Wildcard Phone Numbers in Address Book?

Hello. I recently switched to my personal iPhone for work use, and as an IT manager I'm in a role where I get SMS pages as applicable. I'm not sure what's under the covers, but the texts come through to me so far (it's been less than a week) in the range of 1 (410) 000-001 through -022. I assumed it would stop at -010 or -020, but I'm quickly coming to the realization that this could go all the way through -999, and then possibly even the prefix digits could be variable. Anyway, I created an Address Book entry where I was hoping to capture these texts so they aren't scattered among my Messages app as these random numbers, as well as assign them a different tone so I know it's a work page vs. personal, and every time a new number comes through I add it, hoping maybe that's the last one. But I'm starting to lose hope.


So instead of manually entering all these numbers into my Address Book entry, is there a way to enter a wildcard, where I could just put 1 (410) 000-*** or some such and capture this range of numbers?


I'm guessing no since this is a fairly specific need/application, but as we all know Apple can be pretty savvy, so thought I'd ask if this was an option or if anyone else had any other bright ideas for trying to capture these texts so I know they're work related.


As an aside, I've seen some of these numbers before from friends who used free texting apps, so it's not 100% fool proof, but these days I think I can be fairly confident a vast majority of texts coming through like this will be work.


Thanks in advance for any attention to this!

Mac OS X (10.7.3), iPhone 4 Owner Using iOS 5

Posted on Feb 27, 2012 2:12 PM

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12 replies

Nov 7, 2012 4:59 AM in response to WindBreak247

I was getting the same messages. My home alarm company. I researched this and noticed under alerts control panel I had the carrier selected as "AT&T" for my number. I noticed they had a different selection "AT&T (Smart Phone)". I changed it to this and now the messages come from no-reply@simplisafe.com. I can now create a contact for that address.


That was driving me crazy!

Dec 31, 2012 12:16 AM in response to Gutjr

The same question with somewhat of a twist. I too get text from 1-410-000-xxx..... but I don't want to put them in different folders, I want to get a unique ringtone or vibration when anything from 1410-000-xxx comes in..... anyone know of a way to put all these into a wildcard or group without entering all 999 possibilities


thanks

May 24, 2013 6:30 AM in response to hc6252

Not sure what you mean by "folders", but the solution should be the same for you. The only way to get a unique ringtone or vibration for something is to create it as a contact, with the email or phone number from which the contact is coming. If you can, you need to update how *they're* getting a hold of *you* with <mynumber>@mms.att.net vs. anything else (or the solution from Jeffrey Doyle may work, too), then it will be captured as a single destination vs. how it's coming in for you today. This will group the texts by that contact and allow you to assign the unique ringtone/vibration.


In other words, you are having the exact same problem some of the others of us were. No "twist" that I can see.

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Wildcard Phone Numbers in Address Book?

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