Comments on: The Future of PhoneTray

By: Jim

Jim — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 14:54:52 +0000

I must agree with tipster about the one ring block… But I am happy with the fact that it does block the calls. While the web based software sounds nice the $3-4 monthly charge does not. I never have liked subscription based software.

By: merwin

merwin — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:10:05 +0000

I’m a little confused. A year ago i requested notice when PRO becomes available. Haven’t heard anything but i see a ‘upgrade’ link on my Phonetray Free panel that goes to a $29 page. Is the PRO now ready, or what is the scoop? Thanks.

By: tipstir

tipstir — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 17:33:53 +0000

I have to agree with the first poster here. I’ve been using this software since 2003, and it has stopped a lot of bogus callers on the phone. With update 1.39 lets see if my list will keep them at bay. But way the enemy is dealing his hand is trying to stop their calls from coming in. Why can’t this software work like my Panasonic DECT phone with Caller ID Voice and Caller ID Block. That phone system block calls on the first ring. I use that with the PC that stays on 24/7 and I’ve gone through several internal and external modems with Caller ID service since 2003. I get calls from the President, 0000000 / 0000000 or sorts they try to spool the signal and use all sorts of tones. I have several tones to block them also and keep them at bay.

What I would add block calls with first ring instead of the second ring. Repeater callers should be automatically block with unknown name or N/A needs to be fixed. Also see what you can do with Peer Block and your app running at the same time I see there is a conflict with those two. I usually have to shown Phone Tray then turn it back on.

In all excellent software. Will the free still be available even though the Pro will be out soon. I really don’t need a lot of bell and whistles. The old GUI is good enough for me.

By: Russ Ramsey

Russ Ramsey — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 06:32:30 +0000

I love PhoneTray. Simple, functional and well written. However, telemarketers change their spoofed CID regularly; so blacklists off a database ain’t gonna work. Here is what will: add regular expressions (regex library) ability to the blacklist and have a whitelist. That works because telemarketers make their CID names ambiguous, like “Customer Service” or “Los Angeles CA”. The other suggestion is add more handling options for when “Not Available” shows up more than 2 calls in a row. Sometimes the modem needs to be reset.

By: jesse

jesse — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 15:16:53 +0000

Many blockers have three lists: white, black, and others, and I am sure you will too. But I want to propose a particular action that I haven’t seen. Retain the ability to block a black category, like 877-xxx-xxxx or “unknown” or “toll free”, in the black list, but allow specific exceptions, such as 877-555-1212, in the white list. You will then process the white list first. It will allow a more compact list of all numbers.

By: jesse

jesse — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 01:21:13 +0000

I feel a little dense here, Michael. I agree that listening to the one or two rings of a blacklisted call is annoying especially since I have to wait until it stops to know that it is blacklisted. I also understand that turning off the ringer will prevent blacklist numbers from ringing the handset. But doesn’t it do the same thing to every other call including the ones I want to answer? Is there something I missed?

By: jesse

jesse — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 05:54:48 +0000

I purchased the Dialup version several years ago and the only gripe I have had is having to listen to the rings of the blacklisted numbers. Otherwies it is quite useful and flexible in blocking numbers. Having no smarts with telephony logic, I have to assume that modem hardware and/or Hayes commands do no accomodate processing of the incoming signal before allowing it to pass to the telephone handset. Why not have Hiro design a modem that will not complete the circuit (an old timey solution is a solinoid) to the handset until the caller id is processed. This would also allow a less complex solution for recording a message since it could go to the phone recorder.

By: Hal Gross

Hal Gross — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 00:00:59 +0000

Thanks for your reply Michael. Keep at it.

By: Michael Rakita

Michael Rakita — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 20:03:42 +0000

Sorry Hal, I really suck at estimates and it’s going much slower than I hoped User interface is 75% done and the server part that works with modems is 50% done. I really hope to have PhoneTray Pro released this year but we might need to cut some features out in order to do that.

By: Michael Rakita

Michael Rakita — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 18:25:45 +0000

Thanks Jon, I’m glad you like PhoneTray and find it useful.

1) PhoneTray Free is using Windows TAPI to talk to the modem, and distinctive ring is not supported through TAPI. It will be possible to add this feature in PhoneTray Pro though.

2) Current version of PhoneTray already supports multiple modems.

3) There is no export button, but PhoneTray stores data in CSV format and you can use Excel to export/edit/print PhoneTray data.

4) Could you please tell me what kind of statistics you’re looking to get?