Adventure in Active Call Screening: The Tel-Sentry "Sentry 3.1"

My 2021 New Year's Resolution

See update below at end of description.....

Working from home most of 2020 due to COVID-19, I was constantly pestered by all the robo-calls, tele-marketers, and outright scam callers. When I work in my normal office, I am not aware of how many times a day my home phone rings, but working from home it was a real problem. I resolved to do SOMETHING to cut back on those calls......

This is part of my adventure in this regard.

I bought and did initial tests on the "Sentry 3.1", and 'active call screener' produced by Tel-Sentry of California. As of making this video, tests are not complete; just not enough experience yet with the unit and its features, and the manufacturer's documentation leaves a LOT to be desired....no mention of how to use critical features.

Update 1-2-21
I have now confirmed that the way I thought the 'dial 0' feature works was not correct. Instead, what seems to happen is:
- A caller who is not automatically ignored by the Sentry has to pass the Sentry's White List/Black List test. If the caller's number is on the Black List, their call does not go anywhere. If the caller's number is on the White List, the call instantly goes through to your phone(s), which ring.
- If the caller's number is neither on the White List or the Black List, the Sentry plays the Outgoing Message, which is intentionally brief, telling the caller to hang up if they are a telemarketer, otherwise press '0' to leave a BRIEF message. (The user can record their own customer Outgoing Message, but by design it must also be very brief...it is part of the strategy of how the Sentry works).
- The Sentry only has a tiny amount of memory space to hold a message spoken by a caller who presses '0', and the Sentry can ONLY record two such messages before it will record no more, and the user will need to erase those messages before the Sentry is able to to record messages again. If more than two legitimate callers call in one day before the user can clear their messages, they will not get through or be able to leave messages.
- So, a caller listens to the Outgoing Message, and presses 0, and leaves a message. This action automatically adds the caller's phone number to the White List; the intention is to allow legitimate callers, who the user has neglected to program into the White List, to essentially add themselves to the White List, and the user has nothing to say about it. Thus, a persistent telemarketer/scammer can press 0 and the Sentry will no longer block them if they call again. The manufacturer says that this will almost never happen (this is based on their understanding of past caller behavior, NOT what such callers might learn to do differently in the future).
- When the aforementioned caller hears the Outgoing Message and presses '0', the phone(s) in the house do NOT ring....the Sentry is not able to generate a rung tone to ring other phone(s). Whenever the other phone(s) in the house ring, it is the phone company's ring signal that makes it happen, NOT the Sentry. However, the Sentry does have its own speaker, and can generate an audible ringing sound under certain conditions.

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