What is Spam?

In telecommunications, spam can come from more than just an email service. It can also be phone calls received from robocallers. Often companies that use such systems have purchased a list of phone numbers of potential customers or use a random number dialer, and are calling them at will, with no prior authorization to make that contact. Essentially, it is the same as the unsolicited emails that we term spam, only worse, because they usually call at the worst possible time.

Setting Up Call Blocking

Halloo account administrators can combat spam by blocking calls from specific phone numbers or prefixes. This feature is located on the side bar “Call Blocker” under the “Extensions” tab in My Halloo.

To add and edit blocked numbers, remember that phone numbers must be entered in international format, and include the country code.

For example, 12125551212, would block calls from 555-1212 in New York City. Omitting the “1″ would mean that the rule would apply to calls from Morocco, which has the country code “+212″.

The asterisk or star [*] is allowed at the end of the string to block all calls from a specific prefix. For example “1876*” blocks all calls from Jamaica.

When a call is blocked, the caller will get a busy signal and not show up in the call log. Call blocking applies on an account level to all direct inward dial lines (DIDs) equally.

Using Voicemail to Reduce Spam

In your voicemail system, you have the option to require callers to “Press 1″ to leave a voice message. If the caller is human, they will follow the instructions and press 1. But, the robo caller will not, and the system will hang up on them. This feature can greatly reduce the number of these nuisance messages.

To access this option, go to “User Settings” -> “Voicemail”. Select “Caller must press 1 to leave a message” to enable this feature.