Nuisance calls

[inmca]

The CRTC says Telecommunications service providers must develop technical solutions to block illegitimate nuisance calls within their networks. I get several random number nuisance calls a day and I have no way to block them. What are you doing about it?

[NFtoBC]

Telus has the same problem - random numbers, especially if spoofed from legitimate numbers are pretty much impossible to deal with. Telus itself is a victim of spammers spoofing their numbers, which then show on folks call display, who later learn it is not Telus calling. Other than either not answering, or answering and requesting removal from the calling list there is little to do.  If the caller is harassing you, then it becomes a police matter, and should be directed to those channels.  Unfortunately, nuisance calls are part of our world, and any steps taken to stop them are met with yet another set of steps to avoid the blockade.

[Ray67]

Does Telus charge for the received nuisance calls? I suspect it does. That in itself is a nuisance.

[Lola]

The CRTC asked service providers to offer tools to help block ID spoofing, not stop every nuisance call, because that's impossible. Nuisance calls were invented directly after the telephone and will never stop. They are very annoying, but as in our current culture we use our numbers everywhere, for almost everything we do online, there's no sure way to protect our numbers from nuisance if we utilize almost any online service.

http://crtc.gc.ca/eng/phone/telemarketing/ -- ways to try to protect yourself, and make complaints. Making complaints to the proper agency is important.

The trouble is, in part, as the above page states, sometimes there are legit reasons for changing a caller ID, and so you risk telecom's blocking legit numbers when trying to block ill-legit numbers.

I don't know what phone you have, but use Do Not Disturb if you have it, and if your phone doesn't have a native number block, Norton has an app for that, as do others. There are many ways you can reduce the annoyance, but no way to completely stop it.

[inmca]

IF I had the option of blocking all international incoming calls, I would be happy. All of the nuisance calls are from India or the US. Even if I could block all incoming calls with a display name starting with a "V", such as in "V2121564300004". This would block 80% of the calls. Perhaps TELUS is overthinking the solution.

[WestCoasterBC]

While in theory sounds good what if Victoria calls? It would then be blocked. The solution may seem simple, but with numbers easily being spoofed there is more to it then you think. When i get spam calls on my iPhone i just block them. My phone never rings even though the call can hit voicemail.

[inmca]

A little programming logic would determine if V1234567890 is a person or not. I still would like to turn off all incoming international calls. I am sure they would be able to do this. I am sure TELUS is thinking like you and giving up at the first sign of a problem.

[TheWizard]

You have been given several solutions and legitimate answers, it is up to you to use them. But if you don't use them its much harder to work with you towards a solution with that kind of approach. The company itself may work harder to try to find a good way to handle this, but as far as the community based forum, we have limited options. There does come a point when personal accountability comes into play. 

[inmca]

You completely skirted the issue and redirected it back to me as my problem. The question is "When will TELUS abide by the CRTC and develop technical solutions to block illegitimate nuisance calls within their networks? The CRTC is also encouraging telecommunications service providers to offer their subscribers call management features. Also address the use of caller ID spoofing."

How is this my problem and how am I supposed to handle this without TELUS call management features??

[Nighthawk]

You are asking for a fundamental and complete redesign of global telecommunications technology. That is not something Telus has any control over and seeing as how over the last couple decades nothing has really changed, it's likely nothing will change any time soon.

Caller ID spoofing is not going to be blocked. There's no reliable way to currently do it without a redesign of the Caller ID technology. There are many legitimate situations where the Caller ID will be spoofed, and others where it's abused. Since spoofing your Caller ID is really easy to do, the nuisance callers can appear as ANY number in existence, including pretending to be a legitimate number. 

CRTC only encourages providers to offer call management features. You'd need to subscribe to them to use them. Only way to get nuisance calls to stop aside from that would be, if you're able to speak with a person, is to tell the caller you are a business. The majority will never call back.

For the future - don't give out your number when doing surveys or entering draws for things etc. Many times they'll sell your number and you'll get a large influx of nuisance calls not long after

[inmca · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the input. Discussion is where it starts. As you can see, the CRTC dictated this over a year ago and nothing has happened. A little pressure is needed to get the desired redesign. If TELUS does not feel our pain, then they won't commit the resources to solving this problem. I realize what most of the technical difficulties are, but there does not seem to be any motivation to solving the problem.

[Earthy]

When I try to enable that feature (blocking int'l calls), it asks for a pw. I have no idea WHAT pw that would be...?!

[NFtoBC]

You'll need to provide more detail as to what you are doing before you are requested a password.

[inmca]

From the CRTC website: https://www.canada.ca/en/radio-television-telecommunications/news/2016/11/crtc-asks-telephone-servic...,

November 7, 2016 – Ottawa-Gatineau – Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) today took measures to better protect the privacy of Canadians by reducing the number of unsolicited and illegitimate calls, also known as nuisance calls, that they receive.

Telecommunications service providers must develop technical solutions, within 90 days, to block illegitimate nuisance calls within their networks. Once approved by the CRTC, these solutions will ensure a minimum level of protection for all Canadians.

To help Canadians better filter unwanted calls, the CRTC is also encouraging telecommunications service providers to offer their subscribers call management features. Service providers must report to the Commission within 180 days with details on the filtering services they offer or propose to offer to their customers.

The CRTC is prepared to take further action if telecommunications service providers do not take sufficient measures to protect Canadians against unwanted calls.

The CRTC will issue, in the near future, a follow-up decision regarding solutions to address the use of caller ID spoofing.

Quick Facts

• The CRTC has clarified that there are no legal or regulatory barriers prohibiting service providers from offering filtering services to Canadians.
• Filtering services screen calls on behalf of Canadians who subscribe to them, similar to email filters.
• Telecommunications service providers have been tasked with developing technical solutions to block unwanted calls through the CRTC Interconnection Steering Committee (an industry-led working group).
• In 2015, the CRTC initiated a consultation to better understand the solutions that are currently offered to help Canadians manage unsolicited telecommunications and illegitimate calls.
• Caller ID spoofing occurs when telemarketers hide or misrepresent their identity by displaying fictitious phone numbers when making calls.
• The CRTC continues to work with its domestic and international partners to address global threats related to unsolicited and illegitimate telemarketing calls.

[rc]

I don't think anyone on this forum can answer your question about their plans for an enhanced call management service.  

If you think the problem has an easy solution, maybe you can indicate what other carriers are doing?

Blocking spoofed is problematic as some services, such as Skype, utilize this feature. It is also a common function provided by many voip services, that their customers count on.

You may want to look at some of the available call block apps to solve your problem.