TalkTalk has today announced it will become the first and only ISP to make all landline privacy calling features completely free. In a bold move to help its customers avoid nuisance, scam and unwanted calls, the telecoms giant has announced that ‘Last Caller Barring’ and ‘Anonymous Caller Reject’ will be free of charge for both new and existing customers. These features are in addition to Caller Display, Withhold Number and 1571 voicemail, which are already free to all 4 million phone customers on TalkTalk’s network.
Other providers charge for Last Caller Barring and Anonymous Caller Reject, with costs as much as £3.70 and £4.50 per month respectively. However, TalkTalk, known for being Britain’s best value provider, is taking a stand for consumers and putting an end to unnecessary costs. As a result, TalkTalk homes can now save up to £140 a year in comparison to BT.
TalkTalk CEO Dido Harding explains: “Nuisance and unwanted calls are a huge source of stress and frustration. We don't believe that people should be charged for the privilege of protecting their privacy. Our customers can now benefit from even more free features to help them avoid nuisance calls, helping to make TalkTalk homes even better off.”
Research from consumer support group Which? states that one third of people feel intimidated by cold calls and over half are discouraged from picking up their landline. This is hardly surprising, since more than eight in ten people have reported that they had received an unsolicited call on their home landline in the past month. TalkTalk’s free privacy features include:
Withhold Number: hides your number when making a call so it will not be seen by the person you are calling. This means it won’t appear in caller ID or be available if they use Last Caller ID, ensuring that your identity remains private.
Anonymous Caller Reject: blocks incoming calls from anyone who withholds their number. This means if anyone tries to call you without displaying their phone number, they’ll automatically hear a busy tone and you won’t be bothered with the call.
Last Caller Barring: allows users to block the last number to call or specific numbers of your choice. Now when someone tries to call you from a barred number all they will hear is a busy number and you’ll no longer be disturbed by an unwanted call.
Caller Display: displays the number of the caller before you pick up the phone to help you avoid nuisance calls or cold callers
These services build on TalkTalk’s nuisance call reporting and blocking service launched in October 2013. Customers can report spam or persistent sales calls to a dedicated expert team who are able to block the number at a network level, thus stopping them reaching all TalkTalk home phone customers.
**includes remote access to voicemail messages
***free when customers re-sign into a 12m contract
TalkTalk privacy calling features will be free from 19 January 2014. Visit TalkTalk’s nuisance calling guide heretalktalk.co.uk/unwantedcalls. Customers can report a number for investigation at talktalk.co.uk/nuisancecalls