Amazon Connect BYOC - "403 Disallowed calling number region" error on us-east-1 instance with Canadian numbers

As far as I know, Chime Voice Connector setup with Amazon Connect only allows Connect to make outbound calls via SIP connectivity. For inbound calls, you are still required to use Amazon Connect with AMCS as your telephony entity to hold some form of phone number takes calls from the PSTN.

https://docs.aws.amazon.com/connect/latest/adminguide/external-voice-transfer.html this shows that incoming calls are still handled by Connect first, then it can go out, and can come back if you setup transfer block with "Resume flow after disconnect."

Your use case above do normally yield this error that i have seen. To get to the last mile, have you try to forward the Chime VC calls to an Amazon Connect phone number that you acquired within Amazon Connect, like a US or Canadian DID?

Like how this blog is being done, https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/business-productivity/building-a-pstn-call-forwarding-solution-with-the-amazon-chime-sdk/ the forwarded destination is a DID that is in Connect.

Based on the information provided, it appears you're encountering a region-based restriction with your Amazon Connect BYOC setup. The "403 Disallowed calling number region" error suggests that there may indeed be restrictions on calls from Canadian numbers to your Amazon Connect instance, even though your instance is properly set up in us-east-1.

This issue could be related to several factors:

1. Phone Number Allow List: For outbound calls to international numbers (which may also affect how inbound calls are handled), numbers need to be added to an allow list. This is typically done through an AWS Support case.

2. Regional Restrictions: Even though your Amazon Connect instance is in us-east-1 (which supports more features than ca-central-1), there may still be specific restrictions on handling calls from certain regions or country codes.

3. Carrier-Specific Limitations: When using BYOC with Amazon Chime Voice Connector, there can be carrier-specific limitations that affect how calls are routed and accepted.

To resolve this issue, I recommend:

1. Open a support case with AWS to specifically request that Canadian numbers be allowed for your Amazon Connect instance. Explain that you're using BYOC through Amazon Chime Voice Connector and experiencing the "Disallowed calling number region" error.

2. Verify with your third-party carrier (Telnyx) that they are properly formatting the caller ID information in the SIP headers according to AWS requirements.

3. Check if there are any specific telephony settings in your Amazon Connect instance that might need adjustment to accept calls from Canadian numbers.

4. Consider testing with a non-Canadian number to determine if the issue is specifically related to the Canadian origin of the calls.

The error message strongly suggests a geo-restriction policy is in place, which likely requires AWS Support intervention to resolve for your specific use case.
Sources
Number activation in AWS connect service | AWS re:Post
Bring your own carrier (BYOC) | AWS re:Post