Call Blocking
Call blocking is important for any business coping with the nuisance and time waste caused by unsolicited telemarketing calls, many of them generated by software robots. Call blocking can also apply for outbound calls to prevent employees from abusing the company's phone resources.
Telebroad's Admin Portal
Inbound call blocking is achieved with the Filtered Forwarding feature on the admin protal. It can be set up for specific numbers or for entire area codes, prefixes, or number sets (minimum 6 digits).
The admin portal also allows you to track outbound calls and block select number, costly international calls, or directory assistance calls (411).
Do Not Call Registry
For inbound calls, you can also sign up to the National Do Not Call Registry, making it illegal for some telemarketers to call you. After you register your number, telemarketers have 31 days to stop calling you. Afterward, they are subject to heavy fines if they keep calling you on the number you registered.
Blocking Feature on Physical Phones
Some of the phones we sell and support also have a feature to automatically block incoming calls. On Yealink phones (see relevant user guides for T4 series, T5 series, and conference phones) this feature is called Blocklist Directory and on Poly phones (see relevant user guides here) it is called Auto Reject.
Call Filtering
Call filtering is a more advanced type of call blocking where calls are blocked according to specific rules. It allows for schedules setups where the filtering applies only on certain hours or days. This can be useful, for example, if different shifts or workers deal with different area codes or countries.
Call filtering rules can also let some calls be accepted in situations where, otherwise, regular call blocking would have applied. For example, when an incoming number already exists in a user's address book, call filtering would allow it even if the area code for the number is blocked.
By combining several rules you can create lists of approved numbers that meet certain criteria to make sure you don't lose potential clients from certain area codes or markets. Rules can be prioritized, emphasizing some over others, to create complex filtering scenarios.
Lastly, different rules can have different routing options where instead of blocking a call you route it to a certain destination — a voicemail, a specialized agent, or the automatic attendant.