question

Hello Derek!

Unfortunately there isn't a way to restrict a phone to only accept calls from internal numbers. You can restrict outbound calls to only allow internal numbers using custom roles (you'll need to have either a Premium or Ultimate plan with us to do that), but inbound calls cannot be restricted by type. You could set the extension to block all incoming calls, but unfortunately that will include calls from internal numbers.

I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

Matt

Under the block calls option, can I block all calls but create a rule that allows the internal phone numbers?  Can it use a wildcard?  Such as  - block all calls, except the numbers below:  1XXXX

Right, can I use a wildcard to get a block of numbers?

We found a feature request that is related to your issue that includes a workaround. It technically will get you what you want, though there will be some secondary effects that may or may not work for your situation. I would suggest voting on the request since that would get you what you want in full, and would be much simpler.
https://community.ringcentral.com/ringcentral/topics/ability-to-enable-company-extensions-under-bloc...
I'll walk you through the workaround they suggested, and then I'll go over the secondary effects at the bottom.

1) Sign into the admin portal, click on "Users", and click on "Templates".



2) Click the button that says "Add User Settings Template", name it whatever you want, and then click on your new template.

3) Click on "Outbound", then click "Caller ID". Make sure that the caller ID's for any phones and devices are set to the main number for the company. You can set it to a personal number, but that will create difficulties. Also make sure that you untick the box next to "Display my extension number for internal calls". Then click "Save". 


4) Click the "x" in the upper right corner of the settings for the template to close the settings. To the right of your template click "Apply", select the extensions you want to only allow internal calls, and then click "Save".

5) Go back to Users and click on one of the extensions that you only want to get internal calls. Click "Screening, Greeting, & Hold Music", then click "Blocked Calls". Under "Block option" switch it to "All calls". Under "Allowed numbers and area codes" enter the main company number, then click the "Add" button, and then "Save".



You're all set up now for that extension to only allow internal calls. The template is already created and applied for the other extensions, so just repeat step 5 for the other extensions. Now I'll go over the downsides.

1) You'll need to have the caller ID to show the main company number for anybody who may want to call the extensions that you've set up through this process, which will also show the main company number as the caller ID for your users' external calls. You can use their personal numbers for their caller ID, but you'll need to define them on the extension's blocked call list which can get cumbersome if you have a lot of users.
2) Since everybody is using the main number for their caller ID, your users won't be able to see who exactly is calling them from inside the company. Again, this can be avoided by keeping the users' personal numbers for their caller ID, but they'll have to be entered one by one in blocked calls.
3) There's no way to define the behavior for additional desktop apps (when you sign into the desktop app using a number that's assigned to a physical phone) or for common phones (hot desk phones) in templates. For those you'll need to go user by user, though they're often set to the main number by default so unless you've changed them specifically it may not be an issue.

Have you tried setting all the users "outgoing caller ID" to show as the main number. Everyone at our business has our outgoing caller ID set to be the primary number so that is what everyone sees when we call them, the number we give them verbally, and consequently the only number they call. If I get a call that needs to be transferred to someone else, I can do it using their extension but if the callers don't know our direct numbers, there is no reason they would call it. Let me know if that helps. It's a simple enough tweak that if it does, may save you lots of time and stress.

side note: the one quirk with it that I'm trying to work out is that on blind transfers it re-rings the main number but on warm  transfers it doesn't. I've been told that is not supposed to happen and am currently working on fixing it and our main number triggers a ring group. So that may make a difference. 

We will do that once our number port goes through.  I think the issue is we are using previous RC numbers and they're getting calls not related to our business.

Thanks for the tip.

We had the same issue with our paging system.  I was able to accomplish this by creating a custom rule on the Paging phone # to say "If the called # is ###-###-#### (the external #) then Play announcement only.  When we dial the ext # internally, the call goes thru to our paging system.

Wildcard as in 1XXXX, the X representing a digit.