Friday, November 12, 2010

How do I block a number that keeps calling me on my Verizon Wireless cellphone?



It is never a good thing when you get annoying or harassing phone calls from the same number over and over again. What options does Verizon Wireless offer to block a phone number from calling you?

The only official method provided by Verizon to block a number from calling you is to use Usage Controls (you can get a description and sign up for them here). Usage controls costs $4.99 a month, and it lets you do a lot of other things too. You can set up usage allowances that set limits for voice minutes and messages used during a billing cycle (to prevent overages) as well as set up time restrictions that allow you to limit and control cell phone use by day and time (no texting in school, for example)!

You also have the option of changing your number, but that is usually.

There are a few other options which won't outright block calls from being received but may make them less annoying. If you have a regular feature phone just add the annoying number to your contact list, and then give that number a custom ringtone that is silence. If they call your phone, you won't here it ring, although they'll still be able to leave a voicemail if they choose. Some newer feature phones even allow you to send a contact straight to voicemail.

If you have an Android powered smart phone like these, you get a lot more options. You can download many different call blocking programs from the Android Market, but my favorite is Call Blocker Gold. Again, it can't stop a call from coming to your phone, but you can tell it to hang up, send straight to voicemail, or answer with silence for any number, or a string of numbers (like 1-800 numbers). It even works with text messages!

Hope this helped someone!