Caller ID with Phone Ring Controller

Not your ordinary Caller ID display. This is my second purchase of this device. I've had the first one for more than 12 months and that one is still in service."They" finally found my second phone number is the reason I bought the second one.Also has a Ring controller that regulates when someone is permitted to make your phone ring.I bought this for the Ring Controller aspect of this device.I get tired of signing up to be on the Do Not Call (DNC) lists. Invariably some charity or other organization that exempt from the DNC lists will get your number and keep calling you. Why is it they always call when you just sit down for dinner or when you just started watching a really good movie?This is my last line of defense at preventing my phone from ringing by unwanted callers and works quite well once you get used to it.On the plus side, it has 3 classifications for numbers, A, B and R. Any number programed into R is intended never to allow your phone to Ring (which can be overridden if you like - Up to 70 numbers). A & B are for priority callers (up to 100 numbers each)To get the most out of this device, all the numbers you would like to permit or restrict will need to be added to one of the three lists.Now the caveats.Keying in a number by hand is not what you call relaxing. Button response is sluggish and can be prone to errors when done by hand.By far the easiest way to program is to add numbers directly from the caller ID display directly, but the caveat is that the person you want to block will have needed to have already called you after you have set this up.Setting up the Time of day feature for each list is actually quite easy, but you need to remember what list is permitted to ring your phone for each hour of the day (All 24 of them for all three lists)For example:I set my A list to permit ringing my phone 24 hours a dayMy B list (which also includes any number not previously entered or saved) to ring from 9am to 5pm.My R list is never permitted to ring my phone.The way this works will keep your handsets caller ID display from being able to display the current incoming caller because it intercepts the first ring it also prevents the Caller ID information from being displayed on the telephone handsets. You will need to go to this device if you need to screen your calls manually.I've gotten to the point that I don't need to see the Caller ID because I have this device programmed far enough that it is already pre-screening all of my calls well enough that I know that it is a number I've already approved or it is a new number I am about to block anyway. :)You can also program using wild cards so that you can block an entire area code (866, 877, etc.) if you wanted to, but that is not particularly self explanatory until you have done one or two of these. (RTM)You can also program it to block calls when the number was not passed or was passed as 000-000-0000.Doesn't play nice with Call Waiting. If two or more people car calling you at the same time, some squirrliness can occur. The phone might ring for a blocked number, but only because a previous call was in progress and the caller ID hadn't been received yet for the new caller. Call Waiting doesn't always play nice with this device but only because it is not aware of the second incoming call during the first call.This device must be the first thing that connects to the telephone service as it only protects the telephones or extensions that are wired in downstream of it.If any device is wired in parallel, those devices will still ring for each and every call until they give up and finally hang up. Which can be an irritation if you can still hear that phone ringing.In my case, I have it wired in just before the telephone's base stations and will protect all of the wireless handset for each base station.If you lose power all calls pass through unfiltered. There is no battery backup. But the device doesn't need to be reprogrammed as it appears that all of your programming is saved to EEPROM or nonvolatile memory. (unconfirmed).I wish you could program it via USB to get away from programming it by using the on board buttons. Those really aggravate the heck out of me, but on the plus side, you almost never need to use them again after it has been programmed. So that part is a wash for me. I don't like them, but it really doesn't matter now. :)

I seldom write negative revues but I'm VERY disappointed with this. Some places say it can hold 20 reject numbers and other places (including website) says 70. I assume there must have been an upgrade and their documentation missed it, I'll never know...The Problems...If you plug in a phone that has caller ID, then that phone "data Error" while the correct ID is displayed properly on the new controller (slight annoyance).The deal breaker is you are told to find your main telephone line and connect this to it and all other phones then get connected to this so it will work through-out your house/apartment. Problem is, most people don't have any idea how to do this and typically the only 'master' plug to the phone line is OUTSIDE!This works only on the phones that are plugged into it (although it only has one plug to the phone).... You can't put this is any room and have it work on all phones. For the electrically inclined this must be in series with the phone line used no parallel. It does NOT intercept a reject call it just prevents your one phone from getting it.Another annoying feature is on blocked calls, they get blocked (on one phone anyway) BUT there is no 'reject message' from the unit, no nothing for the caller that simply hears the phone ringing and ringing assuming you're not home and will try back later at the same time all the other phones in your house are ringing like normal!Very poor technique for reject cal...I have a friend that sometimes (I don't know why) sets her cell phone on 'private' so her number is not shown on caller ID. With a 'reject message' at least they get the idea what is happening Vs ringing, ringing, ringing... My OLD machine said to "remove call blocking and try again". This just rings and rings....It has an A and B list for prioritizing callers which is ok and a speed dial which is ok if you use it but again all of this is only for phones connected to the unit and I don't intend to rewire all the rooms in my apartment...Pretty worthless if call reject for telemarketers is what you're looking for..I'll give it to someone for Christmas and tell them it's a speed dialer for one phone....

only captured caller id for a small percentage of calls and then stopped working all together after about two year. Threw it out and ordered competitors product.

I haven't experienced the problems mentioned in other reviews (a short ring before blocking calls, eg). Perhaps I have the newer model that has been mentioned, or I just lucky with this unit. For the record, yes, it is true that this machine will only block the phone or base stations that are plugged AFTER the unit, but that makes perfect sense to me--I mean how could it do otherwise? If you want it to block all your phone lines, then of course you will have to do some poking around the outside of your house to find the main line coming in. Alternately, you could just use one base station with multiple phone sub-sets or just buy two of these units. This machine does exactly what I hoped it would. It will not allow numbers you have designated to get through to your phone and cause it to ring. Instead, it will just keep the caller ringing--either until they get bored and hang up, or until your answering machine silently handles the call for you. Or you can plug your answering machine also AFTER the unit and get no messages from blocked-listed callers. Yes, you can use wild-cards and block entire groups of numbers like: 1-8xx, or 1-415.xxx, etc, etc. The interface is a bit confusing and lame, but overall this things rocks as far as my needs are concerned. Thumbs up I say.