question

Sanford Hess avatar image
Sanford Hess asked Sanford Hess commented

How to Block Internal Extensions (from calling a door lock)

We have a door lock that is linked to an extension with an Analog converter, so that calling the extension unlocks the door.

By upgrading this to a full User license, we are able to block external calls to the door lock's DID. However, there's a loophole because outside callers can get to an IVR menu and (if they knew the right extension) trigger the door lock.

Ideally, we want to block ALL calls from triggering the lock, except for a limited number of internal extensions. However, our testing of the "Block All Calls" setting found that internal extensions bypass this setting.

Has anyone found a resolution to this issue?


phone
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mary-community-moderator avatar image mary-community-moderator ♦♦ commented ·

Hi Sanford, There is no workaround for this. You may submit a feature request instead in our Ideas Portal at https://ideas.ringcentral.com/.

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Anthony Cervelli avatar image Anthony Cervelli commented ·

Can external calls be blocked from dialing directly to an extension (for a paging system)? We only want internal calls or extensions to be able to dial.

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Sanford Hess avatar image Sanford Hess Anthony Cervelli commented ·

We had to upgrade to a full license for the door lock, but then we could block external calls by listing all of the area codes (with a leading 1) in the section "Screening, Greeting & Hold Music" then Blocked Calls. Thanks for the ideas below - we'll give them a shot.

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1 Answer

tak-it1 avatar image
tak-it1 answered tak-it1 edited

Yeah, you can do this via a customer answering rule on your intercom's seat. This will require you to park the phone number associated with the seat on the Auto-Receptionist first, followed by the rule.

Under the intercom seat's Call Handling and Forwarding, click "Custom Rule" -> Add Rule. Give it a name and click "Called Number" - this is the condition used for this rule. In my example, I selected the # + extension of the seat (xxx-xxx-8800+101). Click "next" and set the rule action to something other than "forward calls," such as "Play Announcement Only." You may also need to add the main company number + extension into the rule as well, depending on how well I understood your request.

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The logic here is that, with the # being parked on the AA, if someone dials into that number (or the main company number, or whatever # you input), and enters the extension of the intercom seat, the rule will match their input and route it to an announcement that says a greeting and then disconnects. This does NOT affect internal dialing of the extension, only external #s trying to open the door via a loophole. Dialing the intercom's extension as a user within your RC portal is simply them dialing the extension, not the # + extension, so the rule would not kick in and the internal RC user can still access the intercom extension. Internal users that should not have access to the intercom extension, you would just apply a custom role to their profile if you don't want them dialing the intercom to unlock doors.


This sounds more complex than it is - give it a shot and let me know how it goes. Just to be transparent, I've never done this specifically with a door lock but have done it with countless other types of hardware and/or specific client requirements for their needs and it works as intended. I presume the logic will work here, too. The only thing that might not work is if the ATA still detects the DTMF input - RC will work via the rule, but the ATA may still default to the inbound DTMF. You'll just have to give it a whirl and see.


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