Caller Type: Unknown
Phone Number Owner: PDR2
Phone Number Report: I started getting calls from these a**holes recently, but not anymoe.
With my ViaTalk VOIP service, I just login to the control panel, find one of their calls in my call logs (which go all the way back to October 21, 2008) and click on Routing Options. There I can choose from any of these:
BUSY always gets a busy signal
BLOCKED "This number is blocked"
BLACKLISTED "This number is blacklisted"
STOPCALLING "This number is blacklisted. Please stop calling. You are not welcome here"
VOICEMAIL goes directly to voicemail & I have it set to just email the recording to me and discard the message
DISCONNECTED the 3 usual beep tones for a disconnected number, followed by "The number you have dialed is no longer in service. Please check the number and dial again"
FORWARD to any number I want, e.g. the FTC, FCC, any police department, a toll-free phone sex line
AUTHENTICATE - The caller will be prompted to enter a series of numbers to confirm that it is a real caller and not an automated dialing system.
and my favorite:
LONG RING - The new LONGRING option plays a ringing tone to the caller for an indefinite period of time (but never bothers me by ringing my phone) HELPS TO WASTE THEIR TIME!
I can also Route by Caller ID Name
This feature allows you to block incoming calls based on the Caller ID name received.
Any - Block a call with Pattern appearing in the caller ID anywhere.
Ex: Cell
Blocks: "Cell Phone NY", "George's Cell"
Exact - Block a call only if the exact Pattern appears in the Caller ID.
Ex: Cell Phone
Blocks: "Cell Phone NY", "Mom's Cell Phone"
Does not block: "Cellular Phone", "Cell NY", "Cell NY Phone"
and I can Block Invalid Callers
Block Numbers That Start With 0
Block any incoming call with a telephone number starting with 0.
Block Invalid US Number
If your caller's telephone number is less than 10 digits and is not a valid US phone number (IE: 45678,
1-111-111-1111, 51, etc.) the call will be blocked if this feature is active. Be aware that this will prevent all international callers (excluding Canada) from calling you if you have this feature active.
Anonymous Call Routing has all of these options:
LongRing: plays a ringing tone to the caller for an indefinite period of time.
Authenticate: The caller will be prompted to enter a series of numbers to confirm that it is a real caller and not an automated dialing system.
Voicemail: The caller will be sent directly to your voicemail.
Busy: The caller will hear a busy signal.
Blocked: The caller will hear a recording informing them they are blocked.
Long Ring: The caller will hear a ringing tone indefinitely.
Disabled: Anonymous calls are not restricted at all.
I think I can override some Anonymous Call Routing by using the Caller ID Pattern Matching rules mentioned above for calls that specifically say "Private", "Unknown", "Not Available", etc., but I'm not sure; I haven't tested that recently, nor asked ViaTalk about it.
I can also have all non-blocked calls ring my wireless at the same time as my landline, in case an important call comes in and I'm not at home, This also prevents burglars from casing my home by calling just to see if anyone answers. If I want, I can specify SIMULRING for only calls from certain numbers.
If I don't want to hear from anyone, I can turn on "Do Not Disturb" either manually or pre-scheduled for certain hours of the day.
As you might have guessed, I love the features offered by ViaTalk.
