Paul Jay's Ponderings

Franky if I'm paying for a phone service when I answer, the last thing I want is dead air or some stupid advert call. And apparently the FCC is unwilling to do squat about dead air calls. (I've done one complaint already)...

So, what I'd like is at least one provider stepping up to the plate to institute a technical fix. A phone that only rings on white-listed numbers.

Here's how I propose that it works:

• Primary white-list: Numbers specified by the user such that they ring through no matter what. It shouldn't be hard to tag phone numbers entered into the phone's memory for this.


• Temporary white-list: Store about a dozen or so recently dialed numbers, this way the phone can accept call-backs.

Then on top of the white-list incoming call features, you would have two ways of handling non-whitelisted numbers.

• Grey list mode: Numbers not on the white-list go to voice mail unless they correctly dial an additional PIN in order to ring your handset. This might be good for somebody doing a bit of business or other short term relationships that might not be appropriate for white-listing.


• Blacklist mode: Anything dialed not on the whitelist, GTFO. This time you need to be on the whitelist when a call doesn't go through to leave voicemail. Or you need the PIN to leave a message. Otherwise, calls to the cell phone are dropped plain and simple.

I don't think such a service would be all that hard to implement either. But I do think cell phone users would really like to have something like this. How about it?

Labels: cell phone, feature, idea, nice to have, wanted