Anonymous call rejection

Posts: 34 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Dec 14, 2005 Posts: 34

I've been a Vonage customer for a year now and have been pleased with the service...especially the price. I had MCI before Vonage. MCI had ACR. I liked that option and want it with Vonage.

When the "PRIVATE CALLER" message appears on the phone screen now, I think twice before picking it up and letting it go to voicemail. I'd like Vonage to have an option to send these calls directly to voicemail with a message to the person making the call that they will have to disable their caller ID block in order to place a call to this phone.

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Dec 17, 2005 Posts: 1

Two options to handle the missing ACR feature:

1: Record the "anti-telemarketer" tone into your voicemail

I used to have the item in-line with my phone....Can't remeber the name of it but I know they have it at Radio Shack, Walmart, etc. Something like the "TeleZapper??". It works. You can put it in-line with your Vonage device or record the tones directly into your outgoing message in voicemail. (it works by playing certain tones before the call gets to you) Tones can be downloaded off the net. Google for "TeleZapper tones" or something similar. ALL my telemarketing call dropped rapidly after using this device.

2: Option 2: I use a product called CallStation on my PC. It is my primary voicemail and leaves Vonage as my seconday voicemail. I don't like call waiting so I turn it off...but I don't want to miss a call either...so if I am on the phone...Vonage picks up the voicemail and if I am not....Callstation does. Anyway, Callstation is $30 and comes with a TON of features including customizing message based on call-id, zapping unwanted callers (known, anonymous, private, anybody), grettings and behavior of the system based on a schedule, etc. Well worth the money. Again....I'm not awake yet so I don't know the URL but Google CallStation and it will take you to the site. There is a 30-day free trial. Just need a modem with Caller-id capable. I use a Zoom External modem plugged into my serial port and the Vonage device.

P.S. Callstation also announces callers via speech engine so you don't have to drop what your doing or even look at the phone. When a call comes in...just listen and Callstation tells you who it is.

Thanks.

PocketCD

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: Dec 25, 2005 Posts: 4

[quote="j-card"]

kaczocht wrote:

Mobile phone companies can't even triangulate your location from your mobile phone!

If that was the case T-Mobile would be out of business, because that is the way T-Mobile implimented E911.

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Dec 27, 2005 Posts: 1

Its almost Jan 1, 2006. Where is this call rejection feature? I had it years ago on my ISDN line. It sure was nice.

I've have a few crazy people trying to call at all hours. Something like this would be REAL nice. Nice enough to find a provider that does offer this service.

Posts: 26 · Vonage Forum Junior Joined: Aug 11, 2005 Posts: 26

My solution for ACR/call filtering solution has been to buy a Sipura 3000 (the kind with the POTS line-in port) and set up Asterisk@Home on an old PIII I had. My Vonage ATA's (Cisco) line 1 port plugs into the Sipura.

A very extreme setup that won't appeal to 99.99% of the Vonage users for sure, but I can't tell you how nice it is to be able to route any call anywhere I want. It's unfortunate that Vonage hasn't been able to get this out sooner and they may lose me. I've been trying out Telasip, a featureless provider that simply offers carrier access primarily to business, but now residential customers. They are much cheaper plus they allow simultaneous calls, and by using Asterisk you can add as many features as your creativity permits. I'll wait another month or two to see how reliable they are, but If they can port my number and Vonage still has their feature-freeze in place, I will likely switch. It will be a tough decision though, overall Vonage has been a great provider.

Posts: 2 · New Forum Member Joined: Dec 26, 2005 Posts: 2

I'm really interested in this feature! I hope it comes out soon!

Posts: 85 · Posted: Sat Dec 31, 2005 1:54 am Post subject:

It would be nice to have but I am not going to leave Vonage and go elsewhere because in my experience, the less expensive companies out there have worst sound quality. I would rather have clear phone calls than ACR anyday.

Posts: 5 · New Forum Member Joined: Jun 10, 2005 Posts: 5

I'm discovering that competing companies are offering this feature. Six months later, No ACR in sight. I guess I'm going to have to make a move. Sorry Vonage... Your lack of responsiveness in this area is going to cost you customers.

Posts: 188 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: Mar 07, 2004 Posts: 188

70x7 wrote:

I'm discovering that competing companies are offering this feature. Six months later, No ACR in sight. I guess I'm going to have to make a move. Sorry Vonage... Your lack of responsiveness in this area is going to cost you customers.

Sometimes you just have to let your money talk for you. I love my Vonage service with the exception of the lack of ACR. Hopefully, if more people like you speak out by dropping their accounts then things might change for the better. Good luck with your change.

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Jan 03, 2006 Posts: 1

I just switched from AOL Totaltalk to Vonage (500min plan) to save some money since I dont uses my home phone very much but im going to have to cancel since number blocking hasnt been implemented at Vonage. On the Totaltalk service I could block any number and all anony/calleridblock callers. It even replied to them with "Sorry you number has been blocked from calling because of "X", Goodbye"