Try out Anonymous Call Block & Do Not Disturb

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: May 23, 2007 Posts: 1

VRon wrote:

Vonage Forum Members,

We know that many of you on this forum have been looking forward to Vonage releasing Anonymous Call Blocking and Do Not Disturb. We are planning on officially launching these services in the near future, but would like to give the members of Vonage-Forum.com an advance look at these features.

So, what do you need to do? Not a thing, you can try both ACB and DND with your current Vonage phone line right now (US & Canada only) .

Simply dial *77 from your Vonage phone to turn on “Anonymous Call Block,” *87 to turn it off.

Simply dial *78 from your Vonage phone to turn on “Do Not Disturb,” *79 to turn it off.

I hope you like these features and stay tuned as we continue to launch new features and services.

- Vonage Marketing.

What I'd really like to see is the ability to set "Do Not Disturb" windows from the web interface, e.g., "Do Not Disturb" starting at 12:00 am eastern time and going thru to 7:00 am eastern time, at which point it turns off. Kind of like the functionality that many routers have to block/allow access at certain times.

Posts: 13 · Posted: Wed May 23, 2007 11:57 am Post subject:

jgmiller wrote:

We've got Anonymous Call Blocking set on a couple of our Vonage lines, but we're still getting calls with an ID of "Anonymous" or "Unknown".

What's the deal? Is it the "Unknown"?

LOL -- that's nothing..... I get calls from people that sometimes show thier numbers and sometimes doesn't and comes back saying "unkown" for the ID. A roll of the dice for me.

Vonage's caller ID system really **** as far as I am concerned. And that's not the only thing they suck at.... Say you are getting threatening calls..... landline phone companies have a system setup for that, EG; *78 for our local landline, which notifies the phone company to initiate a trace and inform the local police of the call. Vonage has nothing like that. You can't even get a phone trap done when you have a police report number as well. Our local 911 office even complains because their E911 system rarely gets the correct info from Vonage and sometimes don't even get the info.

After all the years Vonage has been in business they still feel like Ma Bell at birth using copper wires and local switchboards to make and receive calls.

Posts: 10 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Apr 21, 2007 Posts: 10

sgrayban wrote:

jgmiller wrote:

We've got Anonymous Call Blocking set on a couple of our Vonage lines, but we're still getting calls with an ID of "Anonymous" or "Unknown".

What's the deal? Is it the "Unknown"?

LOL -- that's nothing..... I get calls from people that sometimes show thier numbers and sometimes doesn't and comes back saying "unkown" for the ID. A roll of the dice for me.

Vonage's caller ID system really **** as far as I am concerned. And that's not the only thing they suck at.... Say you are getting threatening calls..... landline phone companies have a system setup for that, EG; *78 for our local landline, which notifies the phone company to initiate a trace and inform the local police of the call. Vonage has nothing like that. You can't even get a phone trap done when you have a police report number as well. Our local 911 office even complains because their E911 system rarely gets the correct info from Vonage and sometimes don't even get the info.

After all the years Vonage has been in business they still feel like Ma Bell at birth using copper wires and local switchboards to make and receive calls.

That's not the topic of this thread. The thread on on Anonymous Block and DND. My question was "is Anonymous block not working because they've labeled themselves as 'Unknown'".

Vonage works great for me and we have 4 lines + fax.

Posts: 3 · New Forum Member Joined: May 06, 2007 Posts: 3

I tried the private call blocking when it was first announced and it did not work for me. I tried again tonight after receiving the email from Vonage saying the service was active and it still does not work. I am trying from my cell phone which has permanent outgoing privacy/blocking and it just rings and rings. I tried cycling the power on my PAP2 with the same result. Anyone have a similar problem?

Posts: 35 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: May 27, 2007 Posts: 35

the ACR service needs to be activated by dialing *77. don't be surprised if calls will go to voicemail if you configure both DND and ACR. here the explanation:

Hierarchy of features is as follows:

1. Network Availability (if you have this enabled, calls will go to the preconfigured number even if ACR and DND are enabled)

2. Do Not Disturb (if enabled, calls will go to voicemail directly whether ACR is enabled or disabled)

3. Anonymous Call Block (if DND is disabled and ACR is enabled, anonymous calls will be rejected. there is just one flaw. calls that will be blocked are calls tagged as anonymous, private, private number, private name, withheld. calls tagged as UNKNOWN are not blocked.

4. Call Forwarding (including simulring and call hunt)
5. Voicemail

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: May 29, 2007 Posts: 1

Hi All,
A colleauge of mine got an email last friday 5/25 stating ACB is now available. I checked out the website and sure enough it is. Just dial *77 and it will walk you through activation. However, it does not work, well the activation works and if I dial *77 now it will tell me it is active on my line. But if I call and and block my number the call goes though and my phone rings?!

I logged a ticket with support they told me it will be fixed in 48 hours. As of yesterday it was not fixed, called back and they agent told the ticket was completed as the problem has been fixed. However, it is not and she re-opened the ticket supposedly.

Posts: 114

anothernut wrote:

What I'd really like to see is the ability to set "Do Not Disturb" windows from the web interface, e.g., "Do Not Disturb" starting at 12:00 am eastern time and going thru to 7:00 am eastern time, at which point it turns off. Kind of like the functionality that many routers have to block/allow access at certain times.

Exactly. This is one of the reasons I decided to leave Vonage for another un-named Voip provider. I have my DND set to 10pm - 8:30am, and also have punched through certain phone numbers to bypass the DND, such as my alarm company and direct relatives.

Another beautiful thing is ACR, but still allow them to punch in their phone number and continue the call. This prevents telemarkters from getting through (since they almost never have a physical phone).

I also get an email alert whenever any restriction is triggered.

I love having choices in the Voip space.

-Craig

Posts: 67 · Posted: Thu May 31, 2007 12:50 pm Post subject:

I received the email yesterday announcing the new feature. Works great!!! Have been waiting 2 - 1/2 years for it to arrive!

Posts: 176 · Posted: Thu May 31, 2007 1:43 pm Post subject:

I have had ACR turned on since it was announced here, and I just got a Blocked or Private Caller with the number ----------. They even left a message on my answering machine. **** it doesn't work. Just called *77 and it tells me it is enabled on my phone....Guess enabled means something different to Vonage.

Posts: 533

anothernut wrote:

What I'd really like to see is the ability to set "Do Not Disturb" windows from the web interface, e.g., "Do Not Disturb" starting at 12:00 am eastern time and going thru to 7:00 am eastern time, at which point it turns off. Kind of like the functionality that many routers have to block/allow access at certain times.

Yes, and a whitelist to bypass the DND.