IVR Prompts or Failed Calls When Dialling Out With a Telstra Custom Caller ID

As part of Telstra's response to new telecommunications industry regulations around reducing scam calls, Telstra are now prompting users to respond with a key press when they receive a call from MaxoTel where the phone number presented is one that resides on Telstra's network. In some cases where the receiving party is not with Telstra, the calls may fail to connect.

As a practical example, if you have a service from Telstra with the phone number 0712345678, and you have added this phone number to your custom Caller ID for your MaxoTel service, calls to other Telstra numbers trying to present 0712345678 will prompt you to press a key before the call is connected. If the correct key is not entered, the call will not connect.

This applies to both Telstra mobile numbers and Telstra landlines.

To ensure your service is not impacted by these changes, there are two options available to you:

Port Your Telstra Number to MaxoTel

Number porting is the process of moving your phone number from Telstra directly to your MaxoTel service. Once the port has complete, your phone number resides on MaxoTel's network and can be routed in the same way as any numbers sourced from our stock pool.

Change Your Caller ID

Should you not wish to port your phone numbers, or you're in the process but it hasn't yet completed and don't wish to be prompted on calls, you can instead select a phone number already on your MaxoTel account to use as your Caller ID.

If you don't currently have any phone numbers, you can order a new number by selecting Number Routing, then Add a New Number. For more information, please see Portal Guide - Number Routing

Caller ID can be set on an account-wide default or per extension basis. To set your account-wide default Caller ID, click on your username at the top right of the Portal, then choose the desired Caller ID from the dropdown. To set your Caller ID on a per-extension basis, choose the PBX Extensions or SIP Trunks section (depending on your plan), edit the extension you wish to change, then choose the desired Caller ID from the Caller ID dropdown.

Further Information

The ACMA and Communications Alliance introduced additional regulations (Reducing Scam Calls) recently in an effort to identify and block scam calls. You can find the code at the Communications Alliance website

Telstra's approach is designed to combat 'spoofed numbers', where a scammer sets their Caller ID to a number different to their own in an attempt to convince potential victims to answer their calls, and of their legitimacy. MaxoTel combats spoofed numbers by requiring validation on any custom Caller IDs added to your service.