Are you frustrated with receiving unsolicited telemarketer calls at all hours of the day? Are you tired of people trying to sell you a product that you don’t even want? Telemarketers, they just won’t shut it up, and it seems like it’s impossible to get them off the phone! Or, maybe you have a friend or family member that you don’t want to put up with anymore. So, you block their calls so that they cannot reach, and you can go on living a peaceful call-free life. Is there a way to actually do all of this? The answer is yes! And you have a couple of options for both situations, too.
So, if you’re ready to start blocking the phone numbers of those annoying telemarketers, or you’re ready to say goodbye to that friend or family member, follow along below. We’ll show you how to simply and easily put their numbers on a Do Not Call or block list.
Do Not Call Registry
There’s a specific way that you have to go about blocking telemarketers. Otherwise, you could be putting their numbers on your native Block List, and still be having them calling you from — you guessed it — a different number! To stop marketers from calling you, you have to use the national Do Not Call Registry. This is a list put together by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) that requires marketers to stop calling the numbers on this list with unsolicited calls.
There’s a couple things we should note about this list. The first is that it’s completely free of charge — you don’t have to pay to be put on the Do Not Call registry. You can also register both landlines and cell phones on this list, so you’ll have telemarketers blocked from both phones. And finally, you only have to register with the list once, and then your number is on there for life. That is, unless you change phone numbers.
To get your phone number’s on the list, head over to www.donotcall.gov. Next, click the big orange button that says Register Your Phone. On the next page, click on the orange REGISTER HERE button. Now, you can enter up to three phone numbers you want on the list, and then you’ll need to enter your email address. You cannot register without entering your email address. Press the Submit button, and then the FTC will send a confirmation email to the address provided. Click the link, and then the numbers entered are put on the registry. You shouldn’t get anymore cold calls from marketers.
Blocking Numbers on Android
Now, maybe you want to block a specific number on Android. The process can be a little different from phone to phone or carrier to carrier, but in general, the steps shouldn’t differ too much. On any Android phone, tap the Settings app. Next, go to Call > Call Rejection > Auto Reject List > Create.
Here, you’ll add a new phone number (and any other information prompted) that will automatically be rejected every time they try to call or text. Since there’s no real universal path for blocking numbers, some phones may require you to open the Phone app, click the menu button, press the Settings option, and then block the chosen number there. Some phones even have you do it through the Messages app — you just click on the Menu, select the Settings option, and add a new blocked number.
How to unblock a number
Since there’s no universal way to block a number, there’s no universal way to unblock a number. That means that, whatever process you used to block a number, you can use the same process to unblock a number. In general, this would mean going to Settings > Call > Call Rejection > Auto Reject and removing the blocker that you created. You may have to go into the Phone app or Messages app to do this, depending on your phone.
Call Blockers
Lastly, you have the option of downloading a call blocker app and blocking callers that way. It’s a little bit more of a hassle to setup, simply because you have to go to the Play Store and find a call blocker to use, and then download and install it. It’s much more straightforward to simply do it from the Dialer or Android’s settings, but we understand if you’d want to use a third-party. Just open up the Play Store and search for “call blocker.” Find one of you choose, download it, and then follow the prompts in the app.
Verdict
As you can see, it’s super easy to block a phone number, and even unblock one if you ever have any regrets.