4 ms·

> I don't think a whitelist of phone numbers is a workable solution for most people. My local hospital telephones with private numbers, which is the only reaso

by consp 5y ago

> I don't think a whitelist of phone numbers is a workable solution for most people. My local hospital telephones with private numbers, which is the only reason I cannot completely block them and thus cannot use a whitelist. Outside of working hours I do not answer them. I told them it is a problem and they placed a note in my record to call me from a public phone which is nice of them (not their own desk but from a service desk which has a number displayed) but I imagine they sadly sometimes forget. The UK number is a hassle too, all kinds of +44 numbers spoofing or reusing existing non-fixed location numbers to seem legitimate since some phones provide direct listing of the name of the company. They are actually foreign redirects which cost insane amounts of money if you call them back. I would also like a native way of blacklisting number blocks (like +44), my phone currently can't unfortunately.

ronyclau 5y ago
Not from the UK, I don't actually get why calling a local/in-country number could incur high cost. How could one identify a paid/free/local number without trial-and-error? In my country, you only incur normal minutes when you call an ordinary non-overseas number. By ordinary, these numbers have a normal number of digits, and a known prefix. Paid call always have shorter or longer phone number.
- Spare_account 5y ago
  I'm from the UK and I can confirm that I am billed for the number I dialed not any forwarding endpoint. If I am inside the UK and I dial a landline (starting 01, 02 or 03) it will usually be included in my monthly contract allowance. It's regulated by the UK regulator OFCOM. They publish a list of number prefixes and the maximum costs that can be incurred: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/advice-for-consumers/costs-and-billing/how-much-does-a-phone-call-really-cost https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/advice... Some of those costs are high, but they are published, and capped. There are no surprises here. There are a couple of myths that circulate endlessly in this country that: i) You can receive a call from a scammer who prompts you to 'press 1' to be connected to an agent, and if you press 1 you're dialing a premium number and can incur large costs. This is impossible, inbound calls in the UK are not billable, nor can inbound calls count against any inclusive minutes on a contract. ii) You can dial a cheap-looking number but the call is forwarded to an international or premium-rate destination and you can incur large costs. This is impossible, you can only be billed for the number you dialed, any onward forwarding costs would be incurred by the owner of the number you initally dialed.
BoxOfRain 5y ago
>My local hospital telephones with private numbers, which is the only reason I cannot completely block them and thus cannot use a whitelist. Can anyone with more context explain to me why a rational person decided on this? It's Biblically frustrating for me because 9/10 withheld numbers are spammers or scammers and I don't want to pick up the phone to them but 1/10 it's my local doctor's surgery who I can't ignore. It's such an antisocial thing for doctors of all people to do, but it seems to be common enough people across the world have to deal with it.
- wiredfool 5y ago
  Probably patient privacy and the intersection with domestic abuse.
- mschuster91 5y ago
  Mostly because there is usually a bunch of phones in a practice (and a shitload in hospitals), and you don't want patients to call back to for example the MRT/CT lab. The other problem is privacy... imagine a woman consulting her ob/gyn about an abortion. The ob/gyn calls the woman back, and suddenly the abusive husband sees the phone number of the ob/gyn practice on the incoming call log.
  - drugstorecowboy 5y ago
    While I do understand this reasoning somewhat I don't know why its only limited to hospitals and doctors. I can imagine thousands of situations where this abusive partner would have a problem with an incoming number hospital or not. I'm not sure its a great idea to structure our communications around hypothetical abusive people, a call directly to the number that is provided from the organization you provided it to is private enough.
    - mschuster91 5y ago
      > I'm not sure its a great idea to structure our communications around hypothetical abusive people Domestic violence is far from hypothetical [1], it is the sad reality we live in. Medicine in particular has a responsibility by the Hippocratic Oath to avoid causing harm, and the laws (e.g. HIPAA) reflect that responsibility. [1] https://www.socialsolutions.com/blog/domestic-violence-statistics/ https://www.socialsolutions.com/blog/domestic-violence-stati...

by consp 5y ago

ronyclau 5y ago

Not from the UK, I don't actually get why calling a local/in-country number could incur high cost. How could one identify a paid/free/local number without trial-and-error? In my country, you only incur normal minutes when you call an ordinary non-overseas number. By ordinary, these numbers have a normal number of digits, and a known prefix. Paid call always have shorter or longer phone number.

Spare_account 5y ago
I'm from the UK and I can confirm that I am billed for the number I dialed not any forwarding endpoint. If I am inside the UK and I dial a landline (starting 01, 02 or 03) it will usually be included in my monthly contract allowance. It's regulated by the UK regulator OFCOM. They publish a list of number prefixes and the maximum costs that can be incurred: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/advice-for-consumers/costs-and-billing/how-much-does-a-phone-call-really-cost https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/advice... Some of those costs are high, but they are published, and capped. There are no surprises here. There are a couple of myths that circulate endlessly in this country that: i) You can receive a call from a scammer who prompts you to 'press 1' to be connected to an agent, and if you press 1 you're dialing a premium number and can incur large costs. This is impossible, inbound calls in the UK are not billable, nor can inbound calls count against any inclusive minutes on a contract. ii) You can dial a cheap-looking number but the call is forwarded to an international or premium-rate destination and you can incur large costs. This is impossible, you can only be billed for the number you dialed, any onward forwarding costs would be incurred by the owner of the number you initally dialed.

BoxOfRain 5y ago

>My local hospital telephones with private numbers, which is the only reason I cannot completely block them and thus cannot use a whitelist. Can anyone with more context explain to me why a rational person decided on this? It's Biblically frustrating for me because 9/10 withheld numbers are spammers or scammers and I don't want to pick up the phone to them but 1/10 it's my local doctor's surgery who I can't ignore. It's such an antisocial thing for doctors of all people to do, but it seems to be common enough people across the world have to deal with it.

wiredfool 5y ago
Probably patient privacy and the intersection with domestic abuse.
mschuster91 5y ago
Mostly because there is usually a bunch of phones in a practice (and a shitload in hospitals), and you don't want patients to call back to for example the MRT/CT lab. The other problem is privacy... imagine a woman consulting her ob/gyn about an abortion. The ob/gyn calls the woman back, and suddenly the abusive husband sees the phone number of the ob/gyn practice on the incoming call log.
- drugstorecowboy 5y ago
  While I do understand this reasoning somewhat I don't know why its only limited to hospitals and doctors. I can imagine thousands of situations where this abusive partner would have a problem with an incoming number hospital or not. I'm not sure its a great idea to structure our communications around hypothetical abusive people, a call directly to the number that is provided from the organization you provided it to is private enough.
  - mschuster91 5y ago
    > I'm not sure its a great idea to structure our communications around hypothetical abusive people Domestic violence is far from hypothetical [1], it is the sad reality we live in. Medicine in particular has a responsibility by the Hippocratic Oath to avoid causing harm, and the laws (e.g. HIPAA) reflect that responsibility. [1] https://www.socialsolutions.com/blog/domestic-violence-statistics/ https://www.socialsolutions.com/blog/domestic-violence-stati...