How can an external caller call an extension

Hi All,

I’m a student helper working part time in a consulting company.
While I have a bit of knowledge on general computer systems, I am completely new to Freepbx and Asterisk.

What I would like to achieve is to have an inbound call directly forwarded to an extension.

For instance Bob wants to call Anna at extension 111. So Bob call’s the main number 12345678#111 (main number + the extension) and Anna’s phone rings at her desk.

Right now, we have a secretary who is redirecting every call manually.

I’ve searched this forum for guides or topics related but I’m so new to the terminology that my searches have yielded no useful results in this matter.

Im running on (output of asterisk -rx “core show version”):

Asterisk 1.8.11-cert1 built by root @ 89-139-19-10.digium.internal on a x86_64 running Linux on 2012-04-24 21:54:42 UTC

I believe it to be an AsteriskNOW distro.

If I need to post additional information, please provide me with commands to do so, I would appreciate that and it will help me to get more keen on the system.

This is not possible. You will need a DID to directly dial an extension. You could use an IVR also.

do a bit of reading

I was at a similar stage to you recently and I found using a IVR was a good solution. An IVR is like a digital receptionist, it allows the user to dial extension numbers once they reach the IVR.
You can download and install the IVR from the admin/module admin page. Then you should find IVR in the applications list. You will then need to add a new IVR, give it a name and set direct dial to extensions, this allows users to dial extension numbers when in the IVR. You will need to submit the changes before you can add it to the inbound route.
I am presuming that you already have an inbound route setup for dealing with the incoming calls to your main number or DID, If not then create one. Then at the bottom under set destination you can send it to your new IVR.
The user should then be able to dial the main number, then once connected dial the extension number.

use DID numbers or an IVR

Based on callerID you could also do it automagically through inbound routes…

This assumes Bob is only calling this number to speak to Alice (or whatever their names were). If you need to enable Bob to dial different extensions then yes, you need an IVR giving some choice - Not really to dial extensions but perhaps accessing a directory of names/numbers and selecting or dropping off to the operator. For the ultimate in versatility (and inviting chaos) you’d allow any caller to dial any extension - unheard of if you ask me - without guidance that is.

pon intended. I requested some new phone numbers and it works great.

To all of you thanks for the great replies, except bksales. If you don’t have better things to say then don’t post them.

The Josh, thanks for your idea, unfortunately (I could have written that in my question) we do not want a digital receptionist. We have talked about it but the idea got shut down.