Prevent dialling of internal extensions at the IVR/digital receptionist

[PBX_Programmer]

Hi,

We have a requirement to prevent the dialling of any 4 digit internal extension from an IVR menu. I'll explain further. The system is in a hotel, and callers to the hotel are being presented with the usual IVR options to choose from (1 for Reception, 2 for Restaurant, etc etc) which is great. Unfortunately somebody has been calling the hotel on their external number and dialling 4 digit internal extensions from the IVR, and have been able to reach guest bedrooms this way, and have been abusive to hotel guests. Naturally the hotel manager has asked that we prevent this happening.

We have been advised by 3CX Support to set up a script that will prevent the dialling of any extension numbers at the IVR. We have tried this, however the result is that callers are now prompted for a PIN when they hit the IVR. That is not going to be suitable, as the only people ever calling into that IVR via the hotel's SIP trunks are the hotel customers and suppliers.

The document they pointed us towards is this one - https://www.3cx.com/docs/call-processing-script-dtmf/

Nobody calling into the IVR from outside should ever be asked for a PIN and should never have the ability to dial any internal extensions.

Has anybody else had the same issue and if so is there any solution to it at all?

Thanks!

 

[Alejandro_3CX]

Hi @PBX_Programmer you need to set the DTMF options, for example in the guide you can notice the following

{ "2024", "250" },

{ "1234", "100" },

{ "2345", "101" },

{ "3456", "102" },

{ "", "103" } // No input

If someone dials 2024 it will connect to the user 250, so basically the 2024 is the PIN, you need to use your DTMF options like
{ "1", "250" }, where DTMF 1 will connect with the 250.

Now regarding the prompt, by default the script uses {"PLSENTER", "PIN", "THENPRESPND"} that is why you listen please enter personal identification number then press pound.

You can change that and use your prompt that was in the standard IVR.

I hope this is clear enough.

 

[PBX_Programmer]

Hi @PBX_Programmer you need to set the DTMF options, for example in the guide you can notice the following

{ "2024", "250" },

{ "1234", "100" },

{ "2345", "101" },

{ "3456", "102" },

{ "", "103" } // No input

If someone dials 2024 it will connect to the user 250, so basically the 2024 is the PIN, you need to use your DTMF options like
{ "1", "250" }, where DTMF 1 will connect with the 250.

Now regarding the prompt, by default the script uses {"PLSENTER", "PIN", "THENPRESPND"} that is why you listen please enter personal identification number then press pound.

You can change that and use your prompt that was in the standard IVR.

I hope this is clear enough.

Hi Alejandro,

Thanks for getting back to me about this one, that's very helpful. I do have a question though if I may. This particular system has several other internal IVR's set up to do different things for different internal departments and these will have different DTMF options of their own. If I set up the script as you've mentioned, how do I stop the script affecting calls which route via these other IVR's? I only want the changes to affect the hotel's main IVR but when I set up the script the only option available is "system wide".

Thanks!

 

[ivank]

You can prohibit the transfer from the IVR to the rooms, but there's no explicit UI switch for this.
If you are interested, drop me a DM please.