My Nona has been getting a lot of scammers calling her and found this great feature is still available.
Thanks to edisonAU for the original post.
Telstra Silent Line Fee Free (Was $2.93 Per Month)
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My exact reaction lol
lol we're everywhere.
Machang 😏
Lau 1
Too little too late. Alrwady yanked off land line ages ago.
Yep, that's how you got a silent line ages ago and for free.
I have a silent line with TPG but that doesn't stop the scammers from calling!
I have a silent line with TPG but that doesn't stop the scammers from calling!
I have two VoIP lines: The first one was my original Optus line which I ported to VoIP. The second one was provisioned from a VoIP number pool.
All my scam calls only come from my Optus number. I have never received a single scam call from my VoIP number.Anyway, fast forward: My last scam call was October 2019. How did I do it? I have Lenny.
Do you forward or do you run your own Lenny instance?
Do you forward or do you run your own Lenny instance?
I have a Raspberry Pi and loaded FreePBX as well as Lenny.
My work colleagues also have this setup except their DID (aka phone number) starts with a 5 and they have never received any scam calls. Their numbers are from a VoIP number pool.
Damn they missed a golden opportunity by not naming it Kerpal.
Oh I want this . Can you set it up on hardware like a pie3 ??
My instance of Lenny is in a Raspberry Pi. Been running Lenny way back mid-2018 without any issues.
What scumbags Telstra were for ever charging a fee for this in the first place.
This is a company that introduced all sorts of fees under Sol. Including paying cash at one of their branches.
And if you thought scummy tactics was limited to Telstra. Optus is equally as bad.
Telstra the most hated company in Australia.
I think that might be have already been won by Commonwealth Bank. heh ..
"Banking royal commission: Commonwealth Bank ‘takes gold medal’ … for charging clients for nothing"I remember this from the "royal commission" thing a few years back.
https://thewest.com.au/business/banking/banking-royal-commis…Telstra the most hated company in Australia.
Not for everyone. Exetel sell phone+internet bundles in some Telstra Velocity areas, re-selling Telstra services, and are still charging $3.50/month for a silent line. This is years after Telstra stopped charging the same fee, so it's pure profit for Exetel.
WTH you needed to PAY to be not listed in white pages? Seriously?
Weirdly no. We had three options when we provisioned a new line, Directory Listing, unlisted, or silent. I'm not even sure what the difference is other than unlisted not being charged- i imagine the only difference maybe being if your number came up private when you called someone. I used to default every single line i provisioned to unlisted
Do you ever wonder how many Sarah Connors you must have saved by doing this?
Why do you think I did it?
Imagine having to travel back in time without even clothes!
Amateurs.
Unlisted means you still send your caller id.
Isn't this news 3 years old?
I've had this for 10+ years and it's always been free of charge for me.
The link destination in the post is to an article from Feb '18, so it's 3 years old. Not sure it's a deal, but I am really surprised this isn't the default option. Surely in 2021 public phone number listings should be an opt-in, not an opt-out?
Correct.
I used to pay Telstra $2.93 p/m for a silent number
They wrote to me a few years ago saying they've removed the fee…
Grasping at straws in an attempt to hold land lines. For those unaware: to cancel your service you may (still) find it's normal working hours not including weekends. Well at least when I cancelled in 2007 that was the case
Just make sure your security system doesn’t rely on your landline first.
I saw one of those kinds of alarm yesterday in fact… when I was back in 2010!
Had to look it up:
What does the name Nona mean?
Nona as a girl's name is of Latin origin meaning "ninth". It was originally used for the family's ninth baby.Nice to know though for people still using landlines. The Do Not Call Register does not seem to prevent scammers from calling, at all.
Yes years ago I registered on the DNC register seemed to make zero difference.
Don't have a land line anymore. With unlimited mobile plans and internet calls/videos, who needs it?
They meant Nonna, it's grandma in Italian.
Source; I'm a dago.
With a touch of Mexican, by the username.
Haha nah, just love the movie Desperado
I'm not sure why people negativing this, it's actually a deal, specially for old ppl. As they been charging this forever.
It's literally a flag in a database somewhere. Such a travesty that there was a charge to begin with.
Offshore DBAs and Developers must be frightfully expensive.
It's not a deal, it was Telstra's conscience finally catching up with them. Stopping a shitty charge is stopping a shitty charge, not a deal.
I'm not sure why you so bitter about the whole telstra thing.
Telstra is a business and they were probably making money out of our names through white pages? and now they don't. I don't know.
Morally it's wrong but for sake of this forum its free now and it's a bargain.
Well, high prices, poor service, restricting competition, and hobbling technology are as good a place as any to start.
https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/telstras-monopoly-me…
@pennypacker: That is a real cool story and all, but it's clear that there are more people that didn't know about this, than people that agree with you
@pennypacker: Personal question, why so bitter about telstra, used to work for telstra and lost your job or something?
@boomramada: Not bitter, just pointing out facts. And no, have never had an association with Telstra.
Separate to Telstra and their practices (or anyone other telco) I'm not sure I'd call this a "deal" or bargain (which implies there is a choice in pricing or even action to take to affect/get this from Telstra). People who choose a silent line from Telstra pay the price Telstra dictates at the time. Before $2.93, currently free, next year who knows. Their customers for this don't get a choice or need to do anything (re: pricing for silent number).
Separately, given other telcos have provided silent lines free for years it's similar to what others are doing (rather than a deal/bargain now for those wedded to Telstra).An analogy would be if they decided to take $20 off car rego costs. It is good for the customer (and useful to know as information for OzB forums) but I wouldn't call it a deal or bargain. You pay whatever they dictate without choice if needing that service.
Wish you could apply this to mobile numbers.
"Your name, address and phone number will continue to be private. These details won’t be published online, printed in the White Pages, or available from Directory Assistance."
This would already apply to mobiles, unless you listed the number.
"…your Caller ID will be switched to 'Off' so your number is not visible to other callers."
You can enable this from your mobile phone handset!
Mobile numbers are not listed in the white pages unless you ask for it.
All mobile phones allow you to hide your mobile number for all outgoing calls, you simply need to turn it on.
People still use landlines?
Unfortunately some of us still have no reliable mobile service… even in the suburbs. Drives me to distraction.
I do; it's VOIP connected to my mobile.
I use it for businesses who demand a phone number; because automated SMS spam doesn't work.
Also, because I know if it's a personal call, or a business call, depending if it comes to my mobile, or my voip :)
Dual SIM Mobile phones are also good so you can tell if it is a work or personal call depending on the SIM card.
There's usually no way to block SMS messages though; which a land line does passively.
Also; people just seem to treat calling them, differently, haha.
Mine is physically disconnected.
I have a bundle deal with Telstra broadband and every time I check, it's dearer to move to a different plan without the landline
People still use landlines?
Yes. When a relative wants to ring up and have a chat, they can talk to anyone in the household. As opposed to ringing a specific mobile, and risking calling while the mobile owner is driving, at work (shift worker), playing sport and so on. It makes a nice system with priority: call mobile for emergencies, call home (VOIP) landline for non-urgent stuff.
It's also good when people want to drop by - they call the landline first. If they get the answering machine and no-one picks up, no-one is home.
VOIP landlines are almost free now, it's worth having one for the convenience. And you don't need special hardware any more, just use an old mobile phone, running a VOIP client app, and connected through your home Wi-Fi.
People still use Telstra? Didn’t the NBN relegate them to the dust bin!?
Didn’t the NBN relegate Telstra to the dust bin!?
I wish. There are still quite a few areas that Telstra has an effective monopoly in. I'm in a Telstra "Velocity" area, which means the only ways I can get internet are through Telstra fibre, Telstra cable, Optus Cable, or wireless internet. NBN says my area is "adequately served", so NBN is not available, and not likely to become available.
Our "National Broadband Network" is national in name only.
I've tried Optus cable, and evening speed dropped to less than 2Mbps, so I left. Currently on Telstra fibre through Exetel, getting 8Mbps for $70/month, with 500GB allowance. I wish I could get NBN, there are plently of NBN plans that are faster, cheaper, and have unlimited data.
And to put salt in the wound, our current federal government has recently said that our internet is competing with the NBN, so should pay an extra $10/month levy to the NBN - so we are shortly to be paying a fee to support a service that is not available to us.
Appalling.
Is there a service to keep my phone number out of the shop back hack. Phone calls on the daily
Ah maybe that's why I'm getting those dodgy calls and robots calling me!
Anyone know the steps to activate on the app?
We just put an answering machine on the line. Most scammers hang up when they get an answering machine. We cancelled our landline a while ago. Just use mobiles nowadays.
It's disgraceful that Telstra charge you not to share your private data. I have no idea how they get away with this…
Also cancelled land line..It's just legacy, that's all.
Before the internet, if you wanted your mates number, you'd look it up in the white pages.
Iirc, the White pages were actually distributed by telecom.
It was just part of using their service, and it was government owned (who already had your data anyway).
The amount of phone books that got posted overseas was rare, and calls aren't cheap internationally, so scamming was even rarer.
In about 2005 White pages moved online (but by then, were mostly private owned, named Telstra) and you'd be able to search your friends online.
People should have cared then; but computers were still toys then, it didn't seem 'scary'.
Database took about 30 literal seconds to return a result, so mass data collection from there was still hard.
Computers got faster, people got more careless (or more required) to 'give away' their data to companies, and I guess the white pages became the least of your worries.
Basically; a phone used to be a standard service, with a standard set of features.
Paying a little, isn't uncommon, even today, to have any service 'customised' away from the standard, that's all.
You have really drunk the Telstra kool-aid my friend.
Telstra has nothing to do with it.
It was telecom when this was standardised.
And as I said, in almost all aspects of service delivery, if a customer wants their service 'customised' outside of the standards, a small fee is extremely common.I said above, Telstra being handed government data should have been concerning; but they were, and it wasn't (at the time, for most).
It's a good thing that in the age of information protection they're offering it free.
It was genuinely something most people didnt want in the 90's, being in the phone book meant people could look you up and give you a call; and back then, there was little other than exactly that, they could do with that information.@hardya: What was your involvement with them that made you say that?
My experience trying to do ANY work with them, was that they were slower, but much more reliable when they were "telecom".
Government funded and owned is always slow, but just seemed more process-driven, than Telstra who are often more cost-driven.
Fyi, Google Pixel 5 phones also have this feature. The line is transferred to your Google Assistant who does the talking for you and ask if you want to accept this call. It is a great feature. Unfortunately, it is not available in Australia. US only.
Can Boost users use this feature? Mobiles? I got so many SCAM automated calls recently
Mobile numbers are not listed in the white pages unless you ask for it.
All mobile phones allow you to hide your mobile number for all outgoing calls, you simply need to turn it on.
automated calls
There is nothing you can do to stop that, they just dial numbers one by one
It was free for us through optus. Can't believe Telstra would charge for it.
It's "Nonna".
No self-respecting Italian would get this wrong.
is a silent line the same thing as a private number?
Same but different countries call it different names
dont the scammers just autodial every number - so how does this help?
Occasionally but rarely.
Usually lists are shared from leaked databases.And the ones who are gullible get flagged as good targets and passed onto more scammers.
There's quite the genuine underground business in selling proven contact information.
DNC register - politics + surveys (and others) are exempt.
Many moons ago when I walked doing outbound surveys, the computer auto-generated numbers based on block. eg. 03 9123-XXXX and called from 0000->9999. Got a lot of fax numbers, businesses, private numbers.
Private numbers don't solve either of these issues.
thats what i was thinking
Thanks for the reminder. Been meaning to get myself removed from white pages.
Not a deal in my opinion. We should never have had to pay for the right to protect our privacy. The only reason they have made it free is because copper landlines are going the way of the dinosaur. It's more a PR move than any genuine generosity.
Imagine if someone tried to pull this sh!t on us now - "we are going to publish your details in a book for everyone to see. If you don't want us to do this, then you must pay us a monthly fee".Only stops legal businesses. I get scammers calling several times per week - they aren't going to care.
takes a few months of effort, but if you waste their time enough they DO flag you as a low priority\waste of time.
Hasn't happened yet. And I have invested a good amount of time in stringing them along.
I gave them my Silent Boot many years ago over thier exorbitant fees
I do not understand - if I do not recognise the number I do not answer?
Thats why so many people get scammed - its their own fault
If you’re going to use the word “Nonna” on a public forum, at least learn how to spell it right. I learnt how to spell Nonna correctly when I was in primary school. This is basic Italian.
This doesn't stop scam calls. They don't use a phone book they just call a heap of numbers programtically and see who answers… (or use old phone books prior to silent line).
Exactly - a complete fail for this purpose. All that's required is a box which dials groups of numbers simultaneously starting at <prefix>0000 through to <prefix>9999. Those that answer get routed to a voice recording/human operator. Often zero call cost using a hacked VOIP service. More than likely, those where a valid ringtone is returned (answered or not) get added to a database, thus expediting future scam sessions and providing extra revenue by sale of the database.
From the Telstra website. Unlisted is pretty much the new Silent - depending on whether you also select CID blocking.
does anyone know if you can get this added for free if you are only on a in contact service free plan?
Free with TPG
Always been…
'Nona' lol..You from SL bruh?