Hutch’s call-blocking facility an instant hit

For cellphones the world over and specially in India, it has been “veni, vidi, vici” all through. Box-office 24×7. And even though you may tend to feel sometimes that you were definitely better off without it, can you just picture yourself without one? Not at least if you mean to be in circulation.

With cellphones now comes a development that looks an instant winner from a mile away: the new Vodafone Essar- provided facility to block spam phone calls! It has made a very quiet entry surprisingly, but it’s already started to catch on within 24 hours of its launch.

Coming on the heels of some popular spoiler facilities to ward off persistent telemarketers, this ‘call filter facility’, a first-time service in India, allows users to actually blacklist unwanted callers. Result: no disturbance, if you do not want it.

It’s almost the same as the spam blocking facility you get on emails, only that this does not screen out unwanted and pushed service messages or product promos through SMSes. It’s only for calls.

A 20-something techie captures the emotion perfectly. “Hell, I’ve waited for something like for all these years. Since I could block unsolicited email, I wanted something similar on my cellphone. The power to actually block a rogue caller is fantastic…it’s truly reassuring. For years, I’ve been spammed through voice, SMS and emails by loads of companies, pesky telemarketers and downright crank-callers. Till now, I had no option but to receive such calls and SMSs on my cellphone.”

Mr P Das, a noted yoga expert, seconds this emotion. “I’d try and block out all the calls I get from the various agencies trying to push everything from credit cards to loans to insurance products,” he asserts.

Or take the case of Varsha Sethi, who’s just into college. “It’s a good thing if one is trying to avoid a very persistent ex-boyfriend or girlfriend, or anybody who is hellbent on harassing you with constant calls. Great way to tell them to get lost!”

The flip side is equally interesting. Here’s what A senior employee in a leading financial services firm dealing in card collections feels about it: “It would be a bit of a problem if defaulters decided to block our numbers. The mobile number is always the first point of contact. While it’s true that calls are made from a series of different numbers, each employee actually has one particular number assigned to his desk. So, while blocking out one of our numbers may not be an insurmountable problem for us, it would make things more difficult.”

City fashion designer Agnimitra Paul seems caught in the vortex. “Since my designs often get published in various magazines and newspapers along with my contact details, I tend to get a lot of unwanted calls from people who are just out to bother you. I usually make use of the screen call facility to weed out persistent callers. This call blocking service should be a boon in that case,” she says.

On the other hand, she is worried to hell as well. “But what would I do if people who owe me money decide to block my number out? Damn, that will be disaster. How on earth do I get in touch with them quickly when I want to ?” she wonders. However, for the moment, the filter seems to be catching on.

“Email blocking systems were the antidote to checkmate spammers since most spam has to do with commercial advertising, often for dubious products or instant moolah schemes. Cellphone users in India have for years longed for something similar on their mobiles,” says an industry source.

Vodafone Essar’s director (marketing & new business initiatives) Harit Nagpal says, “Our call-filter solution is the only such organised service available in India today on any handset. The idea was born years ago from customer feedback, and it now truly empowers a subscriber to personally activate or de-activate a call-filtering mechanism. Our service isn’t merely aimed at keeping telemarketers on a tight leash, but is aimed at filtering person-to-person calls to ensure privacy.”

A COAI official feels that the call-filter service is perfectly in consonance with the `Do Not Disturb’ customer privacy initiative that every major service provider swears by. In fact, all frontline telecom service providers are slated to unveil variants, especially since this “organised call barring” service does not require either DoT or Trai approval, top industry circles say.