Ooma Forums

Presently there are three major issues with the Block List:

1. Names in the Call Log do not replace spaces with the non-breaking space HTML entity ( ), resulting in truncated names which don't match the actual value.
2. Blocked Names can not contain symbols such as Commas, Ampersands, Hyphens, Plus Signs, and Parentheses, though they often show up in Caller ID names.
3. Adding a name to the Block List trims that name, making it impossible to create rules such as "ends in ' CA'" to block "CITY CA" but allow "AMERICA".

Apart from these issues, I'd also like to suggest a few additional features:

1. Allow Regular Expressions (PCRE would probably be a good standard to stick to) to the Blocked Names feature for advanced users.
2. Add variables for checking names against their own numbers. For example, "%A" for Area, "%P" for Prefix, and "%S" for suffix would allow users to create rules such as "+%A-%P%S" that would block Caller ID names such as "+123-4567890" and "(%A) %P-%S" to block "(123) 456-7890" if the number 1234567890 calls, while for 9998887777, the names "+999-8887777" and "(999) 888-7777" respectively would be blocked instead.
3. Add a sixth type of call blocking that prompts non-contact callers with a Captcha of sorts - Ask them to enter a series of digits on their phone to continue, and add any successes to a Captcha Whitelist, while sending failures to the voicemail or whatever the user chooses to do.
4. Let users press a key (or series of keys) on their home phone to block an incoming call without having to use the website.

Thank you Andy for your suggestions.

I especially like the idea to have callers prove they are not a robocall robot by pressing a digit on their phone, thereby adding them automatically to a white list. It has been put forth before, so I hope Ooma takes note. I think it would have a dramatic effect on the number of junk calls received.