Everyday we get a few unsolicited calls and messages from various companies. It’s extremely irritating having to constantly pick up the phone with every beep only to realise it’s just a waste of time.

Most of us have faced these issues and have registered to DND (Do Not Disturb Registry). We hope that this would reduce the number of calls and messages, but somehow we still get them!

What is DND?

DND (Do No Disturb) is an initiative by TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) to protect telecom consumers from unsolicited calls and messages. This has to be activated through your mobile service provider i.e. Airtel, Vodafone, Jio, etc.

TRAI would also like the consumer to complain, by sending the number of the spam call or the message contents to them so that they can take action. Initially this process was extremely cumbersome and hence was just not done.

How Do I Complain to TRAI?

Finally, after a lot of issues, TRAI has come out with a mobile app called TRAI DND (it’s not perfect, but it’s a start).

   

Once you’ve downloaded the app, it’s quite simple.

For iOS Users:

Simply follow the prompts. Selecting “No Calls & SMS” only blocks unsolicited calls & SMS and does not block your bank service calls or SMS OTPs (One Time Passwords).

 

 

For Android Users:

Points to remember

1. This app is not perfect! The more it is used, the better it will get.
2. Calls & messages up to 3 days old can be reported. Anything older will be rejected.
3. For each call or SMS reported you will get a call from your mobile service provider confirming your complaint has been registered and forwarded to TRAI. This means if you report 10 messages you will get 10 calls to confirm each instance (quite irritating, but that’s the system at present). I simply ignore these calls.

Does It Work?

I’ve used the app for a month now and have reported over 100 messages and calls. I must say, the daily spam messages have reduced!

What do I do now?

Download the app and report a few calls & messages!