I’ve inherited our phone system and am trying to figure out an issue with an inability to blind-transfer to extensions starting with 11 and it’s been suggested that our dial pattern is at fault.
Our current dial pattern is
0|[0-8]xx|911|9411|9611|9011xxx.T|91xxxxxxxxxx|9[2-9]xxxxxx|*xx.T
I know what some of the pattern means, but some of it has me scratching my head. Can someone please explain each piece of our pattern so I fully understand? The *xx.T piece at the end especially has me wondering.
Our phones are POLYCOM. We’re on FreePBX 13.0.192.19. We have 3- and 4-digit extensions.
The dial plan 0|[0-8]xx|911|9411|9611|9011xxx.T|91xxxxxxxxxx|9[2-9]xxxxxx|*xx.T is not that complicated. The | sign is an or separator.
Here is your phone dialplan explanation (without the | signs):
0 - dials only 0 [0-8]xx - dial 0-8 at the first digits and 0-9 on the second and third digits (x is a digit between 0-9) 911 - dials 911 9411 - dials 9411 9611 - dials 9611
9011xxx.T - dials a pattern that starts with 9011 and 3 more digits between 0-9 and then a wildcard (.) for T seconds without pressing the dial key on the phone
91xxxxxxxxxx - dials a pattern that starts with 91 and then 10 more digits between 0-9
9[2-9]xxxxxx - dials a pattern that starts with 9 and then 2-9 on the second digit and then 6 more digits between 0-9
*xx.T - dials a pattern that starts with an * and then 2 more digits from 0-9 for T seconds without pressing the dial key on the phone.
So, if you want to dial to extensions that starts with 11XX (a 4 digits extension that starts with 11), either add this pattern to your dialplan like this:
Try this as a tip (I am not sure that it will work for you on your phones) If the phone refuses to let you dial a number:
Do not pick up the handset and do not press a line key. Instead dial the number first and once done press the line key you want to use. The phone now dials the digits entered disregarding its dial plan settings.
Thank you - this was incredibly helpful. I know much of this information can be found in Polycom and/or Asterisk documentation but the last bit (*xx.T) was the most confusing … and likely the issue at hand!
It looks like we can remove some of this dial pattern … for example 9411, 9611 and potentially International calling (100% of our customer interaction is within the USA).
Again, thank you so much for your patience and care answering my question.
In addition to this insight, take a look at your “Feature Codes” page. You will find that there are some feature codes that start with *1, which can make blind transfers to voicemail challenging.