Universal network-level blocking of calls

In order to combat telephone fraud, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has ordered all Canadian telecommunication service providers to implement the universal network-level blocking of calls. This blocking feature is automated, based on static and well-defined rules. Incoming calls from a phone number that does not conform to the North American numbering plan standards will be automatically rejected.

Evidently, to comply with this new regulation, EBOX has followed suit to protect Canadian consumers from telephone fraud.

The telephone numbering plan stipulates that:

• An international number allows for a maximum of 15 numbers;
• A North American number allows for a maximum of 10 numbers;

○ This does not take into account the country code (1) used when making long distance calls.

• A North American number has a valid and presently used area code that does not start with 0 or 1, or end with 11;
• A North American number contains a valid subscriber number (the seven digits following the area code), meaning it does not begin with a 0 or a 1.

This type of blocking is intended to help reduce the volume of unsolicited calls, but cannot entirely stop them.

Although this new measure is intended to target unsolicited calls, it is still possible, but highly unlikely, that a legitimate call may get blocked. In the event that someone (a person or business that can be confirmed as a legitimate call) tries to contact you and they are unable to, we invite you to contact our technical support department. They can be reached at 1 844 323-3269 . Please keep in mind that our support team will need to know the phone number in question, the date and the approximate time of the call, in order to resolve the issue.

In the same vein, we would like to inform you that even before this new regulation, EBOX has always offered all of its clients a ‘number call block’ feature. This feature is free of charge and allows the blocking of specific phone numbers via the help of a telephone handset or your Customer Zone. For more information, please refer to the User’s Guide.

For more information regarding this new regulation, we invite you to consult the Compliance and Enforcement and Telecom Regulatory Policy CRTC 2018-484 online.