Help! Landline phone calling cellphone number by itself

Forums › Spark New Zealand (including Skinny and BigPipe) › Help! Landline phone calling cellphone number by itself

Kt3325

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#201869 7-Sep-2016 22:18

For the last 3 months 'the phone' has been calling a specific cellphone number 4-5 times a day.
After speaking with the owner of the number, he has acknowledged receiving the calls and says they sound like a fax machine calling.

The following is attached to the landline:
x3 phones - x2 cordless with built in answering machine (they're a set) and x1 corded.
x1 monitored medic alert

There is a house alarm but it is not monitored.

I have spoken with Spark. They have ruled out faults on the line.
I have spoken to Chubb for monitored medic alert. All ok there.

Spark suggested perhaps it's a setting on the cordless phone that's causing the problem?

Has anyone heard of this happening before or do you have any ideas of what could be causing this?

GregV

928 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1625303 7-Sep-2016 22:30

Have you determined that the call is originating from your house, or has the owner of the cellphone contacted you after seeing 'your' number displayed on their caller ID?

tardtasticx

3075 posts

Uber Geek

#1625304 7-Sep-2016 22:32

Remove all the phones, plug one back in. Use it like that for a day and see if the issue pops up. Keep going until all phones tested. Hopefully you'll have one phone plugged in and no outgoing random calls, so you'll know one of the other two phones is causing the problem.

If that doesn't pin point an issue try to remove all phones leaving only medic alert thing plugged in. If the issue still happens, try removing medic alert for a day if possible.

The person who's apparently receiving the fax like calls, how have they not contact you/their service provider already? If I were getting 5 nuisance calls a day I'd be fuming haha
Did they mention if it was your number showing up on caller ID? Also, is there any pattern with the calls such as every 4 or 6 hours for example that could suggest it's trying to send some sort of regular status message or something?

Kt3325

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1625305 7-Sep-2016 22:38

A high phone bill prompted a thorough check of the call log on phone bill.
It was here we noticed the frequent calls to the cellphone number.
We called the number to see if we knew who it was.

andrewNZ

2487 posts

Uber Geek
Inactive user

#1625306 7-Sep-2016 22:45

The house alarm could still have a dialer even though its not monitored.

Kt3325

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1625309 7-Sep-2016 22:54

Tardtasticx

Thanks and yes I think process of elimination is the best next step.
All good questions, but none I have answers for! Thanks for the ideas :)

Kt3325

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1625310 7-Sep-2016 22:57

AndrewNZ

Thanks, I'll put it back on the list of possible suspects.

coffeebaron

6235 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Lifetime subscriber

#1625316 7-Sep-2016 23:15

Alarm dialer would be my pick.

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Wheelbarrow01

1726 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Chorus

#1625389 8-Sep-2016 08:42

Hi @Kt3325,

Can you please PM me with your account details and the phone number you are having this issue with? I will check our provisioning system and make sure there are no additional features set up that shouldn't be.

I suspect there could be a simultaneous ring option set up, or possibly a call diversion on no reply. Happy to check it out for you.

Thanks,

Simon

The views expressed by me are not necessarily those of my employer Chorus NZ Ltd

Kt3325

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1640777 26-Sep-2016 15:59

Thank you everyone for your help. Problem was the alarm dialer.

Special thanks to Wheelbarrow01 for being a downright super star and going out of his way to help.

You're the best!

kiwifidget

"Cookie"
3425 posts

Uber Geek

Lifetime subscriber

#1640781 26-Sep-2016 16:07

The irony being that the person getting the calls probably setup the alarm.

That is what happened to us when we moved into our house 6 years ago.

The previous house owner had setup the alarm to call his cellphone. Didn't unset it when he moved out.

He actually rang us and got really agro about us prank calling him.

Once I worked out what was happening he had to eat a generous serving of humble pie, and apologise for threatening me.

Delete cookies?! Are you insane?!

Kt3325

6 posts

Wannabe Geek

#1640812 26-Sep-2016 16:29

Haha well my case is similar except it involves my forgetful 86yr old Granddad who had arranged for the alarm to call his cellphone then changed his cellphone number earlier this year! Forehead slap.