You work at home. To Block or Not to Block... That is the Question.

By Audreena Anderson

You work at home or have your own home business. Privacy is important to you. Should you block callers that don’t give their name and number from getting through to you? Should you block your number from being given out when you place a call?

Let’s deal with blocking callers that don’t
give their name and number first...

If the phone line in question is a sales line of any sort… any sort of line that a customer or prospective customer might call, you should NOT block calls unless you want to limit your business, even slightly. If you are reluctant to answer calls that won’t give their name and number, consider the option of allowing those calls to go to voicemail and then returning their call (they will have to give their number if they want you to call them back), or acquiring an additional phone line that is not your regular, secure line and using that for business purposes exclusively. You can still put the blocker on your personal line, which I do recommend. If your phone line has absolutely to do with customers or prospective customers (be careful, such a work-related phone line is rare), go ahead and place a blocker on it if you wish.

About blocking your phone number
from being displayed on Caller ID…

Again, you should have a telephone line that is used for work exclusively that you don’t mind giving out for work-related calls. If you try to use your personal phone for your work at home job or home business, you may be tempted to block it. If you block it you will be inevitably be forced to remove the block to place certain calls that have blocked you, in which case you will pierce your own security and peace of mind anyway. On your personal line, go ahead and put the block on, but understand that you will madden your friends and family who won’t be able to see who’s calling them when you call. After awhile, they’ll get to know you as “Unidentified Caller”.

Remember that anytime you call an 800 number, your number is captured, and I do mean captured as in it will never be set free again. At the other end of some 800 numbers they can even see your house on the computer monitor while your call is coming in, and view other personal information about you while your call is coming in.

If you work at home or have a home business, one of your favorite friends may be the new Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) phone services, such as Vonage. You can get cool voicemail services, unique rings, number blocks, and even new phone numbers for really low prices, and totally customize your work at home job or home business’s communications system.

My job in advertising requires considerable phone contact with sales reps at various advertising outlets. Some of them also work at home. If I try to call them from my personal (blocked) line, I can’t even call to give them an order. It’s very unprofessional. They should have an un-blocked line for business calls. Once, I had to fax a sales rep’s boss because the sales rep’s fax machine (and my fax machine) both had blocks… I couldn’t fax her and she couldn’t receive my fax.

The blocks are GREAT and I highly recommend them and use them myself. You have to these days to have any measure of privacy and peace and quiet at home. But in your job or business, communications should be professional, easy and efficient. Find a way to eliminate the block and still maintain your personal security. It can be done with the tips in this article.