A Regina man and his wife want SaskTel to get with the times after they were told by the provider on Wednesday that they couldn't block a number that was repeatedly prank calling them on their cellphone.

Jason Powell says a representative from SaskTel told him if his wife, Crystal, had a home phone, the number could have been blocked by dialing *57 or Call Trace — a service that records the callers number and sends it to police.

iPhones and smartphones gives users the option to block calls. The only problem is that doesn't stop the call from going to voicemail. To make the problem worse, Powell said under their phone plan, SaskTel charges them every time his wife checks her voicemail.

SaskTel responds

CBC Saskatchewan reached out to SaskTel to find out what services they offer their customers to block unwanted calls. They replied by email with a link to one of their support pages.

The page lists a number of options for reducing unwanted calls but the majority only apply to home and business lines. The one option that did work for cellphones was not a service provided by SaskTel. If you have wireless number, the SaskTel pages say there are a number of apps users can download that will let them block a number. It also says some phones have the feature built in. It then provides how-to links, one for an iPhone, another for other smartphones.

The page also says you can report harassing calls received on a wireless phone. But when you click on the link it says call trace won't work for cell phones.

SaskTel doesn't have a service in place to block unwanted calls for cell phones despite the fact that a growing number of Canadians no longer have a land line. In June 2014, Statistics Canada reported that more than 20 per cent of Canadian households have cell phones as their only form of telephone service.

The last straw

Powell's wife blocked the number on her iPhone after Powell said a group of kids called her phone for the third time. The kids called her again and their call went to voicemail. The kids then left a voicemail where Powell says they told his wife "to basically f-off". That's when they called SaskTel.

Powell says the representative he spoke with suggested he cancel his voicemail. This really annoyed Powell.

"I mean they are my service provider so why can't they block a call from calling me, right?"

Facebook user helps to locate caller

Powell turned to Twitter and Facebook to voice his frustration. Another user commented on his posts with a link to the profile of the person with the number that was calling him. Powell said the profile was of a man.

"I think somebody's been borrowing their parents cell phone and making prank calls and they don't know about it yet," Powell said.

Since the voicemail on Wednesday, Powell said his wife hasn't received any more calls from the number.