News:

On Tuesday September 6th the forum will be down for maintenance from 9:30 PM to 11:59 PM PDT

Main Menu

Newbie guide to block area codes in USA?

Started by MesaSpring, September 12, 2020, 11:27:34 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

MesaSpring

Hi all,

I've recently bought the Obi200 and I live in the USA.  I have it setup with Google Voice and it's working perfectly.  I even went out of the way and got ObiExtras because I wanted custom Phone Blocking and being able to upload my Google Contacts.  Though I wonder if obi200 configured with Google Voice just uses the ones from the Google Voice account and ObiExtras wasn't needed.  Anyways...

I'm currently getting a few telemarketing and robocalls coming through from specific area codes.  I've done some research here into blocking and the threads I've seen are extremely confusing.  It's hard to follow sometimes especially when looking at the device settings.

Is there a STEP BY STEP guide that shows how to block calls from specific area codes?  Either that or a way I can send them to an Auto Attendant with a recording so that they have to dial a number or something to get through.

I'm hoping there is a simplified solution with step by step instructions on how to do this. I've seen conflicting material in threads.  Hopefully someone can assist me here.

Here are some examples of blocks I've been looking at.

1) Incoming call is from an Area Code I want to block.  It checks a list and denies them based on that list.

2) Incoming call is from an Area Code I want to block.  It checks a list and instead of denying them, sends them to some sort of Auto Attendant that asks them to press a number or something.  If they are a human then it goes through to the phone.

3) Incoming call has no valid Caller ID and thus should be forwarded to some sort of automated attendant so that they have to press a button to get to my phone.


Any straightforward guides would be welcomed!


drgeoff

#1
See my posts in http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=13055.msg83657#msg83657

The first part of the X_InboundCallRoute with Mblk is about blocking specific numbers that have been manually entered in a User Defined Digit Map.

The second part with Mcbk sends calls from those specific numbers that have been manually entered in another User Defined Digit Map to the OBi's Auto Attendant which will answer after a configurable delay and prompt with 3 options

1.  Press 1 to continue this call ie ring the phone plugged in to the OBi.

2.  Press 2 to make a new call ie to dial through your OBi

3.  Press 3 to enter a callback number.

See pages 122/123 of the Admin Guide https://www.obitalk.com/info/documents/admin_guide/OBiDeviceAdminGuide.pdf.  You won't want callers using options 2 and 3 so ensure you have enabled a PIN to prevent them.  In my case the OBi will automatically call back if the caller hangs up before the autoanswer delay times out.  You don't want that so change the aa($1) to aa.

The third part sends calls from other numbers (ie they have a CallerID and have not been diverted by either of the first two parts) to the phone plugged in to the OBi.  I'm in the UK where numbers begin with a 0.  If you are using GV it will send calls from North America Numbering Plan numbers with a CallerID that begins with +1.

The final part sends calls not covered by the first three sections to the AA and the caller is given the same 3 options as above.

MesaSpring

Thanks for the reply.  Still seems a bit complicated but I'll see if I can manage it.

Is the Defined Digit Map limited in entries? 

Also instead of having a automated service to check calls, how easy would it to be to block lets say just the area code itself or at least the first 6 digits of a number (area code included) directly without screening?

drgeoff

Quote from: MesaSpring on September 24, 2020, 06:31:25 AM
Thanks for the reply.  Still seems a bit complicated but I'll see if I can manage it.

Is the Defined Digit Map limited in entries? 

Also instead of having a automated service to check calls, how easy would it to be to block lets say just the area code itself or at least the first 6 digits of a number (area code included) directly without screening?
Yes there is a finite limit on the number of characters in a digit map field.  Possibly 512 but I make no claim as to the accuracy of that number.  However there are 10 User Defined Digit Maps and you can put all of them in an InboundCallRoute.

I don't understand your second question.  My original post that I pointed you to was about blocking, not screening, and my later post in that thread clarified that the method can be used both for specific numbers and ranges of numbers, eg area codes.

If you just want blocking you only need the Mblk User Defined Digit Map(s) and the corresponding parts of the X_InboundCallRoute.  No Automated Attendant stuff is required.

MesaSpring

#4
So as an example.  Lets say I wanted to block all USA calls from a made up number like 305-274-XXXX or something like 923-245-XXXX

I'm assuming you have to put x as wildcards?  Otherwise you have to put each individual number manually in?  Don't know if the digitmap can handle blocking wildcards so I'm just going to use x since I only seen real number examples.

I would make a blacklist digit map called blk.  Then put something like, '(01305274xxxx|01923245xxxx)'?  Not sure if 01 is required I know the USA code is 1 so it could be,  '(1305274xxxx|1923245xxxx)' for a made up number like 305-274-2345?  or maybe you don't need that at all and it's '(305274xxxx|923245xxxx)'

Then I would need to put something in InboundCallRoute like this.
{(Mblk):sp1(53669)},{aa}

So it checks the blk list first and then routes it to 53669 if not it goes through to the phone?  I'm not entirely sure what the lenny number is or where I can define that.  I know the lenny service is an automated service, but unsure.  I believe the USA one is (347) 514-7296.  So maybe it should be like this instead?

{(Mblk):sp1(3475147296)},{aa}  Not entirely sure if the USA code of 1 is required, otherwise it would be, {(Mblk):sp1(13475147296)},{aa}

drgeoff

#5
Quote from: MesaSpring on October 03, 2020, 06:41:53 AM
So as an example.  Lets say I wanted to block all USA calls from a made up number like 305-274-XXXX or something like 923-245-XXXX

I'm assuming you have to put x as wildcards?  Otherwise you have to put each individual number manually in?  Don't know if the digitmap can handle blocking wildcards so I'm just going to use x since I only seen real number examples.

I would make a blacklist digit map called blk.  Then put something like, '(01305274xxxx|01923245xxxx)'?  Not sure if 01 is required I know the USA code is 1 so it could be,  '(1305274xxxx|1923245xxxx)' for a made up number like 305-274-2345?  or maybe you don't need that at all and it's '(305274xxxx|923245xxxx)'

Then I would need to put something in InboundCallRoute like this.
{(Mblk):sp1(53669)},{aa}

So it checks the blk list first and then routes it to 53669 if not it goes through to the phone?  I'm not entirely sure what the lenny number is or where I can define that.  I know the lenny service is an automated service, but unsure.  I believe the USA one is (347) 514-7296.  So maybe it should be like this instead?

{(Mblk):sp1(3475147296)},{aa}  Not entirely sure if the USA code of 1 is required, otherwise it would be, {(Mblk):sp1(13475147296)},{aa}

Close but no cigar!

Yes, a lower case 'x' will match any digit 0 through 9.

The leading '0' in my case is because that's the first digit of UK numbers.  (Service numbers start with a '1' eg 100 is the operator, 1471 reads out the number and time of the last caller.)  GV sends the CallerID of NANPA numbers as +1 followed by 10 digits.

I'm not sure if Lenny is still working.  You can simply dump blocked calls with {(Mblk):}

Unless you want all unblocked calls to be handled by the OBi's Auto Attendant you should direct them to the phone port.

All that would result in:

User Defined Digit Map blk as (+1305274xxxx|+1923245xxxx)
X_InboundCallRoute as {(Mblk):},ph