Call routing - Private/Blocked calls

**orum** · 01-12-2009 07:21 PM

I am trying to figure out how to send all blocked calls to voicemail directly.

http://support.voipo.com/index.php?_...kbarticleid=73

The above article lists Private/Blocked numbers as an option for a call route, but I don't see it in any of the options.

Thanks,
Dan

**usa2k** · 01-13-2009 04:43 AM

Click features tab and then click "Block Private Calls: Enabled"

EDIT: Does it go to voicemail? Not sure, never really cared.

**orum** · 01-13-2009 06:45 AM

Originally Posted by usa2k

Click features tab and then click "Block Private Calls: Enabled"

EDIT: Does it go to voicemail? Not sure, never really cared.

I saw that and thought that was different.

There are 2 features listed in the Residential Voice announcement. The one in your post is "Anonymous Call Rejection", which I don't think goes to voicemail.

I am looking for this(my bold below):

Originally Posted by announcement post in the Launch Updates Forum

Advanced Call Routing

Everyone is bombarded with calls these days and we wanted to give everyone a little bit of control. All incoming calls can be routed based on criteria you set. By default, all your incoming calls will get through to you. If you want to change that, here are some options.

What you can route….

Specific phone numbers
Use wildcards to create custom ranges or route entire area codes, etc
Contacts
Entire groups of contacts
Private/Blocked number calls
All callers that aren’t a contact

Where you can route your selection to…

Busy signal
Disconnected message
Forward to another number
Straight to voicemail

You can setup unlimited routing options and manage them all in real-time.

Since there are six options in this list, I wonder if the one I am looking for was removed for some reason?

Thanks,
Dan

**VOIPoTim** · 01-13-2009 09:44 AM

Originally Posted by orum

I saw that and thought that was different.

There are 2 features listed in the Residential Voice announcement. The one in your post is "Anonymous Call Rejection", which I don't think goes to voicemail.

I am looking for this(my bold below):

Since there are six options in this list, I wonder if the one I am looking for was removed for some reason?

Thanks,
Dan

I think that was removed because it was conflicting with the standalone block anonymous feature.

We're tweaking some of the call routing options anyway and should be rolling out the next verison of that very soon that addresses several bugs brought up.

**orum** · 01-13-2009 10:39 AM

Great news. I will keep an eye out for that. Having options for the Private blocking might help as well.

I don't want to answer Private calls most of the time, but don't want to miss an important one. Sometimes doctors offices, etc. come in this way, and I would like to at least let them leave a message (telemarkters likely won't do that).

In my search for a VOIP provider, I also saw someone had a feature that intercepted Private calls and had the user key in a phone number, and that was passed to the Caller ID. My old AT&T line had a feature called Privacy Manager that recorded the caller's name and then let you screen it prior to deciding what to do with the call.

Lots of ideas for future features. (I don't even have my ATA yet, but can't wait for VOIPo!)

Dan

**orum** · 01-24-2009 01:40 PM

Originally Posted by VOIPoTim

I think that was removed because it was conflicting with the standalone block anonymous feature.

We're tweaking some of the call routing options anyway and should be rolling out the next verison of that very soon that addresses several bugs brought up.

I was thinking about this again, and I understand the more simple nature of the standalone block anonymous feature, but it limits the user options.

If we aren't going to get anonymous as one of the inbound call routing choices, can the block anonymous feature have options - Disable, Voicemail, Blocked? (And is it too much to ask for a * code to control it?)

Thanks,
Dan

**orum** · 01-28-2009 08:29 PM

I figured out how to do this.

If you get an anonymous call, you can select it in the call history and select to send it to voicemail. It creates a rule that has Call From: anonym Send To: Voicemail.

I also tried creating this rule by putting anonym in a new rule as the "number". This also appears to work.

Now all my anonymous calls go to voicemail, but if I want to take them, I just delete the rule.

Dan

**orum** · 02-05-2009 08:25 PM

Something changed and this rule stopped working for me.

I went and looked at my call log again, and now anonymous calls show up as "restricted". I just added a rule for restricted to go to voicemail, and it is working again.

I thought others might be interested.

Dan

**frankd1** · 03-15-2009 03:21 PM

Originally Posted by orum

Something changed and this rule stopped working for me.

I went and looked at my call log again, and now anonymous calls show up as "restricted". I just added a rule for restricted to go to voicemail, and it is working again.

I thought others might be interested.

Dan

Is this method still working for you? Once the latest hiccups are comfortably in the past, I'm going to recommend my partner port his AT&T POTS line to VOIPo, but this particular issue is a big deal for him. As others have mentioned, my partner currently has AT&T's privacy manager, so he doesn't have to deal with anonymous calls. If your method is reliable (and isn't a coding quirk that might change once they start up feature build-out again) it's a non-issue. But I don't want to recommend he port if this behavior might change (at least without a corresponding new feature that addresses anonymous calls just as they already address private calls).

Also, is there an existing or planned feature for blocking outbound caller ID permanently (with per call unblocking), rather than the current per call block with *67? My partner's an MD, so this is also a big deal for him... blocking his outbound is the norm (not the exception) for calling patients when he's on-call. I searched the forum for this topic and struck out.

**VOIPoTim** · 03-15-2009 03:22 PM

Originally Posted by frankd1

Also, is there an existing or planned feature for blocking outbound caller ID permanently (with per call unblocking), rather than the current per call block with *67? My partner's an MD, so this is also a big deal for him... blocking his outbound is the norm (not the exception) for calling patients when he's on-call. I searched the forum for this topic and struck out.

This is in testing now. There will be an option in vPanel likely this week to block caller ID.