Blocking specific callers with a Filter Phone Group

Some numbers you simply do not want reaching an agent: a known prank caller, a number that keeps tying up the line, or a contact you have agreed not to call. VICIdial can recognize those callers by their caller ID and route them away before they ever queue. The tool for the job is a Filter phone group, a stored list of phone numbers that a DID (direct inward dialing) (the number people dial) checks each call against.

Blocking is just routing somewhere else

There is no single block button. Instead, a match on the filter group triggers a Filter Action, and you set that action to a dead end. Most often that means a hangup extension, a recorded message, or a voicemail box. The blocked caller gets routed there; everyone else flows through the DID normally. The system has a few built-in hangup extensions that produce different results, from an immediate disconnect to a busy tone or a ring-then-hangup, so you can pick how an unwanted call ends.

Think about which dead end fits your situation. A plain hangup is the cleanest for a nuisance number you never want to hear from. A short recorded message is gentler when the caller is a real customer you simply cannot serve through this line, and voicemail makes sense when you still want to capture what they have to say. The right choice is less about VICIdial and more about how you want that caller to experience being turned away.

Steps to block a number

1. Create a Filter Phone Group for blocked numbers and add the numbers, one per line, no spaces or dashes.
2. On the DID, set Filter Inbound Number to GROUP.
3. Choose your blocked group as the Filter Phone Group ID.
4. Set the Filter Action to a hangup extension, a MESSAGE extension, or VOICEMAIL.

flowchart TD
  A[Call arrives] --> B[Filter Inbound Number is GROUP]
  B --> C[Compare caller ID to blocked list]
  C -->|Match| D[Filter Action]
  D --> E[Hangup or message or voicemail]
  C -->|No match| F[Normal route to in-group]

Filter group versus DNC

A filter phone group is not the same as a DNC (do not call) list. The Filter Inbound Number setting can actually point at either: GROUP searches your filter group, while DNC_INTERNAL searches the internal do-not-call list and DNC_CAMPAIGN searches one campaign's list. Use a DNC list when the goal is compliance and the same numbers must be honored on outbound dialing too. Use a filter group when the blocking is purely about inbound routing for this DID.

There is also an areacode option. If you add AREACODE to the Filter Inbound Number setting, VICIdial will check both the full number and a separate entry for that number's three-digit areacode. That lets you block or screen an entire region without listing every number from it, which is useful when a wave of unwanted calls is all coming from the same place. The DNC options already include areacode matching built in.

For the flip side of this, where you fast-track good callers instead of blocking bad ones, see routing VIP callers with a Filter Phone Group. The inbound call handling guide shows where filtering sits in the overall flow.

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