Call screening

How does it work?

When a call comes in, your call blocking rules are applied first as normal. If the caller's number is in your whitelist, the call is allowed straight through. If their number is in your blacklist, the call is rejected outright.

If the number is neither whitelisted nor blacklisted, the caller hears the following message:

"The number you have dialled is using Voipfone call screening. After the beep, please leave your name and then press the hash key."

Once the caller has said their name and pressed hash, they are put on hold and your phone starts to ring. When you answer, you will hear the following:

"This is Voipfone Call Screening. You have a call from [caller's recorded name]. Press 1 to talk to the caller, 2 to send the call to voicemail or 3 to reject the call"

You can then either select one of those options, or simply hang up. If you choose option 3, and the caller is not hiding their Caller ID, you will get the chance to add them to your blacklist:

"Press 1 to add the caller to your blacklist, or just hang up to end the call."

Most scam callers use automated systems that will fail when asked to record their name, dramatically reducing the number of nuisance calls that you have to deal with in the first place. If one does make it through, all you need to do is hang up to reject the call - you don't have to talk to them at all.

How do I get it?

Call screening is included with Voipfone at Home Unlimited, otherwise it is available to buy as an add-on from your Control Panel for £2.00 per month inc VAT.

For full instructions on how to configure and enable Call Screening, please see our Call Screening Support page.