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It's time for my semi-annual rant explaining why you should not pay for any service that "screens" or "filters" anonymous calls on your phone line. The common versions of this service are called "Privacy Manager," or "Anonymous Call Rejection."
This service is marketed as blocking telemarketing calls. However, the new FCC rules here state that telemarketers are required to show their name and number when they call you.
So, what calls DOES it block? It blocks calls from emergency personnel. I dispatch through dozens of calls every night where doctors and nurses are not able to reach patients who have emergencies-- because the patients' phones do not allow these calls to go through.
Now, one might say, why don't these doctors and nurses just unblock their phone numbers and call again? There are several reasons not to give out the number you're calling from to a patient.
1) Simplest case, a doctor might be calling from a friend's house, and not want their friend's number given out. This could happen because the doctor was visiting, or at a party, or even staying the night with a date. It's not the patient's business where their doctor sleeps, and the doctor has no right to share those phone numbers, especially given that people tend to call them back looking for the doctor.
2) Calling the last number the doctor was at is not always the fastest way to reach them. There may be several different phone numbers for the doctor, and generally they pay a modest sum of money to an answering service (*flex*) so that the service keeps track of where they are and how to reach them, without sacrificing their family's peace and quiet. Doctors also get sick and have family emergencies; the fastest way to get in touch with someone at your doctor's office is, generally, to call the office number and follow the instructions there, not to call your doctor directly.
3) Thanks to the HIPPA laws, doctors are now responsible for maintaining their patients' privacy. If the doctor "makes available" their home number through caller ID or some other direct method, and the patient calls that number back and leaves a message on the answering machine, or starts blurting out their problem to whomever answers the phone, then the doctor is responsible for that breach of privacy. Legal issues aside, it also opens an avenue for patients to leave unwanted harassing messages, or embarrasses everyone involved when a patient tells her doctor's 12-year-old son about her personal medical question.
Most people who have one of these services are unaware of it. They may not be the person who pays the phone bill, or they may have signed up for a "package" that includes it. It's very hard for a person to remember whether or not they purchased this particular feature when it's the middle of the night during an emergency. Because of this, we (the answering service) now have to ask every single caller and give instructions on turning off this service to anyone who is unsure if they have the feature or not. Doing this adds a good 20 seconds to each call where the instructions are needed-- and even more time when people tell us they're sure they don't, and then call back complaining that the doctor hasn't called them, to which the doctor responds that they tried, but were blocked!
If you have anonymous call rejection, which completely blocks these calls, I highly recommend that you stop the service immediately, because having it may delay or deny your access to urgently needed information or help, and it doesn't do a damn thing to stop telemarketers. Even if you personally never need help from your family doctor, someone in your family or neighbors may need it at some point and be unable to get it through your phone.
If you have Privacy Manager or a similar system, which forces anonymous callers to dial a special code to get through, I still highly recommend that you stop the service immediately. It's just rude to expect the person you want woken up at 3AM to jump through hoops in order to help you, such as stating their name or dialing 8.
This service is marketed as blocking telemarketing calls. However, the new FCC rules here state that telemarketers are required to show their name and number when they call you.
So, what calls DOES it block? It blocks calls from emergency personnel. I dispatch through dozens of calls every night where doctors and nurses are not able to reach patients who have emergencies-- because the patients' phones do not allow these calls to go through.
Now, one might say, why don't these doctors and nurses just unblock their phone numbers and call again? There are several reasons not to give out the number you're calling from to a patient.
1) Simplest case, a doctor might be calling from a friend's house, and not want their friend's number given out. This could happen because the doctor was visiting, or at a party, or even staying the night with a date. It's not the patient's business where their doctor sleeps, and the doctor has no right to share those phone numbers, especially given that people tend to call them back looking for the doctor.
2) Calling the last number the doctor was at is not always the fastest way to reach them. There may be several different phone numbers for the doctor, and generally they pay a modest sum of money to an answering service (*flex*) so that the service keeps track of where they are and how to reach them, without sacrificing their family's peace and quiet. Doctors also get sick and have family emergencies; the fastest way to get in touch with someone at your doctor's office is, generally, to call the office number and follow the instructions there, not to call your doctor directly.
3) Thanks to the HIPPA laws, doctors are now responsible for maintaining their patients' privacy. If the doctor "makes available" their home number through caller ID or some other direct method, and the patient calls that number back and leaves a message on the answering machine, or starts blurting out their problem to whomever answers the phone, then the doctor is responsible for that breach of privacy. Legal issues aside, it also opens an avenue for patients to leave unwanted harassing messages, or embarrasses everyone involved when a patient tells her doctor's 12-year-old son about her personal medical question.
Most people who have one of these services are unaware of it. They may not be the person who pays the phone bill, or they may have signed up for a "package" that includes it. It's very hard for a person to remember whether or not they purchased this particular feature when it's the middle of the night during an emergency. Because of this, we (the answering service) now have to ask every single caller and give instructions on turning off this service to anyone who is unsure if they have the feature or not. Doing this adds a good 20 seconds to each call where the instructions are needed-- and even more time when people tell us they're sure they don't, and then call back complaining that the doctor hasn't called them, to which the doctor responds that they tried, but were blocked!
If you have anonymous call rejection, which completely blocks these calls, I highly recommend that you stop the service immediately, because having it may delay or deny your access to urgently needed information or help, and it doesn't do a damn thing to stop telemarketers. Even if you personally never need help from your family doctor, someone in your family or neighbors may need it at some point and be unable to get it through your phone.
If you have Privacy Manager or a similar system, which forces anonymous callers to dial a special code to get through, I still highly recommend that you stop the service immediately. It's just rude to expect the person you want woken up at 3AM to jump through hoops in order to help you, such as stating their name or dialing 8.
