Sentry 2.0 Phone Call Blocker

After years of frustration dealing with unwanted 'robo' calls from survey takers, telemarketers and live people trying to sell me stuff I don't want, and getting no satisfaction from the infamous "Do Not Call" registry (aka Does Not Work registry), I decided to try again to put an end to these unwanted calls. Years ago, before things were so sophisticated, we had good success with something called "Telezapper" but sadly, that ended and we've been dealing with interruptions during mealtime and early morning and late night calls.After researching the various devices currently available it seemed like the Sentry 2 would fit the bill. We ordered the device and it was delivered promptly via Amazon Prime (love that service!!). The instructions were pretty skimpy but understandable, especially after viewing a couple of the available videos on the Sentry 2, and I set about the task of entering well over 100 numbers into the 'white' or 'accept' list. These are our family, friends, neighbors, doctor's offices etc ... in short, everyone I could think of that might call us. (Why subject your 80-year old parent, or the doctor's office, to that very menacing male voice telling them to "remove our phone number & hang up" before adding that if the caller has a legitimate reasons to be calling, they need to press "0" and then call back in a few minutes.)After entering over 100 numbers I thought we were good to go but wanted to give it a little "test". So glad I did, as Sentry blocked our cell number from ringing through. After reading even more reviews, we identified what we believe was the problem: our telephone service (AT&T) displays all incoming numbers on our caller-ID with a "1" preceding the area code. I had not added a "1" before each of the 100+ phone numbers I had programmed into the 'white' / 'accept' list. So I re-entered our cell phone numbers with a "1" in front of the 10 digit number and voila ... Sentry 2 works like a charm!Of course that meant that I had to delete all the numbers I had entered and re-enter them, being sure to put a "1" in front of the 10 digit number.And yes it was a pain to do that. But what we have gained from this is peace & quiet as Sentry 2 very effectively blocks all those unwanted and annoying calls!Some tips for those of you purchasing and programming this call blocking device:* Look at your home phone's caller ID: if it displays a "1" in front of the 10 digit number, be sure to add that "1" as you pre-load / program numbers into the 'white' / 'accept' list. If only the 10 digit number is showing, just program the 10 digit phone number.* It would be quicker to program numbers if the device had a regular key pad; however, that being said, after a bit you can enter digits pretty quickly. I used the 'up' button to enter digits zero through 4 and used the 'down' button to enter digits 5 through 9.* You'd think you could pre-load / program numbers into the 'black' / 'reject' list by following the same process as for programming the 'accept' / 'white' list, but you can't. But you CAN do this: enter the number you want to reject and save it to the 'white' / 'accept' list. THEN ... scroll through the numbers on the 'white' / 'accept' list until that number appears, then press the 'black' / 'reject' button until it says "dONE" and you've accomplished the same thing!* To see a list of which numbers are on your 'accept' and 'reject' lists, just press the appropriate button (accept or reject), then use the up/down button to see which numbers are listed. They are listed numerically ... so the lower area code numbers are listed first (like 213) and the higher area code numbers (like 951) are listed towards the end. And within each area code, the numbers are listed numerically, so 213-525-0148 is listed before 213-526-7145 for example. This is helpful to verify that you've placed the number on the appropriate list.We have multiple cordless phones in our home but do maintain one corded phone. When a call comes in, Sentry 2 goes to work, allowing the phone to ring ONCE on the CORDED phone only (we do not hear a ring on the cordless phones). If the caller is listed on the 'white' / 'accept' list, both the cordless and corded phones will then ring; however, if the call was blocked, there are no more ring tones, just that sweet silence. And because the corded phone is in the office, we don't even hear that single ring when we're elsewhere in the house! What a blessing is that?!?! But if you have only cordless phones, you'll still hear that first ring.We're so pleased with the Sentry 2 and look forward to reclaiming our sanity and peace of mind from no more unwanted phone calls. Now when we hear that single ring on the corded phone followed by only silence as Sentry 2 killed 'em off, we start singing "Another one bites the dust!" Sixty dollars well spent. Thanks Sentry!

Only been using this unit for a few weeks but it is working almost perfectly for eliminating unknown callers. I say "almost" because when an unknown caller calls, they receive a message to dial "0" if they are not a solicitor or a scammer. Since most bogus callers are robocalls they don't know to dial "0" and they are blocked. If they are legitimate, they must dial zero and they will be put on the "allowed" list automatically, but they have to figure out to hang up and call back if you don't intercept in time. (When the person hits "0" you can answer the call if you have the unit set to "ring" and you answer in time). It is a little cumbersome to input "allowed" callers so that your friends get through without being asked to input "0", but once you get the hang of it, you can input your friends, etc. fairly quickly.One small bug or malfunction occurs when the tel line is plugged into the unit, the LCD screen becomes inoperable. Unplugging the line makes the LCD operable. I inserted a double throw switch in the line and it works perfectly (Line-in mode or LCD screen mode).If you want known bad callers blocked before they even get to your phone system you can pair this device with the CallControl call blocker unit and said callers will be stopped before they hit your system. CallControl can be set up to also block area codes, certain prefixes or other callers you want blocked before they reach the Sentry Unit. (The only way to block bad callers on the Sentry unit is to block them after they call).I am convinced that these 2 units together are a perfect solution to block 99.99% of all calls and allow known good guys to get through without interruption. I expect to get very lonely with no scammers calling.

I just got my Sentry 2 call blocker and so far I am very excited about this device. There wassome confusing terminology about this device before I purchased that has become clear to menow that I own the device. To clarify the situation for others, the Sentry 2 works a couple ofindependent modes that make the documentation confusing. The documentation referees to dualmode. But there seems to be more then one dual mode. So which dual mode they are referring toat this point is unknown.The first mode pair I will talk about is the parallel versus series modes. This means there aretwo ways you can hook up the Sentry 2 to your home phones.In parallel mode, the Sentry 2 acts like another handset, and you will hear the first ring ofevery call that comes in. That means every call. Black listed, white listed, or unknown. Youplug the Sentry 2 into an unused phone jack. Or if you don't have an open phone jack, you willneed to use a splitter. A splitter did not come in my box which is strange because parallelmode is probably the most common mode people will be able to hook up with. When a call comesin, all your phones in your house ring instantly just like before. Caller ID with names showup on all the phones which is a good situation. The Sentry 2 monitors the Caller ID that comesin during the first ring and if it doesn't like the number, it will "pick up the phone" andeither play it's message or (if the number is on the block list) hangs up immediately. If theSentry 2 is playing it's message, you still have a chance to pick up a phone elsewhere in yourhouse. This should stop the message playback and you can immediately talk to the caller. Afteryour call is done, you can then walk over to the Sentry 2 and accept the last call (in the callhistory) into your white list, or stick it in the black list.In series mode, the Sentry 2 sits between your incoming phone line and the rest of thetelephones in your house. In this mode, you will not hear the first ring of every call becauseit appears the Sentry 2 will block the ring of every call until it gets a chance to see thecaller ID. This mode would probably make most people happy since more silence is good right?Let me say right off if you have multiple phone brands scattered throughout your house like Ido chances are most likely you will not be able to use series mode. It seems if you have evenone incompatible phone in your system, or perhaps just too many phones in your house, seriesmode probably will not work. While I would have hoped that I could have used series mode(avoiding the first ring) I am still very glad to have a well functioning parallel mode setup.The other mode pair is the basic versus advanced modes.The so called basic mode is like a standby mode or as it reads on the display of the device itis the "off" mode. In basic (or "off") mode, all calls are let through except for black listednumbers which still get blocked. So the part that is "off" is the white listing capability. Youmay want to use this mode if your white list is incomplete, or if you are expecting a call fromsomeone who you don't know their phone number. For example, if you call a refrigerator repairman. The operator tells you the repair man will call 15 minutes before he arrives. You can thenstick the Sentry 2 into basic "off" mode so that the repair man's call gets let through. Basicmode can also be used to collect phone numbers from friends and family, so you don't have toenter them in manually. Just leave Sentry 2 in basic (off) mode for a few weeks. As the Sentry2 collects numbers in it's call history, you can scroll through the call history and add thenumbers to your white (or black) list.The other mode is called advanced mode. Advanced mode is when "off" is not displayed in theupper right hand corner of the display. Let's be honest. Advanced mode is why we all decidedto purchase the Sentry 2. Advanced mode means the white list is actively checked. White listedphone numbers are allowed to ring your phones. The black list is also checked. Black listednumbers get an instant automatic good bye slam and no apology either. Unknown numbers get along somewhat annoying message telling them to go away, or press "0" to be added to the whitelist. So why is it called advance mode anyway? Well to be honest, most people will not wanttheir friends or family members to encounter the Sentry 2's go away message.If someone presses "0" the Sentry 2 does not hang up. It will stop playing it's message andthe caller will hear silence. This will probably confuse the caller, since the Sentry 2 justtold them to hang up. The Sentry 2 will then make a noise, like an alarm which the caller can'thear. If you are fortunate enough to be able to hear the alarm, then you can pick up a phoneand start talking.

Muy difícil de configurar no da tono de llamada

Works perfectly for me. Little weird to understand but has gotten rid of 100% of the annoying callers.

I don't use the white list,just reject the calls that go thru,which are @11 up to today,and these # never showed up again. works perfectly well. love it.

Well it worked.....for all of 20 minutes as I was inputting my white list numbers....then the led screen went dark/blank. I tried what tech support said to do but to no avail. not working, I am returning this to amazon for my full refund and will not buy again.

It's a little bit of work to set up properly but, once it is has a decent blacklist built up, bang! spam calls, scams, robocalls, etc greatly reduced. If I was able to ask for one additional feature: a USB connect to make editing the blacklist easier.