CallClerk Settings Call Blocking ( How to Caller ID Block )

The CallClerk - Settings - Call Blocking window is used to control CallClerk Call Blocking behaviors.

Call blocking is based on the caller id information provided by your phone company. Either the caller id phone number or caller id name can be used to block a call.  How CallClerk call blocks is based on how you have your settings established and the entries in your CallClerk - Directory. 

Most simply, the caller's caller type (as set in the CallClerk directory) is used to determine if a call should be call blocked.  If the caller's call type is set to 'Blocked' and the Call Blocking feature is turned 'ON' in the CallClerk - Settings - Window then the call will be blocked.

For new callers (from phone numbers that aren't yet stored in the CallClerk directory) the caller type can optionally be determined based on generic templates -  for more information about setting up generic templates please see the help related to the CallClerk - Directory.

Additionally, for new callers CallClerk can optionally check the whocalled.us community database of nuisance callers to help determine if the call should be automatically blocked.  This is done in real time, usually well within a couple seconds. 

In some countries phone companies deliver the caller id information before the first ring - the U.K. and Israel are examples.  However, in most countries the caller id information is normally delivered between the first and second ring - the U.S. and Canada are examples.  Although CallClerk allows for this, it means that you may hear your phone ring once before you phone company delivers the caller id information and CallClerk can decide to block the call based on it.

When CallClerk 'blocks a call' what it does is answers the call, optionally plays a SIT tone and/or message, and then hangs-up.

Call blocking with the help of whocalled.us

Whocalled.us is an independent online service used by those who want to access and report information on nuisance callers.

CallClerk is designed to interface with whocalled.us to help identify calls to be automatically blocked.

Whocall.us provides a score for nuisance callers based reporting from the whocalled.us community.  Scoring in whocalled.us roughly translates into one point being applied for each unique person who reports the caller's number.  CallClerk can also work with Whocalled.us to determine scoring based on the number of calls reported in a particular time frame.

CallClerk works with this scoring system and your choices to automatically block a call, here's how ....

First, you need a (free) whocalled.us account from http://whocalled.us

Once you have your account, just enter your user id and password on the CallClerk - Settings - Call Blocking window.

After you have entered your account information just set the criteria at which new callers will be automatically blocked - for example a score of 2 in the last 90 days.   

New callers will then be assessed and blocked based on the criteria you have set.  When CallClerk blocks a call with the help of whocalled.us the CallClerk pop up window will appear in orange and the caller's call type will be set to 'Blocked'.  If you don't see the orange pop up don't worry, as after that all calls from that number will be blocked (and the CallClerk pop up window will appear in red).  To prevent the call from being blocked, simply change the caller's call type to 'familiar' or 'unfamiliar' in the CallClerk directory (assuming the Call Blocking feature is turned 'OFF' in the CallClerk control panel for those types of callers.

Reporting a caller to whocalled.us

You can report nuisance callers to whocalled.us with the help of CallClerk.  This is done by either clicking the 'Block' button on the CallClerk Display Pop-up window, or by clicking on 'Edit - Report to whocalled.us' from the CallClerk - Directory or CallClerk - History windows. When you do this you will be provided a confirmation window (example below) showing you the caller id information and allowing you to optionally enter 'who this really is' (if you feel the caller id name was not a good indication), as well as your comments about the caller/call.  

You can optional identify your postal code in the CallClerk - Settings - Call Blocking window to have calls reported by you mapped on the whocalled.us service. 

If you providing a report of a nuisance caller to whocalled.us it will be publically viewable by the whocalled.us community.  Your reporting will also be helpful to other CallClerk users using this service.

When a call is blocked (automatically hung up on)

Options that can be set are:

1. Play Standard Intercept Tone (SIT) before hanging up.  The SIT is a special sound used to identify numbers that are invalid, in some cases this will fool telemarketers auto dial systems into thinking your number is not valid.

2.  Play a message before hanging-up.

    You can record your own default blocked message by clicking on the [Record] button (it will turn to a red [Stop] button), speaking into a microphone connected to your sound card, and then clicking on the red [Stop] button to end your recording.

    You can also import a pre-recorded .wav file.  To do this click on the [Import] button, find the file and click on OK. 

NOTE:  Caller ID is delivered in some countries (such as the UK) before the first ring, and in others (such as the US and Canada) between the first and second ring. Once the caller id is provided by your phone company CallClerk will be able to immediately hang-up / block the call.

Once the current settings have been modified the changes may be permanently applied by clicking on the [Apply] or [OK] button or voided by clicking on the [Cancel] button. If either the [OK] or [Cancel] button is pressed then the CallClerk - Settings window will be hidden.

  The CallClerk - Settings - Call Blocking window looks like this:

Here is what the Call Blocking confirmation window looks like: