Verizon’s new neighborhood filter blocks the worst kind of spam calls

Slowly but surely, carriers are giving us the tools we need to fight spam calls. Earlier this week, Verizon added a new filter to the Call Filter app to specifically combat neighborhood spoofing calls. These are the phone calls you get from numbers with the same area code and prefix as your own number. Starting this week, Verizon customers can now turn on a Neighborhood Filter to automatically silence these calls and send them straight to voicemail.

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How to use Verizon’s Neighborhood Filter

As Verizon explains on its website, the Neighborhood Filter is available to Call Filter Free and Call Filter Plus customers. You can find it on the Call Filter app under Block Filters in the Management section. Free users are able to add up to five other neighborhood entries in addition to their own. Meanwhile, Plus users can add up to ten extra entries. If you want more detailed instructions on how to use the feature, Verizon put together separate guides for iOS and Android.

Before you activate the feature, it’s worth noting that the neighborhood filter will block every call that falls within that neighborhood. This includes legitimate calls. The only calls that will make it through to you are those from phone numbers that are saved in your contacts.

If the neighborhood filter blocks a call you want to receive, you can select “Ignore Filter” in the post-call details in the app. If you get another call from that number, Call Filter will let it through. You can remove filters in the Other Filters section of the Block Management page.

Call Filter is free to download, but Verizon does offer a $2.99 subscription for Call Filter Plus. If you do pay, you’ll get Caller Name ID, Spam LookUp, Personal Block List, and Spam Risk Meter. Thankfully, as long as you’re on Verizon, you can use the neighborhood filter.

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