Don't text me. Really, don't.

June 10, 2011 9:07 AM

How can I block a certain number from texting my phone?

There's someone in my life (out of my life?) that I no longer wish to receive text messages from. This person has not honored my repeated requests not to contact me. It's not the sort of situation that requires a restraining order -- just painful/annoying for me to hear from him. I've deleted him from my contacts but (I've googled) there doesn't seem to be a way to block his texts. Is that true? Can any mefites suggest a work-around?

I'm on Sprint with a Blackberry Style.

posted by sideofwry to technology (12 answers total)

give Sprint a call. They should be able to disable the harasser's phone number from reaching your phone.
posted by royalsong at 9:14 AM on June 10, 2011

I'm not sure about texts, but since I set up Google Voice to take over my voicemail, I've blocked a few numbers from calling me, even though they were calling my (Sprint) number directly. (This is even before the full Google/Sprint integration was a possibility.)
posted by cobaltnine at 9:21 AM on June 10, 2011

If the texts can't be blocked, at least add a contact back in for the phone number with the name 'IGNORE ME' or somesuch.
posted by fuzzygerdes at 9:23 AM on June 10, 2011 [2 favorites]

Log into your Sprint account. There may be a black list available. With my Virgin Mobile account, I can block up to 10 numbers.
posted by COD at 9:25 AM on June 10, 2011

Last year I had the same problem and posted here for help. Att doesn't provide blocking for my phone, but I hope you get luckier with your provider!

Check around for 3rd party solutions if your provider can't block texts for you. I convinced my stalker that I had changed my phone number by signing up for a free voicemail service that allowed me to assign outgoing messages to individual phone numbers. In stalker's case, I assigned a "this number has been disconnected" message. Then when I got a new phone, I didn't set up the voice mail box, further continuing the ruse.

Although the trick worked and kept me from having to change my phone number (because why continue to call or text a number that's no longer in service, right?) the downside is I'm still careful about picking up blocked calls and right now I don't have a vm. To me, it's worth it.

That book metafilter recommends, The Gift of Fear, says that you must not reply or acknowledge the harassment in any way. If you phone or text back this person after the 200th annoying text they've sent, then you've just taught your harasser it takes 200 texts to get your attention.

If you simply delete the texts as they arrive, well, most people will stop after a few weeks or months without any response from you. My stalker used to contact me once month or so for over 3 years, so obviously I finally had to consider changing my number, or at least making it look that way.

I hope my experience gives you a few good ideas and you find a solution soon.
posted by jbenben at 9:55 AM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]

That book metafilter recommends, The Gift of Fear, says that you must not reply or acknowledge the harassment in any way. If you phone or text back this person after the 200th annoying text they've sent, then you've just taught your harasser it takes 200 texts to get your attention.

The extinction burst. Very important that you do not respond.

This thread, the first response, has a simple quick thing to try: http://community.sprint.com/baw/thread/28964 I'm curious if that'll work.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 10:07 AM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]

My son had a texting problem, Sprint took care of it.
posted by JohnE at 10:24 AM on June 10, 2011

Att doesn't provide blocking for my phone

They don't have this as an user-controllable feature...although I've had luck calling ATT's technical support to have numbers blocked before. Might be worth a try with Sprint as others have suggested.
posted by samsara at 11:04 AM on June 10, 2011

I'm confused - I have AT&T and they provide blocking for texts, calls. etc. Here's the info on using Smart Limits for Wireless.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 11:42 AM on June 10, 2011

This sprint support page has all the block and allow commands you could possibly want.

Text "block 5555555555" to 9999 where 5555555555 is really the number you want to block.
posted by papayaninja at 11:47 AM on June 10, 2011 [1 favorite]

Apologies, I misread. Here's a list of commands you can use to block text messages (and other things) using Sprint. Here's another set of instructions, too.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 11:52 AM on June 10, 2011

And here's a third-party software solution.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 11:57 AM on June 10, 2011