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Call Screening

Call Screening asks callers to identify themselves before your phone rings, so you know who is calling and can decide whether to take the call. It is a lighter-touch alternative to Call Blocking: instead of rejecting calls outright, you add a short “who’s calling?” step, which is especially effective against robocalls and anonymous callers that will not stay on the line to record a name.

Screening rules are defined once and then turned on or off as needed, and - like blocking - calls with a caller ID and calls without one are handled separately.

Calls with a caller ID

You can require that these callers announce themselves (record their name) before the call is put through. You can also enter a list of caller IDs to exclude from screening - for example family, key customers, or colleagues you never want to slow down with an announcement prompt.

Calls without a caller ID

For calls that arrive with no caller ID, you can require the caller to announce themselves and/or enter their caller ID before the call rings your phone. This filters out automated diallers that cannot complete the prompt.

Screening with Find Me / Follow Me

Call Screening works alongside Find Me / Follow Me. If you want to hear a caller’s recorded announcement even when a call is being forwarded to another number, check Play caller announcement while in follow-me mode. This lets you decide whether to accept a forwarded call before you are connected.

Tips

  • Exclude the numbers you always want to reach you quickly so trusted callers are never delayed by the announcement.
  • Combine screening with Find Me / Follow Me so you can accept or reject calls that ring your mobile or other numbers.
  • Enter your screening rules once and use Enable / Disable to switch screening on and off as needed.

Call Screening applies to calls to your office phone extension, not to direct calls from other Thirdlane Connect users.