Merlin Legend - Blocking Area Codes 1

[Jim E]

Hello, I have a Merlin Legend (7.0 rel) in my home, key system mode, and I would like to block calls to selected area codes on a system-wide basis for every station and every line (3 co lines). I've been reading the manuals and haven't found an explanation on how to do this that works. I tried to play with the disallowed lists in Tables. I entered Tables | Disallow | List 0 and entry 0. I entered 1900, then enter. I tried dialing 1-900-555-1212 and the call went through. I also tried variations using 1900PPPPPPP (P was the wildcard from pressing Hold) with the same result, the call went through. I'm looking to enter all the Canadian area codes (50).

I also noticed a "DisallowTo" on the menu, but did not find any reference to this, so I can't tell the difference btw "Disallow" and "DisallowTO".

Any help on what I'm missing would be appreciated. Thanks, Jim

 

[dagwoodsystems]

There is a way to do this with a PRI, but I'm confident that it cannot be done using POTS lines. Legend/Magix was an incredible switch for it's time, but it did have some limitations.

Tim Alberstein

 

[Jim E]

Hi, Below is what I found in the Legend Rel 7 documentation that describes what I want to do, AND I can't get it to work as described! I also found the default codes, such as 976, that were already programmed by Avaya in a Disallowed list (List 7) which are also ignored. So I must be missing some step; everything I read says you do not have to program each extension individually. Since this is in a residence, no routing tables, AllowedList. AllowTo and DisallowTo are being used (all the lists are empty).

Disallowed Lists

Use Disallowed Lists to prevent people from making calls to specific numbers— numbers that even unrestricted telephones cannot dial. You can use this feature instead of restricting telephones totally from making toll or local calls. For example, to prevent people from calling time and temperature, their horoscopes, or other services typically offered on the 976 exchange, disallow calls to that exchange. Or, to prevent employees from calling “talk” lines typically offered in the 900 area code, disallow calls to that area code.

You can use a "wild card" character to indicate that you want calls to an exchange restricted in every area code—for example, the 976 exchange in any state. During system programming, a "pause" (entered using the Hold button)indicates a wild card character; therefore, use the letter "p" to indicate that a wild card character should be programmed.

 

[dagwoodsystems]

Oh gosh, I'm so sorry. I didn't read your post closely enough. I thought you were talking about blocking INBOUND calls. Ugh.

Typically I would fill in Disallowed Lists 6 and 7. List 6 (entries 0-4) would have the following: 1900, 976, 1ppp976, 1700 and 1809. List 7 (entries 0-8) would include: 0, 10, 11, 1809, 1700, 1900, 976, 1ppp976 and *.

As you can see, one table is much more restrictive than the other. Some phones you might not even want to be able to reach an operator to help complete a call.

Next step is to put any extension number in the DisallowTo List that you want for the associated table.

Tim Alberstein

 

[Jim E]

Hello Tim, Thanks for clarifying things; I made a few tests and the restrictions are working. It appears there is no way to block access to selected area codes on a system-wide basis; you have to assign each extension to one or more disallow lists.

Based on this, if I wanted to block all calls to Canada (50 area codes), I would have to create 5 lists of 10 area codes each (1204, 1226, 1235, etc). Then I would have to take every extension and assign it to each of the 5 lists. A lot of data entry! And I would have run out of list capacity to add the 0 prefix to each of the area codes to prevent 0 plus dialing. I'm thinking there had to be a better way - how did a business with say, 200 extensions, restrict toll calling to the US only?

As a hobby, it's interesting to try the different Legend features, just curious how a medium size business would handle. Thanks again for your time and answer.

 

[merlinman]

Yep, that's how it's done.

Hi Tim....

http://merlinmanswebpage.yolasite.com