Skip to content
AI Dialer

Glossary · Voice technology

What is Calling restrictions?

  • Also called: call restrictions, call restricted

Reviewed by Sujan ThapaliyaLast updated

Definition

Calling restrictions are limits a carrier or account holder places on which calls a line may make or receive: barring international or premium-rate destinations, blocking withheld numbers, or suspending outbound calling on an unpaid account. The message a caller hears rarely says which applies.
The three STIR/SHAKEN attestation levels, which underpin how calling restrictions behaves in practice: A asserts both that the carrier knows the customer and that the customer may use the calling number, B asserts the customer only, and C asserts neither. A shared number pool can reach B at best, which is why number ownership keeps recurring in these definitions.
Attestation is the backdrop to most caller-ID and deliverability terms, calling restrictions included.

In practice

How calling restrictions actually works

Most people meet the term through the recorded announcement that a call cannot be completed because of calling restrictions. That announcement is deliberately vague, and it covers everything from an unpaid bill to a barred international destination to a block the recipient set on your number specifically.

On a business phone system, restrictions are a control rather than a fault. Barring premium-rate and unusual international destinations is the single most effective defence against toll fraud, because it removes the destinations the fraud depends on.

If a call to one number fails while others succeed, the restriction is far more likely to be at the destination or on that route than on your own line.

Worked example

If one destination fails while everything else connects, the restriction is at the destination or on that route. If everything fails, look at the account before the network.

Calling restrictions: common questions

What does 'calling restrictions' mean when calling someone?
That the call was refused somewhere in the path — by your carrier, by the destination network, or by a bar on that specific destination type. The announcement does not distinguish between them by design.
Does calling restrictions mean I have been blocked?
Not necessarily, and usually not. A personal block normally produces a single ring then voicemail, or silence. A restrictions announcement more often means a barred destination, an account issue, or a route the carrier will not complete.
How do I fix calling restrictions on a business line?
Check the account status first, then which destination classes are barred on the line. International and premium-rate barring is often on deliberately, and turning it off to fix one call reopens the toll-fraud path it was closing.

Sources

  1. Combating Spoofed Robocalls with Caller ID Authentication — Federal Communications CommissionThe STIR/SHAKEN framework, the attestation levels carriers sign calls with, and the mandate requiring providers to authenticate caller ID.
  2. 47 U.S.C. § 227 — Restrictions on the use of telephone equipment — Cornell Legal Information InstituteThe Telephone Consumer Protection Act itself — the consent requirements, calling-hours limits, and private right of action.
  3. ITU-T Recommendation E.164 — The international public telecommunication numbering plan — International Telecommunication UnionThe international number format, the 15-digit maximum, and how country codes and national numbers compose.

See calling restrictions in the product

A hosted PBX is a business phone system that runs as software in a provider's data centre instead of a box on your premises. Handsets and softphones register to it over the internet, and capacity, extensions and numbers change in configuration rather than by an engineer visit.

Explore hosted pbxGet early access