Blocking calls where Caller ID name starts with a digit
Posted: Sun Feb 14, 2021 5:18 pm
Has anybody else run into an issue where one or more blocking rules end up blocking more calls than expected? Is there a way to test whether a given rule would block a specific name or number? The Call Logs don't include blocked calls, (nor do they indicate which rules blocked which calls), so that makes it a lot harder to troubleshoot any problems with blocking rules.
For the past year or so, I had received a small number of calls where the Caller ID name matches the Caller ID number. I couldn't set up a rule to specifically block those calls. Instead, about 4 months ago, I set up 9 rules to block calls where the name starts with one of the digits 0-7, or 9. (I omitted the rule for "8", to leave names like "800 service" unblocked.)
It took me several weeks after that to notice that I was only receiving calls from my Contact List. I did not get any other calls during that time, including any calls that the new rules shouldn't be blocking, (where the name starts with a non-digit character). I double-checked the obvious, that the new rules were "block-by-name", and not "block-by-number", and "Start With" a single digit. Did I miss anything? Is there anything else I should check for? I then deleted the new rules, and almost immediately started getting (non-matching) calls outside my Contact List again.
I got a couple more calls in the last few weeks where the name matches the the number, so I want to try to reintroducing the new rules to block those calls. I also want to verify that they only block calls that match the rule. However, the number of non-matching calls I got in the last two months has also dropped substantially, (from about 1-2 per day, to a few per month), for unknown reasons, which would only make it harder to troubleshoot any new rules.
Is there a better way to set up blocking rules for these calls, or to debug the rules?
Thanks,
For the past year or so, I had received a small number of calls where the Caller ID name matches the Caller ID number. I couldn't set up a rule to specifically block those calls. Instead, about 4 months ago, I set up 9 rules to block calls where the name starts with one of the digits 0-7, or 9. (I omitted the rule for "8", to leave names like "800 service" unblocked.)
It took me several weeks after that to notice that I was only receiving calls from my Contact List. I did not get any other calls during that time, including any calls that the new rules shouldn't be blocking, (where the name starts with a non-digit character). I double-checked the obvious, that the new rules were "block-by-name", and not "block-by-number", and "Start With" a single digit. Did I miss anything? Is there anything else I should check for? I then deleted the new rules, and almost immediately started getting (non-matching) calls outside my Contact List again.
I got a couple more calls in the last few weeks where the name matches the the number, so I want to try to reintroducing the new rules to block those calls. I also want to verify that they only block calls that match the rule. However, the number of non-matching calls I got in the last two months has also dropped substantially, (from about 1-2 per day, to a few per month), for unknown reasons, which would only make it harder to troubleshoot any new rules.
Is there a better way to set up blocking rules for these calls, or to debug the rules?
Thanks,