Sentry 3.1 Call Screener, Smart Active Blocking, Block All Solicitor Calls, Election Calls, robo Calls.

We're on the second iteration of this product; the second is nicely improved over the first (which we loved)! Improvements allow one to enter an approved number before the call. The current version also has a limited message capability (since the regular home phone cannot be reached for leaving messages). The unit is very reliable, handles a large volume of numbers, and provides a good approval process for the calls you want to receive. For the unapproved calls, the unit rings once only, but keeps an easy-to-use log for later use in approving received calls. The unit shows who is calling and the number, so after the first ring, one can "intercept" the call and speak to the caller. A must for the political season, and a boon for the everyday spam/marketing calls.

The scammers started calling the moment my father’s obituary was published. My Mom is sweet and trusting and has Alzheimer’s. I live in terror that someone’s going to steal her identity and clean out her accounts. We can’t ditch a landline because we’re lucky to get a single bar on a cell here and her lifeline fall detector is connected through the landline. I tried other products, but the scammers generate new numbers each time they call. Blocking and blacklisting was useless. This product takes a completely different approach. Whitelist the numbers you want to hear from and real people can follow the instructions to continue through the initial block or leave a message. It works really well and the nuisance calls seem to be dropping off. Yay!!!

Difficult to use. No directions. Takes several tries to input phone numbers. Requires trial and error to use. Sent the unit back for a refund two weeks ago. No contact from vendor or refund yet. Don't waist your time using this unit.

I was plagued with a darned persistent tele-monster (tele-marketer), that consistently faked the numbers between (area code) 340-1000 and (area code) 340-2000 wanting me to change my electricity supplier. Every time a different number. I dutifully reported the numbers to the NOMOxxxx.com entity and even asked them to block the group, which they replied no, they can't but would do only single numbers. I was on the verge of relearning computer programing at age 71, I used to do a lot of that about 20 years ago, to set up a laptop to answer the phone for numbers not on a "White List". Then I found this, the answer to my prayers. I have 17 numbers on my "White List" and they pass through, ( enter the numbers twice once with a "1" prefix and the area code and again without the "1" just the area code ), the darned tele-monster was STOPPED in his tracks. (twice already) This saved me countless hours experimenting with a program and a laptop. The ONLY improvements I could see for the device is a port to power it from a USB type power supply and a backlit display. Otherwise this is the PERFECT DEVICE !!!!!! I Highly Recommend it.After two months, well it still is the BEST in my book.

This product works almost exactly how I would like it to except for two issues:1. Let me customize the number to press to approve the call rather than fixed at 0.2. Add an external power supply so this thing can ring connected phones when somebody does press the required digits. Ringing only at the device really isn't sufficient.Otherwise, this product does what I need it to do, and it's helped tremendously.

We added about 100 numbers from our contacts list to the Sentry 3.1 whitelist. We have yet to see a robocall get through, but all of our friends and existing business contacts are immediately rung through to our phones or answering machine. The fairly long outgoing message seems to be a good deterrent since the volume of incoming junk calls has been going down. But our existing business and personal contacts have gotten through with no problem; either they transparently get through or dial 0 and get on the whitelist. Blacklists are no longer very useful since junk callers now seem to randomly generate numbers and names to get through, so a whitelist is essential. We had been looking for a landline answer similar to our iPhones which immediately send unknown callers to voicemail; the Sentry 3.1 was the answer. Hopefully the manufacturers of cordless phone answering machines will add a whitelist as an integral feature to their products.

This device works quite well. Robo calls ring once and are blocked. I should have ordered this sooner as we were getting a lot of robo calls. Now we only get a couple that don’t get through.

Five stars for the product. It works wonderfully. Zero stars for their customer service.This purchase was a replacement for a Sentry unit that went bad after four or five years. I have no complaint with that. However, in the course of diagnosing the problem when the unit and the phones in my house stopped working, I twice contacted their customer service people for assistance and got zero response. The customer service phone number led to a “leave a message” recording. The call was never returned. Nor did I receive a response using their customer service e-mail link. Ultimately, I got the problem diagnosed and resolved no thanks to them. New unit is working well.