Universal Call Blocking
Here’s everything you need to know about Universal Call Blocking and how it will impact you, including protecting you from unsafe calls. On December 18th 2018, the CRTC (Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission) mandated that all Canadian carriers & telecommunications providers implement universal network-level call blocking where the caller identification purports to originate from telephone number that do not conform to established numbering plans.
Gazelle is committed to providing our clients with secure, reliable and enterprise grade telecommunications services. We celebrate this mandate from the CRTC as it will allow all Canadians to receive a higher grade of telephony service nationwide. We have answered a variety of the most common questions concerning UCB, or Universal Call Blocking below:
What is Universal Call Blocking (UCB)?
Universal Call Blocking is a CRTC mandate (CRTC decision 2018-484) to block all incoming voice calls that have malformed calling line ID information. This applies to all Canadian service providers. Malformed calling line ID information contains telephone numbers that do not comply with North American or International numbering plans.
Universal Call Blocking will prevent you from receiving calls with calling line IDs that have malformed numbers.
Any incoming call with a malformed calling line ID will likely be blocked by the destination party’s service provider.
Generally, any number that does not comply with the North American Numbering Plan or international standards will be blocked. 000 000-0000, 111 111-1111 or numbers with more than 15 digits are examples of non-compliant numbers.
No, Universal Call Blocking is a CRTC- mandated service that applies to all customers.
Yes, Universal Call Blocking is a network level solution that is applied to all incoming voice calls for wireless, IP and landline phones.
Yes, Universal Call Blocking rules will still apply to all Gazelle voice services, even when outside of Canada.
Universal Call Blocking only blocks calls with malformed calling line IDs. Unfortunately this may not stop all spam calls.
No, Universal Call Blocking will not scan any intra-office calls. Extension dialing within the office network will not be impacted.
No, Universal Call Blocking is applied at network level, so you are not required to make any changes in settings on their end. If you have a programmable calling line ID, you must ensure that a compliant calling line ID is displayed, otherwise outgoing calls may be blocked by other Canadian voice service providers.
If you have a phone system that is capable of modifying the outgoing Caller ID (through a physical PBX or in the cloud), then calls with a malformed Caller ID may be blocked by universal call blocking.
It is important that you use a number compliant with the North American Numbering Plan, e.g. your 10-digit main telephone number to avoid any service interruption.
