"Ofcom moves to ban charging for caller display options in 2018"

[twocvbloke]

Only relevant for us brits, but I for one am happy to see them taking a stand against charging for something that should be part of the line rental, as my ISP (PlusNet) charges 99p to have CLID activated, and when the line rental went up by £1 a couple years back, I dropped the CLID to save some money (which was then negated by another £1 rise in line rental!!!)...

Ofcom has announced that from 1st October 2018 (not this October but a year away) providers will not be allowed to charge for caller display. This is one of a number of changes intended to protect consumers and the removal of one of those charges that has been known to catch people out people will largely be happy, though it might just be that the revenue some operators raised from caller display options will  be spread between their full range of customers, the downside being it might increase the line rental component for those taking a DSL service but never plug a phone in so caller id is irrelevant.

Full article here:
https://www.thinkbroadband.com/news/7826-ofcom-moves-to-ban-charging-for-caller-display-options-in-2018

[andy1702]

So many people seem to have witheld numbers these days that I never find caller id much use anyway. I just answer everything and if it's someone I want to talk to then I do. If it's someone I don't want to talk to (selling something useless) then I ask them to hold the line a moment, put the handset beside the phone (don't hang up) then go make a cup of tea, read the paper and walk the dog etc in the hope it wastes them some call centre time, costs them money and maybe ties up the line too.

[twocvbloke]

When we had the CLID enabled it was quite useful as the majority of calls did show a number, if one was unrecognised it was answered with caution, if it was withheld or a dodgy looking (aka spoofed) number, it'd be left to the answering machine, and of course, known callers were answered promptly...

Without it, every call is treated with suspicion, which really we shouldn't have to feel, but the rotters out there abusing the telephone system for financial gain make it that way... 

[andy1702]

I actually quite enjoy messing with some of the call centres. The one I especially enjoy is the guy from Microsoft who calls and tells me they have been notified that my computer has a virus, but not to worry because he can talk me through how to fix it. He spends ages telling me to press this and click that, but it doesn't seem to work the way he expects. It normally goes on for a good 10 minutes, but hjas been known to be hallf an hour on occasions. The best bit is when he eventually mentions the windows key and I ask him where I might find it on a Linux PC? That normally prompts a string of expletives and they hang up! 

[twocvbloke]

I got the "microsoft" call once, followed along, seeing what they were doing and then got to the point of the "this is your license key and I will read it to you to prove I am from microsoft", and as they read it, I googled it and it was the file association code for Zip files (which exists in all versions of Windows since XP), so when they were done reading it out they asked me "do you understand what this is?", I responded with "Yes, it's a file association for Zip files and you're a filthy scammer trying to worm their way into my computer, you've been caught out, now [expletive] off!!!", an hung up...

Haven't had any calls since...

[andy1702]

I got the "microsoft" call once, followed along, seeing what they were doing and then got to the point of the "this is your license key and I will read it to you to prove I am from microsoft", and as they read it, I googled it and it was the file association code for Zip files (which exists in all versions of Windows since XP), so when they were done reading it out they asked me "do you understand what this is?", I responded with "Yes, it's a file association for Zip files and you're a filthy scammer trying to worm their way into my computer, you've been caught out, now [expletive] off!!!", an hung up...

Haven't had any calls since...

Nicely done! 

[twocvbloke]

Thanks, I did feel good after that, but, I do feel sorry for those who are caught out by those no good people, especially vulnerable people who aren't up to speed when it comes to computers and scam artists...