything for JUST my US number so that I receive texts on it, but not calls? Or if anyone knows of a good app, please let me know.
 
Last edited:

Wotchered

Well-known member
Oct 29, 2013
3,141
88
48
Visit site
perhaps speak to your US provider ? or perhaps if you have separate phone books manipulate the us one to only accept calls from that list ?
 

Ledsteplin

Ambassador
Oct 2, 2013
50,094
688
108
Visit site
I add all businesses, doctors, etc I do business with to my contacts. That helps when using Silence Unknown Callers. I did have one incident, where my nurse called from home on her personal phone due to COVID. She didn't get through. But that was an anomaly. There's not much one can do about Spam calls. Block them, and they use a different number. There are apps that help block spam. But, to get the full benefits, there's a monthly charge. You might check if your phone carrier offers an app. If you use a phone number, I don't think you can just receive text, but not calls. Check with your carrier on that though, I might be wrong.
 

Annie_M

Moderator
Mar 2, 2016
21,725
741
113
Visit site
My husband had two medical emergencies in May, and spent several days in the hospital. He refused to let me stay and wanted me to get some rest. Both times I gave his nurses my cell phone number. Just as I was finally drifting off to sleep I remembered to turn off silence unknown callers so that I would get any calls from the hospital.
 

HelloNNNewman

Administrator
Moderator
Dec 6, 2012
697
69
28
Visit site
I have work and personal cell phones. Long ago I started trying out a Google Voice phone number for my home and put that app on my cell phone. GVoice lets me use that number for texting and calling. From that point forward, I stopped using the mobile # assigned to my cell and just use the Google Voice app. When a call comes in, it rings my phone like a regular call but allows me to have that app on multiple devices (same thing for texts). Because I never use the mobile number on the phone and just use GVoice, when I make or receive calls I use WiFi for most service, or mobile data when not near home. Because of this, I switched over to Ting for my cell service - where you only pay for what you use and simply deactivated mobile calls (receiving) so I stopped getting spam calls, but left texting on. Lots of controls on their site for this.

If your current service allows you to turn off mobile calling but leave texting on via their website - try that. Otherwise, if you will have mobile data available all the time, you may want to try out a Google Voice number (you can choose a US number) for free and use that for texts.
 

C6TX6

Well-known member
Jun 13, 2014
609
0
0
Visit site
Love this feature and if it's important they will leave a message and you will see that.
Three features I wish they would add are 1) Ability to silence private callers/callers that chose to block CID or intentionally send no data*, and 2) Ability to just hang up automatically on callers that are added to block list so they cannot even hear recorded greeting or leave messages. That would apply to unknown CID in number 1. 3) A "call bouncer" feature where you have a passphrase/secret. Whenever someone calls your number that caller hears a recording such as "Please enter your password". If they do not or enter the wrong information they get disconnected. This way the only way someone gets through is when they have your password. This way you know 100% you want to answer the call and you ONLY hear your phone ring if that condition is met. That can be useful in certain circumstances.

_________________________________________

*I realize that SILENCE UNKNOWN CALLERS now takes care of UNKNOWN NUMBER, PRIVATE, ET-AL but you still see the notification. This option would not even show notifications.
 

Ledsteplin

Ambassador
Oct 2, 2013
50,094
688
108
Visit site
Love this feature and if it's important they will leave a message and you will see that.
Three features I wish they would add are 1) Ability to silence private callers/callers that chose to block CID or intentionally send no data*, and 2) Ability to just hang up automatically on callers that are added to block list so they cannot even hear recorded greeting or leave messages. That would apply to unknown CID in number 1. 3) A "call bouncer" feature where you have a passphrase/secret. Whenever someone calls your number that caller hears a recording such as "Please enter your password". If they do not or enter the wrong information they get disconnected. This way the only way someone gets through is when they have your password. This way you know 100% you want to answer the call and you ONLY hear your phone ring if that condition is met. That can be useful in certain circumstances.

_________________________________________

*I realize that SILENCE UNKNOWN CALLERS now takes care of UNKNOWN NUMBER, PRIVATE, ET-AL but you still see the notification. This option would not even show notifications.

The notification is in case one wants to check it out. I got a call with that notification. I checked it. It was Humana, who handles my health insurance. Seems every time they call, it's a different number.
 

C6TX6

Well-known member
Jun 13, 2014
609
0
0
Visit site
What I meant was if I block a scammer's number I never want to even know they are calling as they can still leave a VM. Fortunately the majority of robocallers do NOT leave VM so that works out in our favor.
 

LP Slade

Well-known member
Sep 10, 2014
116
0
16
Visit site
Love this feature and if it's important they will leave a message and you will see that.
Three features I wish they would add are 1) Ability to silence private callers/callers that chose to block CID or intentionally send no data*, and 2) Ability to just hang up automatically on callers that are added to block list so they cannot even hear recorded greeting or leave messages. That would apply to unknown CID in number 1. 3) A "call bouncer" feature where you have a passphrase/secret. Whenever someone calls your number that caller hears a recording such as "Please enter your password". If they do not or enter the wrong information they get disconnected. This way the only way someone gets through is when they have your password. This way you know 100% you want to answer the call and you ONLY hear your phone ring if that condition is met. That can be useful in certain circumstances.

_________________________________________

*I realize that SILENCE UNKNOWN CALLERS now takes care of UNKNOWN NUMBER, PRIVATE, ET-AL but you still see the notification. This option would not even show notifications.

People definitely do not always leave a voicemail if it’s important…especially not in the Czech Republic and especially not delivery people. That’s the problem and why I wish I could activate it only for my US number.
 

Trending Posts

Members online

Forum statistics

Threads
259,860
Messages
1,764,742
Members
441,207
Latest member
Erik4711