Call filter for mobile phones against unwanted advertising calls

For economically minded customers, there are actually not many rational arguments left as to why they should be a Swisscom mobile customer, but the call filter would certainly be one of them.

Maybe it’s just a timing problem for prepaid customers and the function will be delivered later, or Swisscom just doesn’t really value prepaid customers in terms of revenue.

We cannot offer prepaid services at the moment. We don’t have to rebuild/rebuild the prepaid IT until 2018/2019. Then functions such as VoLTE, call filter & Co become possible. It’s our turn.

If you want to have peace of mind from the call centers as a prepaid user, then I recommend installing the free app “Search.CH”, available for Android and IOS. In this app you can turn on “Call ID” in the settings. For each call, the caller name and other details are displayed if the phone number is listed in the public telephone directory. If the caller in question was recognized as a call center, then “Call Center” is displayed.

As a further function, you can define in the app settings that the ringtone and vibration are switched off when calling from call centers.

However, for both functions the smartphone must have access to the internet data! While similar apps update a blacklist on the cell phone itself, the “Search.CH” app accesses a blacklist via the Internet during the call. When calling call centers, I occasionally hear a single ring tone because the smartphone first has to “wake up” the data reception from Stamina mode. Most of the time I only see afterwards in the list of missed calls that a call center wanted to call me.

Walter

As a inOne prepaid user, I would really welcome this call filter function at the moment!! Greetings BopKar

Thank you Guido for the quick answer

But that doesn’t really help me - I’m currently in Morocco (I’m always traveling abroad) with very high roaming charges and every time I get a call like this - currently from the survey institute “Link” - I get it then an SMS with the roaming costs of sometimes CHF 3.00, sometimes CHF 4.75 etc. - and that WITHOUT me answering the call, just because the caller is on the Combox doesn’t even leave a message, but just hangs up again. I answered the call once and told people to spare me the “crap” - but it didn’t help.
That’s more than just a hassle, as I’m left with high costs that I can’t offset to anyone.
What solution is there - I’m not only quite but VERY annoyed…

Thank you very much

Esther

Thank you Walter

I know, I’m “very outdated” - I only have a very old cell phone that serves its purposes perfectly and is a “cell phone” in the truest sense of the word - small and foldable. I don’t need a smartphone, but I can do not install any apps.
And having to switch to an expensive smartphone just “because of that” shouldn’t be the solution either.

Kind regards

Esther

Thank you Shorty7777 for your comment

Do you know whether the other providers are better when it comes to call filters?

Thank you very much

Esther

Thanks GrandDixence for the links.

Unfortunately they don’t work for me (currently).
Can’t open it - there may be geo-restrictions on it - I’m currently in Morocco.

I’ll try it again from time to time…

Greeting

Esther

We are obliged to let “proper” call centers and survey institutes through. However, you will respect them if you put a star on your phone number in the phone book and thereby make it clear that you do not want any advertising calls. You can do it via local.ch and I believe via our Kundencenter. Simply call up the help pages for the call filter.

Otherwise, simply deactivate Combox or call forwarding to it when you are abroad.

I can’t do anything more. Sorry.

Here we are in a thread that was opened last November, please note the dates of the posts.

My recommendations for using the Search app in this thread refer to domestic use. I specifically mentioned that this app accesses internet data to identify the call centers. This is usually associated with costs abroad. Addendum: The app only “works” in the phone, and not on the Combox.

Regarding the Link Institute, it should be specified that the survey institutes are not blocked by the Swisscom filter even if you have a star in the phone book. As a Swisscom subscription customer, you can enter any telephone number in your own blocked list.

Walter

Thank you again Guido

On the one hand, I understand that you have to “let them through”, but as a pre-paid cell phone user, I should at least have the opportunity to turn off these calls - all the same.

We don’t have our landline number. Our mobile numbers are still registered in a directory - are therefore “invisible” and actually want it to stay that way.
However, it is strange to me that you apparently have to make yourself “public” in order to add the * entry so that you can use it to indicate that you do not want any advertising calls.

It was explained to us at the time (at the beginning of 2017, when we settled back in CH) that our number would not be made public - it was voluntary and if it is not in a directory, no one will know about it.

The same with the pre-paid cell phone number, which is specifically the case here. Pre-paid numbers are never public - we were told this in 2014.

Deactivating Combox doesn’t make much sense, especially when abroad, as desired contacts can no longer reach us and you want/need/should stay connected to them, especially when you’re traveling.

I am of the opinion that there is a need for action on the part of Swisscom…

Kind regards

Esther

@Esther67

If you don’t need your cell phone to ring immediately when someone calls you abroad, it’s actually very useful to redirect all calls directly to Combox in Switzerland.

This will definitely save you the roaming costs for connecting callers to your cell phone abroad in Switzerland, which can be quite expensive depending on the country.

You can usually also have the Combox send you SMS messages, which you can then use to decide whether it is worth it for you to query the Combox from abroad (which is still cheaper than the return trip ) or call back directly.

Depending on your cell phone, direct redirection to Combox works a little differently. What actually always works is the direct network command:

**21*+4186079nnnnnnn#, where 079nnnnnnn is your 10-digit cell phone number. However, you should still send this command in the Swisscom network, for example at the airport shortly before you board.

If you then land back in Switzerland, the corresponding counter-order is:

##21#, and the direct redirection is canceled again.

You can also save the commands you need for your cell phone number directly in your cell phone’s address book and then easily use them routinely:

At the gate you not only switch to flight mode, but shortly beforehand you call “Combox directly on” from your address book, and when you land back in Switzerland, you not only switch your cell phone back on, but also briefly call “Combox directly out.” " so that your cell phone rings again straight away in Switzerland.

It’s about time that swisscom’s pre-paid customers, who have been loyal for years, could also activate a call center block. For the past three days I have been harassed up to seven times a day by different numbers from Great Britain. With prepaid I have to block each call individually. Does anyone know this English company, this English call center?

You can find information about annoying callers at Tellows.ch. Even if you type the phone number into the search field on Google, you will usually find relevant information for chronic troublemakers.

In this thread you will find information that you may have to wait until 2019 until the call filter also works with prepaid. Maybe you can use the “Search.CH” app until then, but it needs some data access.

Walter

2018 is now over and we are already halfway through 2019. I am abroad and pay every time a call center calls me. By the way, even if I refuse or am not available. (Which is illogical in itself) how long do I have to wait to use this filter with my prepaid subscription?

@Stephanb

Then in any case you have to switch off Combox abroad. Then you don’t pay anything unless you answer.

It would actually be very desirable if Swisscom also activated this call filter for prepaid offers.

But if I look outside the box. To date, the other major providers have no such filter at all, neither in the mobile nor in the landline network. Whether, Sunrise, upc, Salt etc… Completely incomprehensible.

Since I was harassed again by a call center despite the star entry, I’m digging up this thread again. It’s perfect that you can easily switch on a call filter with Swisscom! When will it also be available for prepaid customers? At the end of 2017 it was postponed until 2018/2019. What does 2020 look like?