Ofcom's advice on your next step

Problems with your landline phone -
Privacy issues - nuisance and sales calls and faxes

When the phone rings and you pick up the receiver to hear silence at the other end, most people understandably fear the worst. Silent calls can be very frightening, particularly for people who live alone.

In the vast majority of cases, these silent calls are not made by pranksters, burglars or stalkers. In fact they’re simply the work of a machine, called a predictive dialler, used by call centres to phone large numbers of people in one go.

Predictive diallers are used by telemarketing firms (who phone people up to try to persuade them to buy products or services), by market research firms, by debt collection agencies and many other types of company. They work by dialling telephone numbers automatically, then connecting the customer to a call centre agent as soon as the customer answers the phone. Unfortunately, if all the call centre agents are busy when the customer answers the phone, there’s nobody free at the other end of the line when the customer picks up the receiver. So as a result, the customer simply hears silence - and can be concerned or frightened as a result.

Even if people know there is nothing to fear, the fact remains that silent calls are very disruptive and irritating. They can also be illegal, particularly if a company is making large numbers of silent calls. Ofcom is determined to take action against companies who break the law.

On 1 March 2006 Ofcom announced new measures to help protect people from silent calls. The new rules have been put in place to ensure companies who use automated calling systems use them responsibly. Ofcom’s aim is to significantly reduce the total number of silent calls and to enable people to clearly identify the source of any silent call that they receive.

For more details on the new rules please visit: http://www.ofcom.org.uk/media/news/2006/03/nr_20060301.