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139 of 143 people found the following review helpful.
This is the only unit I have seen that blocks EVERY call
By Marvfod
People who said this does not block all calls did not try and figure it out.. Must be on first line in the home before any other phones.. If you put an answering machine in line first, then you have the PERFECT screener.. I programmed in all the numbers that were important for me into list A,,, Others that I did not want calling too late or too early into list B. I set up the unit to accept A list calls 24 hours a day, B list calls from 10am to 10pm and NO other calls. If someone calls who is not on A or B list it goes to the answering machine and the phones never ring (of course solicitors seldom leave messages)!!! If someone calls that I did not program in, the worse that happens is it goes to the answering machine and I can add them to either list A or B so the phone rings next time (all calls show up on caller ID of unit)... Set up this way the unit screens EVERY call and blocks all unwanted calls... Unit works best when in "sleep" mode,, goes into sleep mode after 30 seconds of inactivity or when you power off then on. VERY happy with this product,,, worth the money and time to set up for peace of mind.. I now get NO calls that I do not want.... No need to try and individually block every possible call by adding to a block list.. Much easier to enter the calls you DO want to receive then EVERY OTHER CALL, NO MATTER WHERE IT IS FROM, IS BLOCKED AND PASSED ON TO YOUR ANSWERING MACHINE.. My only regret is that I did not find out about this device sooner,,, If you prefer and have just a few numbers you want to block, you can program 20 numbers in list R (including 000-000-0000 which blocks all "unknown callers)... Seems easier to me to just list the ones I want and exclude all other numbrs...
87 of 100 people found the following review helpful.
Useless For Unsolicited Calls
By David Mace
Although the jfteck web site and even their tech support claims this supports 'wildcard' blocking (blocking series of numbers with a blank space instead of a digit), it won't blacklist area codes like 800, 888, 877, 866 which are 100% garbage, or whitelist other selected area codes where you expect calls from. Wouldn't it be NICE to tell it you want local calls? They claim that the most it can block is areacode+prefix (123-456-____), but try as I might, I can't get it to store ANY 'wildcard' phone number like their web site claims it can at all, in ANY list with ANY number of spaces. Only complete phone numbers. EVEN WORSE, when it decides not to store a number, it doesn't TELL YOU it is throwing a number away, so you can spend 20 minutes pecking in numbers with 'space' in them and go back to review the list and find it EMPTY. I'm a computer programmer who occasionally works on embedded devices. Don't tell me to 'RTFM', people, I have, and emailed their customer support, and the manual SUCKS almost as much as much as the customer support, which are both dwarfed by the lameness of this device for the advertised application of blocking unsolicited calls.What we get is this half-baked, half-hearted attempt that reminds me of all the help the phone company is for blocking unwanted callers, reporting bad callers, etc. Every design assumption made for normal operation is that you want robot dialers to be able to dial through from anywhere.Just using the 'R' list to block calls as they arrive, this unit will ALWAYS allow new cranks/telemarketers/scams/dialer-robots through - forever. Keep in mind the 'R' list has only 20 entries, and there are about TEN BILLION possible numbers that dialer robots and caller ID spoofers could call from at all hours of the day and night. You can consume 20 entries in the first week and start overwriting the first random numbers you added to the 'R' list, allowing the original set of bad callers through thereafter. Even if the 'wildcard' numbers worked exactly as the manufacturer claimed (instead of NOT AT ALL), you couldn't even block the 800/888/877/866 area code numbers. Don't get me wrong, this thing COULD help in CERTAIN situations, such as if someone SPECIFIC is harrassing you from ONE number, but it is an INCREDIBLE PAIN IN THE BUTT to set up for blocking telemarketers and other spam calls that mask their caller ID.Yeah, physically plugging it in is simple, but the only way for this thing to block spam calls is by entering every possible 'white list' number you ever expect to receive a call from, and then blocking all 24 of the hour long 'schedule windows' to prevent unknown callers. This will take HOURS of finger-aching repetitive drudgery through the menu/next/arrow and enter keys. The 'arrow key' interface is OK for a 'top score' list on an arcade game, but managing hundreds of numbers in a contact list is beyond tedious.Too bad they didn't think to add a USB interface and a bigger eeprom to get comprehensive black lists downloaded from the internet through your computer. That black list could be sorted, dictionary compressed and stored in the box easily without a lot of non-volatile storage, and then updated whenever you felt like plugging it into the computer again and downloading more numbers into it. The computer would not need to be on for the device to work. A gigabyte of Flash is dirt cheap, and interfacing it to a computer as a 'usb drive' (or even serial device through USB) is simple, and the thing could then block EVERY KNOWN bad number the database kept track of, as well as auto-update more (upload/share additional blacklist entries, and if you get more than a certain number, add them to the main table). Sure, it would cost $119 instead of $69, but it would be WORTH IT. This device is NOT worth $1 for the purpose of blocking unsolicited calls.Maybe their marketing thought the price point for these devices was very low. I think they're not 'popular' because nobody builds a quality product that is easy to set up and use, or does the job well. There appear to be several other products that looked more promising than this one, but most of them aren't available anymore.
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful.
Peace and quiet at last!
By Charles Shates
Finally! The phones have stopped ringing! But now, when they do ring, I know it is a call I want to answer.I must say I am very pleased with this product and its "white list" concept. I agree with one reviewer that the unit could use more memory and would indeed be easier to set up using a computer interface. In fact, put me on the short list to buy the next model of this device after a USB port and programming software are added!Yet even as the product is, A and B lists are relatively easy to set up. (As currently configured the R list of blocked numbers is not useful, in my opinion, because it is limited to only 20 numbers.) I have my phone system set up in layers: first the phone company's Privacy Manager screens unidentified calls. If caller ID is blocked, the caller is given the opportunity to get through by being voice screened. I put the Privacy Manager number on my B list, set to ring only between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Other numbers on my B list are the doctors, dentists, hairdressers, and other businesses -- all "9 to 5" type callers. My A list is set up with only the numbers of friends and family members. I have the A list set to ring at any hour, though that can always be changed if necessary. If I'm not at home, all of the A and B "white list" calls that don't get answered within 5 rings go to the answering machine.What about all those calls with Caller ID that are not on the "white list"? The answering machine picks them up. If a friend changes their phone number and doesn't tell you, their call does not ring the phone, but it still goes to the answering machine after they hear five rings and they can then leave a message. Same thing with all those other calls that have Caller IDs like "877 services" or whatever. Any person who has a caller ID can leave a message if it is important.In short, a flexible solution that gets the job done!
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