Block Incoming numbers

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Jun 11, 2006 Posts: 1

I too would like this feature as for some reason unknown to me I get calls from "DIR ASST HI" 18085551212 in the middle of the night and if I do answer the call the caller hangs up. This is very annoying and happens every few months. I got 3 calls yesterday from them.

My guess is this is caused by broadvoice but I may be wrong. I left broadvoice in 2005 for vonage because of very poor QOS with broadvoice (outages, poor quality and dropped calls were the norm). Anyways I took my number with me to vonage. A few months later I started getting calls that were apparently to a new broadvoice customers who was assigned my same number on their side. This would happen every few weeks. And and every time the customer ended up talking to me (when they expected to get their voicemail) and I told them to drop their broadvoice service and go to vonage... Anyways eventually this became too annoying so I contacted broadvoice to tell them to get my number out of their database. They told me I was in violation of some agreement I signed and that it was their right to keep the number. I eventually gave up on perusing that and I continued to tell their customers how even more inept their company is. It has been a very long time since I have gotten any calls in this manner so maybe this is solved.

Posts: 11 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Apr 16, 2005 Posts: 11

I'm assuming this feature still has not been implemented? I virtually never use my Vongae line so I know if it does ring, it's either a wrong number or a political call.

For the past month, I've been getting calls from "Citibank" at least five times each day. I've answered it twice and no one responded. Very annoying. I'd like to be able to block this number!

Tipsy

Posts: 13 · Posted: Thu May 15, 2008 11:42 pm Post subject: Phone Tray

I use a neat little program called Phone Tray (www.traysoft.com) It uses the caller ID from Vonage and directs the number to the message of your choice. I love it! It keeps a log and is very simple to use and hasn't slowed my system down at all.

Try it out! The free version is great and I donated because it has really been helpful to me.

Posts: 11 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Apr 16, 2005 Posts: 11

homedesign wrote:

I use a neat little program called Phone Tray (www.traysoft.com) It uses the caller ID from Vonage and directs the number to the message of your choice. I love it! It keeps a log and is very simple to use and hasn't slowed my system down at all.

Try it out! The free version is great and I donated because it has really been helpful to me.

Thanks for the recommendation.

I just tried Phone Tray Free but I don't have a regular dial-up modem in my machine which is apparently required for this program to function properly.

Tipsy

Posts: 5 · Posted: Sun May 18, 2008 9:00 pm Post subject: Do not disturb

tommy13v wrote:

I do this with asterisk. I put the phone number in of the person I dont want them to call and it forwards it to a message that says "Please Stop Calling"

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We already have that feature *78 Or on my Uniden cordless phone I have a button I press DND. Lol

Posts: 1 · Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 10:06 am Post subject:

Just add this feature and I will be 100% satisfied customer. Or give me the API and I will have some Ukrainian hackers program it for me and give it away for free. Which I might do anyway I need this so bad.

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Jun 14, 2008 Posts: 1

I think if Vonage would allow call blocking for inbound and outbound, it would be a definate benefit to the company, and it would definately keep me happier

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 04, 2008 Posts: 1

Keeping getting those annoying calls. And i should be able to block certain numbers!! I don't want telemarketers or automated phone calls every now and then! Why is this?! This thread post has been there since 2005! 3 years and Vonage didn't act on it!!! What a bad example.. what a bad service.. what a bad company.. i will be looking for an alternative solution with another provider! It's very bad vonage.. i am extremely disappointed!!!

Posts: 19 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Sep 07, 2008 Posts: 19

Everyone, the solution is very simple. It doesn't matter what phone company you are using (Vonage, Verizon, AOL, or whatever). The way to do it is in the phone itself. Most phones you buy today will have the Call Block feature already in the phone (check the user's manual before purchasing). Myself, I've just purchased the Panasonic KX-TG9334 cordless phone (although it is also available with all of the KX-TG93-- series). It is very easy to enter the numbers you want blocked. The blocked caller will receive a busy signal. I've already done it for a few numbers and it works fine. And the good thing is that if you change phone companies, the numbers will still stay blocked as long as you still use the same phone. The only problem with my particular Panasonic model is that you can only block a maximum of 20 phone numbers. For me that's not an issue..yet. Perhaps other models will allow more. Also, if the blocked number does try calling you, you will sometimes hear the phone ring at least once before disconnecting the caller. This is still better than nothing.

Another great feature this phone has is called Night Mode. You can set the time for which your phone will not accept any calls. This is to prevent the phone ringing in the middle of the night when you're sleeping. I haven't tried this feature out yet so I'm not sure if the phone will still ring once like the Call Block feature sometimes does. In any event, having this feature is definitely better than have a phone ringing all night long.

So if you want these features & your phone doesn't already have it, you will most likely have to purchase a new phone that has it. By reading some of the comments in this thread, it sounds like it would be a good investment for some people. Again, many of today's phones have these features (the model that I mentioned has it). You can research the internet or ask to see the user's manual before purchasing.

If you've hardwired your Vonage to your internal phone line, then all you need is one phone with these features for it to work, rather than buying an entire set. A model with 1 phone that I know for sure has the features is the Panasonic KX-TG9331. If you didn't hardwire your Vonage to your phone line & are using a set of cordless phones sharing a single base unit (which don't have the features), then you can find out if you can buy an extension handset that does have the features. If you can't, then you'll probably have to buy an entire set. Like I said, it's worth the investment if you really want the Call Block & Night Mode features.

Anyway it's amazing how many phone features people look to their providers for but are actually available in the phone itself!

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: Aug 28, 2008 Posts: 4

The things we take for granted. Lyrics to a certain song come to mind, "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone?" I was exuberant with the cost savings, features, etc, when I switched my landline from AT&T to Vonage. That feeling turned bittersweet when I began receiving unwanted calls. Mind you, I have no problem simply not answering calls marked private, N/A, unknown and out of area, just like I don't answer the door when unwelcome persons ring the door bell even though it's obvious that I'm home. It's just irritating; that's when I really missed PacBell/AT&T! When Vonage added ACR, I thought there was hope for call blocking. Meanwhile, I thank God for discovering this forum, for without it I wouldn't have found out about Phone Tray! I feel like petitioning the Church to canonize the inventor. Many thanks to the member who posted the info.

Like me, you too can enter the land of freedom from unwanted calls easily AND cheaply. You don't even have to purchase new phones! First, I downloaded Phone Tray Free software and was ready to cross into nirvana. Then I discovered that my computer's internal modem is not voice supported (Phone Tray will indicate yes or no when you install it.). Temporary setback. I googled "external usb voice modem" and purchased one online (Hiro) at CompUSA for 24.99 + 6.99 S/H, no tax. They had the best total price. Ebay had much cheaper modems, but I was concerned about quality and return policy. I placed the order with CompUSA on 8/11/08 and received it by UPS on 8/20/08.

Here's how it works. Phone Tray has call log and privacy manager settings for N/A, private number, out of area, local, long distance, toll free and specific numbers you add to block automatically or manually. You can name them, and determine how you want to handle individual numbers or type of number. You can enable quiet time and program the begin/end hours for weekdays and/or weekends; and also allow certain numbers to bypass quiet time. A variety of pre-recorded messages are included, create your own if so inclined. Two additional voice profiles are available to download for free.

I programmed Phone Tray to automatically zap the spoofed number calls (too many/not enough digits and those that appeared to be international) on the 3rd ring (to ensure caller-id is properly transmitted) but silent ring for me. I chose the "disconnected" recording to be played for those numbers. Since installing, I've only received one of these calls but wasn't home to watch Phone Tray do its thing Sad

. In my experience, Vonage ACR feature will reject "private" but not "out of area" and "not available", so I programmed Phone Tray to handle those and to bypass "private". My call log showed a call from Charles Schwab, with whom I did not knowingly establish a relationship. I set that one up to be zapped with the "no telemarketing" recording should they call again.

Phone Tray is user friendly and flexible - you can't do better than free software. The external voice modem - cheap and comes with the cables. Freedom from unwanted calls - priceless. For everything else, there's Mastercard Very Happy

(sorry, couldn't resist that part).