How to block a range of numbers on the S8?

[User08]

Yesterday after 2 years of owning the S8 I got my first international phishing calls. Multiple of them, all with different numbers. I didn't have the need until then, but so I thought I'd block the country where those calls came from. At my surprise I only saw an option on the phone to block an explicit number, but not a range of numbers. Standard wildcard doesn't seem to work, i. e. +261, nor +261*, nor 00261*, nor 00261, etc

After an hour of googling I found some answers and workarounds. But for a phone that cost me $800 I definitely don't do workarounds like allowing only whitelisted numbers. That's not an option on a business level.

I see that other android phones have an option to use "starts with" and what not for blocking, but not the S8.

Does anyone know a solution to the problem, i. e. how to block entire countries? Is there an update to the phone app which supports filters? How and where from can I get it? 3rd party apps aren't an option either. Because if Samsung is serious about not having this trivial and most necessary feature of blocking a filter range - which would use up like 10 lines of codes - then I'm done with Samsung. Having my life not disturbed by unwanted calls is a Quality of Life thing. I rather switch the brand if that's not possible, because this would only show that there's no support for a phone you spent a lot of money on.

[AndrewL]

@User08: On the phone itself it is possible to block individual numbers, and unknown numbers, but this can't be filtered by country code. Have you tried reaching out to your mobile network provider to see if there's anything that they can do from their side to block incoming international calls?

[User08]

No, I didn't and I definitely won't. This is a beyond trivial, yet very important feature of every phone. It's beyond reason that I can't have a proper filter list on an 800,- Samsung phone. I honestly have no words for this ridiculousness. I mean how hard is it to have a blocking number like 00216* and when a call comes in a check like

if( number.startsWith( blockednumber) && blockednumber.endsWith("*")) abortIncomingCall();

That's a single line of code!

I'm seriously done with Samsung if there's no proper in-built or updated solution.

[paraçokomel]

Same here.  I cannot block messages or calls from other countries because they didn't put a 'block if starts with this'  function while samsung bloatwares does everything to update theirselves, fail and destroy my notifications bar. I'll just go over Chinese side when this one gets trashed enough. Lack of features is simply unacceptable and UI is abhorrent.

[User08]

@AndrewL I just realized how that sounds: "Have you tried reaching out to your mobile network provider to see if there's anything that they can do from their side to block incoming international calls?" ... You suggest I should waste my life time with calls and hanging in expensive support waiting lines and what not to block (if possible at all) a single country whereas on a phone it would be just a matter of seconds to do it myself.

Do you have an email address of someone responsible? I'd like to escalate that. I get Samsung Firmware Updates amost every 2-3 weeks for years now. Why not as simple as a phone software update is beyond me. The newer phones have that feature. It's almost as if when Samsung has my money they drop the support so that their loyal customers purchases the next iteration of devices. I was eyeing the S11 next year, but honestly, no, not this way, if it's that way, my loyalty has its limits.

[User08]

I just figured one can replace the standard app for making phone calls in the settings of the phone. If that actually would work, the only remaining question would be: Where do I get the latest Samsung phone software from?