How Do I Block My Number?

JR Smith
It is becoming more and more of a problem these days. Telemarketers are starting to call at all times in the day bothering folks at dinner time; in the morning and even while you are asleep. They are a real pest to get rid of. Luckily, the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) has enacted several ways for you to block your number from unwanted solicitation.

First off, you can try the placing yourself on the National Do Not Call List. This is a list of numbers that the telemarketers are not suppose to contact for their purposes. This should help you deal with most of your problems with a few exceptions. This list does not protect against companies that have your express written permission to call. Unfortunately, it doesn't take much to get your prior permission if you have an established business relationship (EBR). Basically that means you have inquired, applied, purchased, or preformed a transaction of some sort with this company. Auto dealers are notorious for doing this after buying a car.

Another helpful way of protecting your number is by blocking it from caller ID. This will make it difficult for a company to capture your phone number from an automated service particularly when all you are doing is inquiring about their service. There are two options for this. First there is a Per Call id block. This must be enacted before every phone call. Simply dial *67 block your number during a single phone call. You can also block your entire line from being listed in caller id. You'll have to contact your phone company to enact this set up. If you wish you can unblock your number for specific calls by dialing *82.

There you have it; a few tips to avoid the pesky telemarketers. Unfortunately, there are many laws, loopholes, and various ways that companies can contact you, however, these tips should help to get rid of many of these headaches. This should help answer the question, "how do I block my number?"

To comment, please sign in to your Yahoo! account, or sign up for a new account.