Hi,
Thanks for the reply... hadn't realised that was what the 'lock' was foir - I thought that it was some sort of Security!
It does help - but now Call Assistant disappears when i change to another window...
Allan
Yeah, well, I guess you can't have everything. 🙂
I found that the quickest way to get to it when I need to is to either:
1) Right click on the call assistant icon, in the system tray and then click on 'Retsore' - That will pop it to the top.
2) Alt-Tab to the VZ icon and it will pop it to the top
@DARPA-LABS wrote:
Other features that would be helpful would be a Do Not Disturb feature, the ability to BLOCK incoming calls by number and types such as "Unavailable" including the ability to create a White List - numbers that should always be allowed through even if Do Not Disturb is activated.
Call Assistant is on the right path - though perhaps more iobi style features would make it just right.
Feature suggestions are probably better suited for the Send Feedback button in the web version than here. From some of the comments on this forum, it doesn't look like it's moderated by the developers and not likely to be acted upon. But, using the send feedback link might stand a better chance since they must have put it there for a reason.
RE: more iobi style features.....From what I remember about iobi, some of those features were 'tariffed' i.e. we had to pay for it which is why iobi carried a charge but VCA is free. Tariff regulations & POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) make it difficult for them to compete with the VOIP guys like Vonage or the cable providers who are unregulated and their services are hence not tariffed. We might stand a better chance of seeing them if the FiOS switch works as you suggest.
How did everyone sign up for Call Assistant? I clicked the sign up button at https://www22.verizon.com/callassistant, log in, and it takes me to the online order form (like how you would order Fios). I go to the "change existing service" area but it doesn't say anything about the Call Assistant feature.
I really don't like how Verizon hides some of there services, and that they have to be requested individually. It took them five phone calls and a month to successfully activate the voicemail indicator light to work on my phone.
thanks.
That's all I did. But, I don't have FiOS so maybe that's complicating things somewhat, but it should be making it easier.
Call the VCA Help Desk at 1-888-483-5156 and see if they can point you in the right direction.
Finally broke down and called Tech support today.
I've got Win7 Ulitmate 32bit. Old version of desktop software worked fine, new version not so much.
Application menu items don't work, "Profile," "Settings," "Feedback" for example. They're not greyed out, but they don't do anything and no error message.
All I really want to do is mute the application's ringer. It's really jarring, and the phone's ringing anyway.
Tech Support said it's not compatible with Win7 and told me to set Compatibility Mode to Vista. No change. She then checked elsewhere and told me these are known problem with the app.
I asked for the old version back. She said she couldn't do it.
She also suggested I could just turn off my computer speakers.
So, good job Verizon! Upgraded software with reduced functionality and/or built in bugs! And no way to go back to the working version. Thanks!
Call assistant works fine when signed into my account but the I need to download another version for the pop-up. I cannot find it anywhere and Call Assistant won't recognize my userid and passord yet it works to sign into My Account.
Anyone have asuggestion.
This is a Bug report, not an installation problem. Please do not merge with the likely ignored "sticky" threads.
Factual section first...Editorial follows
The latest version (2.7.79), which was a forced upgrade, fixed a couple of things I will note. But, after a couple of days of trying to use it, I see a major bug which makes it essentially unusable.
Factual
The good...
1. Your password, not just User ID, is remembered from session to session. I just wish it would offer an auto log-in option.
2. The prior version, at least under my Win-7 64 bit, would just ignore certain menu selections such as "settings", "Profile", "Help", etc... even when run in 32 bit XP mode. This appears to be fixed.
The bad...
1. When I upgraded and the program opened, I got a "sign in failed" popup window. I double, triple, quadruple checked my entries....Same result
Note, when you get that error, the program does not return you to the sign on screen to retry. You actually have to exit the software and restart to get back to the logon screen. Although, it seems to be trying to log on in the background but there is no visual indication of that.
I then rebooted thinking that maybe the program needed it to function. No go at first....Then after about the fifth try, it actually connected....and stayed connected for maybe 30 minutes. Then back to the same "sign in failed" popup error.
I got home from work this evening and there were 60 plus (I stopped counting) stacked popup error windows on my screen. As I type this, I have three new ones.
The status at the bottom of the interface says "Online" with my phone number. Calling from my cell phone, it sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. My attempt just now did work..AND popped up another "sign in failed" message!
Before anyone jumps to the conclusion that this is an individual problem, let me say that I googled "Verizon Call Assistant 2.7.79" and found multiple reports of the exact same issues. Further, I am "semi-pro" at computers/internet/networking stuff beginning from running a dial up BBS on a TRS-80 Model 1, WAY back when! I know what I am doing and this is a software bug/problem, not a user or installation issue.
To summarize the factual section, VCA continues to be a bug filled program even after going through multiple, and infrequent, revisions. I have no view of the development and testing process verizon uses. But it appears to fail any professional or commercial standard a reasonable person would measure it by.
Editorial Section
I was a former IOBI user. It generally worked and had more features than VCA. But it was never upgraded. The only change was the slowly disappearing "Coming Soon" feature set constantly promised on the website. I finally invested a few hours on the phone listening to people say "IOBI?? what's that??" and "Call Assistant who??" to eventually get connected to someone who not only knew the name of the products but could tell me that the product, IOBI, I was paying $7.95 a month for was no longer being developed. AND could also tell me that VCA was available...was the new big thing..and was "free"! Sign me up!
Saying that VCA has been a huge disappointment is an understatement. The idea is great, the technology and infrastructure is well established....but the execution is hobby level at best. I just can not believe a company as large and professional as Verizon produces this junior high school application. Releasing version after version of bug filled software is simply unacceptable! I realize I am getting my money's worth (free). But I would be willing to pay for something reliable and feature rich. There are no other options.
Lastly, speaking of features... I don't remember when I started with IOBI. But it was probably a good 4 or so years ago. Forgetting about all the "coming soon" features which never appeared (sound familiar VCA users?), IOBI had a feature set which even back then was superior to VCA. A good example is when someone calls you. Under VCA, you can (sometimes) see the call popup..but that's it. Years ago, with IOBI, you could click to send to voicemail, send it to "sales call ignore", or other options. Also, with IOBI, you could schedule forwarding of calls to other numbers as well as manage "ignore" and "block" lists online. Please note...this was on the same Verizon phone network and was literally available and working YEARS ago!
I would appreciate an explanation and resolution for all of this. I don't understand what strategy, if any, Verizon is executing in this area. I do believe it is time for them to step up, get this technology working, and develop a real feature rich platform. If Verizon is unwilling to invest in this direction, they should open up the potential for a third party developer to step in and do it right.
I get the same signin error now. anyone know what's up?
Same results since upgrade . . . not an idea what's up, expect at this point Verizon doesn't either.
Start a new topic or ask questions in the open forum.
