silver_mica wrote:
Call Screening isn't a solution. Period.
Only call blocking will work. Period.
Call Blocking is useless for Spam calls!
- There is no way you can keep up with every "spoofed" number used by spammers. You are likely to never even receive a spam call from the same number you had blocked, because they are completely made up. You really think they are using a single known number to automate those spam calls?
- Call Blocking is also useless for avoiding spam when the sender has blocked their Caller ID. Your phone is still going to ring and you will have to grab your phone and then make the choice on whether you are going to answer it or not. To prevent your phone from ringing for a blocked caller ID you would need to use one of the Call Screening options, such as Screen Unknown Callers and if you are going to do that, you are better off using Ask Reason for Call.
- Call Screening does work and especially well when you choose the Ask Reason for Call option. If you don't think so, you have not tried it at all. Spammers are not giving their name and reason for their call at the prompt, and that means your phone is not ringing at all. The calls can still be seen in the Unwanted Call list, but of course those can be easily bulk deleted whenever you feel like it and the badge number of missed calls on the Phone app does not reflect those unwanted numbers.
- Another benefit of Call Screening over Call Blocking is that since Voicemail is a cellular service, even if you block the call on your device they are still able to leave a voicemail with your cellular provider. That voicemail from your cellular provider is synced to your phone and you will see the badge count in the Phone app until you go in and delete that voicemail. Call Screening does not allow your cellular provider to record the voicemail, because the call has been answered by Siri in the background where you are not bothered at all.
There is a very good reason why you would use Call Blocking and it has nothing to do with Spam. For example, if you have a particular friend you are mad at, then absolutely block that number. If you have more than 3,000 of these friends, you may have bigger problems where Call Blocking is not that solution. That is also why Verizon gives you 5 numbers to block for free, they understand the purpose of call blocking.
