How to dial from an outside line directly to an extension

Dear All ,
I would like to know how does the direct to extension line works.
For instance a company i know has a general number that is the “main” “pilot” number 1234XXXX and they have extensions inside the company numbering from 0001-9999

and if you call the number(from outside , land lines mobiles e.t.c) like this 1234-0002 you can directly call the guy at extension on number 0002
if this means that you have to reserve all numbers on your phone provider from 1234XXXX,12340001 to 12349999 this would be an expensive solution.

or if there is a way to call the “pilot number” and then add some digits with out going though IVR or some other solution ?

Thank you in advance
LeTest40

The only way to do it directly, that is Direct Inbound Dialing (DID) is to have the external numbers from your provider. Any other way, like IVR or DISA, you can do that on your FreePBX but will not be exactly direct. The caller will have to either listen to a message indicating to dial the extension or listen to a beep (IVR) or receive a second dial tone (DISA)

That is certainly a common way, and the most likely way to do it from the GUI, but certainly isn’t the only way. If you are willing to write a custom context for your inbound calling, you can certainly do “direct” dialing from inbound DID to a specific extension. The code to do this was posted here within the last couple of days.

There are also ways to do this with the Bulk Handler, but that might take a couple of tries to get all of the options set correctly.

I think he is not willing to buy DID numbers from the provider, that is what I was referring to, if only one DID number is bought from the provider, there is no way to have different external numbers associated to internal extensions, as the OP is not willing to pay for more than one number, or at least that is what I understood.

Yes it would - even at $2.99 per number, that would be $30,000 a month, which is why the following came up:

Since the only thing delivered from the provider is the specific DID that was dialed, the next question:

The answer to this question is “No”.

So, you have to answer the call at your PBX and direct the person calling to dial the extension. The only other thing close would be to direct the calls based on the Caller ID of the person calling, but there’s no good way to even begin to do that without a LOT of manipulation on a day-to-day basis.

You can, on the other hand, have multiple DIDs from the supplier that can be directed to individual extensions within the organization, but that isn’t the question you asked.

Only ISDN with local facilities enabled can properly do that, much as the Austrian (perhaps german) implementation does.

In the absence of that, you will have to answer the “pilot number”, perhaps give dial-tone or a recording, then wait for user input, then send the call to that extension in your internal context if it exists .

If you want to dial through to an extension directly without going through an IVR, sure, you need to get those numbers from your voice service provider and pay for each one.

If you are interested in a large number of DIDs, you can get them for maybe 10-15 cents each per month, but that pricing is usually only available from the big Telco companies/ ISPs that also own the wiring infrastructure for your internet. Some resellers have that pricing too.

DIDs were cheap in the PRI days, but some companies still have pricing models available that resemble that of a PRI, although they no longer sell that technology. They have moved to SIP.

Spectrum (former TWC) e.g. charges 15c per DID per month in the NY area.
I know other resellers that charge 10c.

As far as the configuration on your PBX goes, you have two options:
Use an inbound route for each DID,
https://wiki.freepbx.org/plugins/servlet/mobile?contentId=28182102#content/view/28182102

or, if you can always match the last digits of your DID to an extension, do this:

Carful guys, he has

1234XXXX

that is all, no 1234XXXX? as with any DID the PSTN will terminate the call at 1234XXXX, he gives answer ONLY on that number, to extend the dial, without ISDN , then he has to handle the “extension”, just like we all have to :wink:

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