Blocking calls/texts (Anrdoid 2.3.4)

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Monkey King

Blocking calls/texts (Anrdoid 2.3.4)
« on: April 03, 2013, 12:20:39 AM »
I got a new number and I am getting about a million junk texts every day + a lot of what seems like cold-calling of some kind.

Is there any easy way or easy app to add all of these annoying numbers to a blocked list?  I am using Android 2.3.4 and there doesn't seem to be an inbuilt way in the system.

Re: Blocking calls/texts (Anrdoid 2.3.4)
« Reply #1 on: April 03, 2013, 12:45:54 AM »
The Cyanogen mod version of Android 2.3.7 allows you to go:

Contacts > Call log > [long press on unwanted caller] > Add to Blacklist

I *think* there's something similar on regular Android 2.3, but you select the contact, hit Menu, select "More", then "Add to Blacklist"

But for the blacklist to actually work, you may have to do: Settings > Call > Call rejection > Auto reject mode > “Only black list”


For junk sms, I gave up trying. SMS apps have blacklists but still some of the blocked numbers send through. You can (and I did) change the notification sound associated with specific numbers. (When I get a junk sms, my phone says "booooo!")


/guessing
when ur a roamin', do as the settled do o_0

Re: Blocking calls/texts (Anrdoid 2.3.4)
« Reply #2 on: April 03, 2013, 01:10:57 AM »
Also, there's lots and lots of apps on Google Play.

The other option favoured by some is nominating the number for "send to voicemail".



But, in my humble experience, those cold calls are from different numbers every time. They barely even ring once, so it must be some machine calling, and I suspect it can't happen without the phone company being in on it. If you NEVER CALL THEM BACK, eventually they go away.
when ur a roamin', do as the settled do o_0

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Monkey King

Re: Blocking calls/texts (Anrdoid 2.3.4)
« Reply #3 on: April 03, 2013, 02:11:34 AM »
Ah, i'll just live with it then.  The texts are the killers, I get more junk texts than real ones nowadays.

Re: Blocking calls/texts (Anrdoid 2.3.4)
« Reply #4 on: April 03, 2013, 02:50:40 AM »
Pffft, quitter!

I haven't tried really hard to block the SMS or the pretend calls because they come and go in waves and seem to die off nearly completely after some time. Thus the only annoyance presently is some daily message with a link to something called go.10086.cn (which, unless it's fake, is China friggen Mobile spamming it's own numbers....)

Lots of apps exist. But yeah, I don't know either.
when ur a roamin', do as the settled do o_0

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Monkey King

Re: Blocking calls/texts (Anrdoid 2.3.4)
« Reply #5 on: April 03, 2013, 03:52:16 AM »
Yeah I get the 10086 one too, among others, but it's my phone not theirs, I should be allowed to block whatever I want.  Why isn't there an app that just lets me zap numbers?

I had a think about this and there are two things that bother me.  I now get more spam texts and nuisance calls than I do flirty texts and come-down-the-pub calls, which makes me feel old. 

My parents have gone ex-directory twice on their home-phone twice to avoid this shit which I always thought was over-reacting to a mild nuisance, yet now I am being my parents, which also makes me feel old. 

Bah.
« Last Edit: April 03, 2013, 03:58:32 AM by MK »

Re: Blocking calls/texts (Anrdoid 2.3.4)
« Reply #6 on: April 03, 2013, 03:17:45 PM »
MK, I had the same problem with my previous phone number- but it wasn't just spam texts, it was very angry phone calls. Whoever had owned the number before was apparently some kind of scam artist. It got to the point that I immediately hung up if someone spoke Chinese when I answered and would often just reject any call from a number I didn't know.

Buying a new SIM was the best 20rmb I spent all year  agagagagag

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Re: Blocking calls/texts (Anrdoid 2.3.4)
« Reply #7 on: April 03, 2013, 04:11:07 PM »
Also, there's lots and lots of apps on Google Play.

The other option favoured by some is nominating the number for "send to voicemail".



But, in my humble experience, those cold calls are from different numbers every time. They barely even ring once, so it must be some machine calling, and I suspect it can't happen without the phone company being in on it. If you NEVER CALL THEM BACK, eventually they go away.

Those calls are a total scam. If you call the number back you'll be hit with heavy charges. I don't answer my phone until the third ring. I don't think they expect many to call right back....but perhaps when skimming through the missed call list some will dial them up. Wife warned me about this and I have no interest in trying to prove her wrong so....

Re: Blocking calls/texts (Anrdoid 2.3.4)
« Reply #8 on: April 03, 2013, 04:26:12 PM »
Also, once you call back, you confirm that the number they dialed is a live number. The machine just scrolls in sequence disregarding whether or not its a viable recilient.

NEVER CALL BACK!

That's when you get flooded with junk texts.
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Guangzhou Writer

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Re: Blocking calls/texts (Anrdoid 2.3.4)
« Reply #9 on: April 07, 2013, 05:07:51 AM »
Been in China 8 years and only once did a local who had gotten my number from another student choose to send me a text ahead of time to announce herself. Is it only one in a million who think of this? Seems so obvious to me, but I suppose Chinese figure that could be a scam, too, so why bother.

The 10086 texts have been getting on my nerves for months and now I think I know why my phone card ran out of money so quickly last month. I actually tried to call a number back.

Fargin' bastages!

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Monkey King

Re: Blocking calls/texts (Anrdoid 2.3.4)
« Reply #10 on: April 07, 2013, 01:08:38 PM »
I now have an app that lets you block numbers and blacklist certain keywords or phrases in texts.  War against junk texts and cold calls begins today!

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Monkey King

Re: Blocking calls/texts (Anrdoid 2.3.4)
« Reply #11 on: April 17, 2013, 07:49:24 PM »
One of the numbers I have blocked has tried to call seven times so far...and I've only blocked their calls, so they could easily send me a text if it was e.g. a friend with a new number.

Quote from: fullricebowl
angry phone calls.

A few years ago some weirdo got my number somehow and was calling me up regularly at 3am and stuff, from different numbers, and just yelling in Chinese, very unpleasant.

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Re: Blocking calls/texts (Anrdoid 2.3.4)
« Reply #12 on: April 17, 2013, 09:03:57 PM »
I now have an app that lets you block numbers and blacklist certain keywords or phrases in texts.  War against junk texts and cold calls begins today!

That's got to be the best reason ever for upgrading to a smarter phone.

I've got custom ring tones, so if I really wanted to, I could set everyone on my list to something other than default and make anyone not on my list something very quiet and inoffensive.  What I would KILL for is the ability to have custom text message chimes assigned to individual numbers (on my phone, you can pick custom ones, but it's the same one for everyone) - I'd just set up one for all my friends after making the default one silent.  No more 3 am wakeups from text spammers.
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Re: Blocking calls/texts (Anrdoid 2.3.4)
« Reply #13 on: April 25, 2013, 02:18:23 AM »
A few years ago some weirdo got my number somehow and was calling me up regularly at 3am and stuff, from different numbers, and just yelling in Chinese, very unpleasant.
That happened to me, too, but it was just hangups for almost two years. Mr. Insecurity finally stopped when I went back to the USA for about 6 weeks. Guess he figured I'd changed my number.

Mine was some male Chinese English teacher I made the mistake of talking to in a restaurant since he seemed normal. Now I know the signs and just put every stranger through a flow chart that goes something like this:

Is the stranger Chinese?
No, then respond.
Yes, then next:

Is the stranger female?
Yes, then respond.
No, then next:

Is the stranger a male Chinese born between 1960 and 1980 and under 175 cm tall?
DO NOT RESPOND!!!!!

Can an Android do that based on caller ID?   mmmmmmmmmm

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Monkey King

Re: Blocking calls/texts (Anrdoid 2.3.4)
« Reply #14 on: April 25, 2013, 03:41:31 AM »
Another (male) friend of mine had a (male) phone 'stalker' here too...seems to be pretty common!