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missed 1 digit when dialing US number 252- and I got connected to Somalia(252)!

Started by onepolarbear, February 04, 2013, 09:20:06 PM

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onepolarbear

I have several relatives living in North Carolina. The area code is (252).  
Let's say my cousin's number is (252) 555-1212.    

When I tried to call him, I  always just dial the 10-digit number, (252)555-1212.  
Obi110 DigitMap setting just automatically adds the +1 in front of it.  
Below is what my current DigiMap looks like:  (the default setting, I believe)

(1xxxxxxxxxx|<1>[2-9]xxxxxxxxx|011xx.|xx.|(Mipd)|[^*#]@@.)


However, I discovered that I had several calls to Somali when reviewing my
Google Voice billing history.  It turns out that I must have dialed (252)555-121  
and miss the last digit.  On a normal landline phone, this is not a problem.
It will just tell me to check the number and dial again.

Obi110, on the other hand, just dials it as +1-252-555-121 which connects me
to someone in Somalia.  The country code there just happens to be 252.(just
like North Carolina's area code) Google Voice charges 50 cents(or more)
per minute to country code 252, Somalia!!! :(

What can I do to prevent this from happening again? I do make other intl
calls regularly, so I cannot just block all int'l calls.  

This is not just limited to North Carolina 252 area code.  There are many US
cities with area code that are the same as foreign country codes. If I'm not
careful, I end up with paying for 1 minute of int'l call just by missing one digit.
(or dialing one extra digit at the end)

I can't be the only one to have had this happen,  right? :)   Tried to search
the forums, but not sure what keywords I should use to find the right results.

Any advice appreciate!

Rick

I can think of several easy fixes.

1) Program your cousin's number into your phone so it dials properly, and dial infrequently called numbers more carefully.

2) Remove the international dialing defaults from the digitmaps, so that you are required to enter the preceding digits when you intentionally want to call internationally.  I don't play with digitmaps, but that seems like a no-brainer.

ianobi

It would be interesting to see your Call History, which would show what you dialled and what went out to GV. With your digitmap a "1" would only be prepended if you dialled a ten digit number. I would expect (252)555-121 to be picked up by the xx. rule which matches any number of any digits.

I like to delete any rules not being used. xx. and [^*#]@@. can cause problems as they both match any number of any digits. None of these are useful in a GV DigitMap: xx.|(Mipd)|[^*#]@@.

To allow 7,10 and 11 digit numbers and genuine international numbers to go via GV, this seems to be the best DigitMap:

(1xxxxxxxxxx|<1>[2-9]xxxxxxxxx|<1aaa>[2-9]xxxxxx|011xx.)
Replace aaa with your local code.

Rick

Ianobi, what would you do if you wanted to prevent ANY international calls?  Remove the |011xx at the end?

CoalMinerRetired

Quote from: Rick on February 05, 2013, 05:42:26 AM
Ianobi, what would you do if you wanted to prevent ANY international calls?  Remove the |011xx at the end?
I know you meant to write it this way, but for everyone else's reference it's the period after the second x that makes the difference, eg., "011xx."
  §  x - a wild card digit that matches any digit from 0-9. x is CASE SENSITIVE
  §  x. -  matches 0 or more x

Given that the country code in question is 252, I'd suggest an alternative approach. Just disable calls to that country code, as in a barring rule for calls to 011252x. I haven't tested it but the syntax should be !011252x.| inserted ahead of the 011xx.  This will bar any calls that start with 011252 and continue with zero or more digits after the 252.

I'll second ianobi idea, it would be interesting to see your Call History. Because somewhere you would have had to dial 011 before you dialed the digits 252.

onepolarbear

Date           Time           Type    Destination     Duration     Charge    Deposit    Balance
2/4/13   10:50 PM   Call   +252275451     1 minute     $0.53      $4.55
1/25/13   7:35 PM   Call   +25232**56531 1 minute     $0.53      $5.35
1/16/13   5:50 PM   Call   +252256562     2 minutes  $1.06      $5.88


Above is from my Google Voice billing history.

Call #1 & #3:  I must have left out a digit and dialed just 9 digits... call went to Somalia, billed at 53 cents/minute.  I probably realized it too late and the call went through.  I remember on call #3, there was a recording of some type of weird music.

Call #2:   I used my cordless phone's redial button.  Unfortunately, the number that I dialed was going to an office and I had to press "3" and "1" to get to the person.   My cordless phone's redial remember the whole 10-digit number plus the 3 and 1 at the end.  When it redialed, it dialed 25232**56531.  Not sure why it also went to Somalia.

That's what I'm confused... I didn't dial "011" in any of those 3 calls... so how did the call go through as int'l calls?

Lavarock7

This is one of those cases where something like VOPI.MS works well. You can specifically block country by country or allow only certain countries.

Of course a wrong number may only cost you a few cents, but some countries are dollars to call a mobile number.

OOPS! I meant  VOIP.MS a Voip provider.
My websites: Kona Coffee: http://itskona.com and Web Hosting: http://planetaloha.info<br />A simplified Voip explanation: http://voip.planet-aloha.com

onepolarbear

I'm still a newbie to this... what is a VOPI.MS? :)

I think the best solution is to completely block int'l calling on my Google Voice
via Obi110. (except for two countries that I frequently call: Germany and UK)
Of course, I also need domestic U.S. calling as well. :)

Is there a way to selectively block out all countries except two? 

Thanks! :)

CoalMinerRetired

> ... I didn't dial "011" in any of those 3 calls... so how did the call go through as int'l calls?

That would seem to indicate GV's international dialing rules are broken.  People will be complainig it in the GV Product Forums if this is happening.

Check into the call histiory in your Obi, see if it confirms the no "011" prefix?

I'm trying to figure out a barring rule (temporary) that will bar calls to 252x. or 1252x. but allow "1xxxxxxxxxx|"  and  "<1>[2-9]xxxxxxxxx|".

The only way I can see to do this is "!252xxxxxx|" and "!1252xxxxxx|", note that are six x's after the !252, this bars six digits after 1252 or 252 are dialed, but with the existing rules will allow 10 and 11-digit calls to 1252-nnx-xxxx.   "!252xxxxxx|" and "!1252xxxxxx|" go after the "<1>[2-9]xxxxxxxxx|" and before the "011xx."  

Factoring in the continuted use of  "011xx." means the dial plan for calls to the US 252 area code depend on the inter digit timers and matching rules. So you have to complete the 10 or 11-digit dialing before the timers and matching rules declare a match on the 9-digit "!252xxxxxx" barring rule. This is what you want, the Obi to catch a 9-digit call when you really want to make a 10 or 11-digit call.  At least without testing this is how I see it will work.

We'll see if anyone else jumps in here.

QBZappy

onepolarbear,

Lazy way to do it is to program those numbers in the OBi speed dial.
Owner of the 1st OBi110/100 units in service in Canada & South America. 1st OBi202 on my street. 1st OBi1032 in Montreal.

azrobert

It looks like GV doesn't require 011 to dial International Calls and just requires a valid country code.

Change your DigitMap to:
(1xxxxxxxxxx|<1>[2-9]xxxxxxxxx|011xx.)

The Obi will now reject any international calls without 011.

Edit:

I did it again.
ianobi already gave you the DigitMap fix.

carl

There is e very simple solution to this problem which may save you some money- stop using GV for international calls. Sign up and set up Localphone.com as a second provider on your Obi110 ( you will have to dial **2) which has far better rates than GV and many other interesting features and services and you are all set. :)

lhm.

+1 for Carl's idea. Also includes a free UK DID/CallerID

Otherwise, numba onepolarbear should have numba twopolarbear do the dialing.   ;D

onepolarbear

thanks for EVERYONE who replied!  I really appreciate the help.

in the end, I took the advice and changed my setting
to (1xxxxxxxxxx|<1>[2-9]xxxxxxxxx|011xx.)

Just tested it... now my call doesn't go to Somalia (252) :)
It just occured to me that some pirates out there may
have gotten my call in the last month or two. :D :D :D


Thanks again! :)

infin8loop

It's amazing that Google Voice doesn't require the 011 prefix before routing a call as international. This is probably by design so Google can fleece folks that make a mistake in dialing.  
I tried dialing my iNum 8835100xxxxxxxx through Google Voice from the OBi110 and the call went through.
In this case 883  is the "Global" or "Earth" country code and 5100 is iNum (Voxbone). Obviously there's enough digits that it's not a U.S. number. The call goes through when the iNum is prefixed with 011 as well. This is probably by design so Google can fleece folks that make a mistake in dialing. You could ask for a credit from Google for the erroneously dialed calls. Imagine if the PSTN networks suddenly removed the 011 prefix requirement for international calls and decided to route calls international if the area code happened to match a country code and the number of digits dialed was a bit short or long for a U.S. call.

I don't maintain a $ balance with Google Voice... and now I know why.  I think Lavarock7 meant voip.ms (not vopi.ms). Voip.ms is a real voip company (well as real as it could be, run by a bunch of Canadians).  Voip.ms has a lot of granularity when limiting international calls including allowing only specific countries and a maximum acceptable per minute rate that applies across the board (which helps prevent getting a surprise when dialing certain "toll" type numbers or inflated cell phones).

Updated: Repositioned a line of text to clarify what I think I meant and corrected a typo.
"This has not only been fun, it's been a major expense." - Gallagher

Felix

I realize I am late to this fascinating conversation...

Quote from: CoalMinerRetired on February 05, 2013, 12:01:04 PM
> ... I didn't dial "011" in any of those 3 calls... so how did the call go through as int'l calls?

That would seem to indicate GV's international dialing rules are broken.  People will be complainig it in the GV Product Forums if this is happening.


When you call from GMail or Google Talk client, you have to select a country from dropdown box (USA is the default), so the problem is specific to OBi users. I guess, it explains why people in GV forum never mentioned it!

Quote from: infin8loop on February 05, 2013, 07:07:26 PM
It's amazing that Google Voice doesn't require the 011 prefix before routing a call as international. 
I tried dialing my iNum 8835100xxxxxxxx through Google Voice from the OBi110 and the call went through.
Neither does Call With Us - and I like it this way. And Betamax requires 00 instead of 011...

I set up digit map on several adapters, so that dialing 1xxx routes to GV, and dialing [2-9]xxx routes to Call With Us. Google Voice caller ID shows without 1 (just 818-xxx or similar) - so I saw similar problem in my family as well. Fortunately 81 is Japan, and 31 is Netherlands (818 and 310 are Los Angeles area codes) - every mistake costs me a cent or two, so we just laugh it off.

However, just to practice setting up digit maps, I changed CWU route to be [2-9]xxxxxxxxxx. - in other words, 11 digits or more. Both Germany and UK would qualify. If you wanted to call Somalia or other strange countries that have 10 digits including country code, you would have a problem - but fortunately, that's a topic for another day :D

lhm.

'The call goes through when the iNum is prefixed with 011 as well. This is probably by design so Google can fleece folks that make a mistake in dialing.'

Perhaps they have a dialplan/digitmap. I know they have more cash than just about everyone else.

Rick

Quote from: ianobi on February 05, 2013, 05:31:40 AM

I like to delete any rules not being used. xx. and [^*#]@@. can cause problems as they both match any number of any digits. None of these are useful in a GV DigitMap: xx.|(Mipd)|[^*#]@@.

To allow 7,10 and 11 digit numbers and genuine international numbers to go via GV, this seems to be the best DigitMap:

(1xxxxxxxxxx|<1>[2-9]xxxxxxxxx|<1aaa>[2-9]xxxxxx|011xx.)
Replace aaa with your local code.


I've now removed xx.|(Mipd)|[^*#]@@. from both my DigitMaps.  Thanks Ianobi!

ianobi

@ Rick,
QuoteIanobi, what would you do if you wanted to prevent ANY international calls?  Remove the |011xx at the end?

A few days ago I would have said yes, removing "011xx." will stop all international calls. Now there seems to be some doubt about how GV handles calls that are not eleven digits starting with "1" and do not start with "011". All I can now say is that this DigitMap:
(1xxxxxxxxxx|<1>[2-9]xxxxxxxxx|<1aaa>[2-9]xxxxxx|011xx.)
Only allows you to dial 7,10 and 11 digit numbers, which will all go to GV as 11 digit numbers starting with "1". Additionally, you can also call any number starting with "011".

ianobi

@onepolarbear,
QuoteI think the best solution is to completely block int'l calling on my Google Voice
via Obi110. (except for two countries that I frequently call: Germany and UK)
Of course, I also need domestic U.S. calling as well.

This can be done using this digit map:
(1xxxxxxxxxx|<1>[2-9]xxxxxxxxx|01144xx.|01149xx.)

44 is the country code for UK, 49 for Germany. This would prevent you from calling any other country using GV. It does allow ten and eleven digit calling for North American numbers.