If you've got a phone - answer it.

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Bearbonesnorm
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If you've got a phone - answer it.

Post by Bearbonesnorm »

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In Reverse
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Re: If you've got a phone - answer it.

Post by In Reverse »

That's a tricky one tbh. I never answer my phone to unknown numbers. Surely they must have left a message or sent a text?
Lazarus
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Re: If you've got a phone - answer it.

Post by Lazarus »

I answer unknown numbers it's not like it's hard to hang up ( perhaps get 10 a year at most )!
AndreR
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Re: If you've got a phone - answer it.

Post by AndreR »

Is this an age thing? :grin: If I call my kids they wait for me to ring off and then message to ask what I want! I am old enough to remember party lines an how excited people got when answer phones were invented.
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Re: If you've got a phone - answer it.

Post by whitestone »

I got a couple of calls from Mauritius (I assume that the Nigerian Prince has managed to get out of the country) at something like 2am so I disabled unknown numbers.

The solutions are either for the MRTs to have public numbers that you can add to your contacts list or for those numbers to be exempt from the call blocking.
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psling
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Re: If you've got a phone - answer it.

Post by psling »

AndreR wrote: Tue Oct 26, 2021 12:43 pm Is this an age thing? :grin: If I call my kids they wait for me to ring off and then message to ask what I want!
Ha ha, this is so true! :grin:

I would most probably have my phone switched off unless I was expecting a call. Having said that, I would have rung anyone expecting my arrival by a certain time to explain the situation beforehand.
We go out into the hills to lose ourselves, not to get lost. You are only lost if you need to be somewhere else and if you really need to be somewhere else then you're probably in the wrong place to begin with.
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Re: If you've got a phone - answer it.

Post by gairym »

Not that tricky really, I'll continue to ignore unknown numbers.....unless I'm lost in the hills, close to death and hoping for rescue - then I'll answer.

(Obviously I'm being flippant but come on, it's not that hard to do one thing sometimes and another thing other times)
ScotRoutes
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Re: If you've got a phone - answer it.

Post by ScotRoutes »

gairym wrote: Tue Oct 26, 2021 3:15 pm Not that tricky really, I'll continue to ignore unknown numbers.....unless I'm lost in the hills, close to death and hoping for rescue - then I'll answer.

(Obviously I'm being flippant but come on, it's not that hard to do one thing sometimes and another thing other times)
This would be my approach too.

If I'd reported myself lost then I'd be expecting a call back from someone and so would answer.

If I was a bit delayed/behind schedule and hadn't reported myself lost then I'd be a lot less likely to, though I'd more likely accept a call from someone I knew.

In any case, if I was lost and thought I might NEED my phone to call for help, why would I drain the battery by answering some unsolicited calls?
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Re: If you've got a phone - answer it.

Post by fatbikephil »

In the sort of places I'll become lost / broken enough to need help, there won't be a phone signal....
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TheBrownDog
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Re: If you've got a phone - answer it.

Post by TheBrownDog »

Reading through the article the guy seems to know that he'd gone off track but also seemed to know how to get himself unlost. I'm pretty sure if he wasn't that confident and had a signal, he'd have got in touch with someone to ask for help.

I never answer calls from unknown numbers because they are 99% power dials from scammers wanting to tell me I owe a big tax bill and need to transfer £2000 somewhere, or that they want to talk to me about the car accident that wasn't my fault, and which never happened.
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Re: If you've got a phone - answer it.

Post by Alpinum »

I don't answer unknown numbers either. If somebody needs you to answer, they will try again or write a message.

Now I've read it... well, they seemingly have tried repeatedly. There you go.
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Re: If you've got a phone - answer it.

Post by Bearbonesnorm »

I'm asking this as someone who doesn't have a mobile ... what's so bad about answering a call from an unknown number and would you do the same on a landline?
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Re: If you've got a phone - answer it.

Post by Pirahna »

Bearbonesnorm wrote: Tue Oct 26, 2021 8:31 pm I'm asking this as someone who doesn't have a mobile
I could explain but you wouldn't understand. :cool:
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Re: If you've got a phone - answer it.

Post by Alpinum »

Bearbonesnorm wrote: Tue Oct 26, 2021 8:31 pm what's so bad about answering a call from an unknown number and would you do the same on a landline?
Nothing, just can't be arsed.
Yes.
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Re: If you've got a phone - answer it.

Post by Bearbonesnorm »

Well I think you're all mad. I answered a call just last week from a nice Nigerian lady who I've helped out securing her uncles fortune. Apparently, it was lost in a shipwreck and me sending her £2000 means that they'll be able to hire a diver to retrieve it and best of all, for helping out, she's going to send me £30,000 when they find it :-bd
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Re: If you've got a phone - answer it.

Post by belugabob »

Bearbonesnorm wrote: Tue Oct 26, 2021 8:54 pm Well I think you're all mad. I answered a call just last week from a nice Nigerian lady who I've helped out securing her uncles fortune. Apparently, it was lost in a shipwreck and me sending her £2000 means that they'll be able to hire a diver to retrieve it and best of all, for helping out, she's going to send me £30,000 when they find it :-bd
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Re: If you've got a phone - answer it.

Post by ScotRoutes »

Bearbonesnorm wrote: Tue Oct 26, 2021 8:31 pm would you do the same on a landline?
Yes. Ours has an answering machine where the caller can leave a message.

TBH, I'd happily remove the landline anyway. There's only two folk we know who call us on it. And they are both my wifes family.....
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Re: If you've got a phone - answer it.

Post by Tonto »

Why didn't the rescue service send him a text as well?
A lot of folk don't answer unknown numbers.
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Re: If you've got a phone - answer it.

Post by The Cumbrian »

Bearbonesnorm wrote: Tue Oct 26, 2021 8:54 pm Well I think you're all mad. I answered a call just last week from a nice Nigerian lady who I've helped out securing her uncles fortune. Apparently, it was lost in a shipwreck and me sending her £2000 means that they'll be able to hire a diver to retrieve it and best of all, for helping out, she's going to send me £30,000 when they find it :-bd
My favourite one was an email about a Nigerian who was the first African in space, but he was stranded on the ISS because Nigeria's space agency had gone bust and they couldn't afford to return him to Earth. He's been up there for ages and was desperate to get home, and if I helped him reactivate his account where his considerable back-pay was, he'd reward me handsomely when he returned.
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Re: If you've got a phone - answer it.

Post by Dave Barter »

Bearbonesnorm wrote: Tue Oct 26, 2021 8:54 pm Well I think you're all mad. I answered a call just last week from a nice Nigerian lady who I've helped out securing her uncles fortune. Apparently, it was lost in a shipwreck and me sending her £2000 means that they'll be able to hire a diver to retrieve it and best of all, for helping out, she's going to send me £30,000 when they find it :-bd
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AndreR
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Re: If you've got a phone - answer it.

Post by AndreR »

Dave Barter wrote: Wed Oct 27, 2021 8:07 am
Bearbonesnorm wrote: Tue Oct 26, 2021 8:54 pm Well I think you're all mad. I answered a call just last week from a nice Nigerian lady who I've helped out securing her uncles fortune. Apparently, it was lost in a shipwreck and me sending her £2000 means that they'll be able to hire a diver to retrieve it and best of all, for helping out, she's going to send me £30,000 when they find it :-bd
It wasn’t in the sea of Muff was it?
:lol:
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Re: If you've got a phone - answer it.

Post by Lazarus »

.why would I drain the battery by answering some unsolicited calls
You are waiting to be rescues dnd it's one call and I doubt you will stay on that long to drain.
Find it odd you have a phone but won't really use it. IME hospitals say private number and don't leave a number to call back on for example.
I find the refusal to use a phone quite odd..at least a few calls a year from unknown numbers are useful.
Edit school is another one that says private number and cannot text me. Tbh it takes more time(and battery) to listen to a message than take the call
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Re: If you've got a phone - answer it.

Post by whitestone »

In this instance the individual hadn't called out MRT and wasn't aware that anyone was looking for him so the calls were just "unknown". From the article we don't know if they had informed their hotel of a return time, if they had then personally I would assume that such calls might be someone checking on me.

Also, how did MRT have his number? From the hotel, a relative? Why weren't they trying to contact him then at least it would be from a known number.

As I noted in my previous reply there needs to be a means of providing local MRT numbers that can be added to your contacts list or for them not to be blocked in the same way that emergency numbers (999 911, etc.) are still accessible on a "locked" phone. I've never taken a call from emergency services so don't know if it would appear as "999"
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Re: If you've got a phone - answer it.

Post by ScotRoutes »

Lazarus wrote: Thu Oct 28, 2021 8:38 am
.why would I drain the battery by answering some unsolicited calls
You are waiting to be rescues dnd it's one call and I doubt you will stay on that long to drain.
If I was waiting to be rescued then of course I'd answer. In the scenario linked, he wasn't waiting to be rescued. He had no idea he'd been reported as overdue.
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Re: If you've got a phone - answer it.

Post by Lazarus »

. my previous reply there needs to be a means of providing local MRT numbers that can be added to your contacts list or for them not to be blocked
Or you could just answer/not block numbers which is an extremely simple solution to the problem which is created by your decision ( no offence meant there ).
I still don't get why you all won't answer your phone it's 10 seconds then hang up if its pointless/spam.
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