Hello, is it possible, when forwarding to cell phone, to have freepbx pre-pend the caller ID with a number (like 666, for example)? so a caller can be easily identified as a call being forwarded from freepbx? I know you can have the confirmation prompt, but the caller ID thing would be so much better for us. If not, what is the best way to do this?
the short answer is no if you want to see the original caller id. if you don’t mind simply seeing the office phone number then the answer is to make sure your trunk sets the office number as the caller id.
there is no good solution to this. what we have done for some doctors and dentists is to take the call to voice mail and then send the vm to email. the email contains the original caller id which enables them to call the person back either via the system or directly from their cell phone.
depending on how good the cellular data network is, you could use a softphone on the cell phone as an extension to the pbx - then you do have control over the caller id.
Through juduicous use of the SetCallerID module, you can do a lot of stuff to the caller ID on the way out.
The tricky part is routing the call through the module on the way out with the caller ID intact.
So, it depends on how you want to send the call.
If you use FindMeFollowMe (FMFM) for example, you can do the following:
- You forward the call to a special extension that you set up in Misc Applications. It routes the call to SetCallerID.
- The Caller ID get picked up from the original call
- Modify the CID using the features in the SetCallerID. This allows you to prepend/append whatever you want.
Note that this may or may not work because of other issues (some providers don’t allow foreign caller IDs, the resulting CID may be blocked as the recipient’s phone, etc.).
Dave’s plan may work (haven’t tested), but you can also use custom code and the context
macro-dialout-trunk-predial-hook
to alter any/all outbound calls.
all this may allow you to send a caller id, but will the ITSP transmit it and will the cellular carriers transmit the entire string. i just did a quick test using a trunk with voip innovations and my att cell phone. VI passes whatever the pbx sends on. if i prepend digits, they do display on the cell phone - i.e. if the cell phone number is 520 555 1212 and i send a caller id of 99 520 555 1212 that is exactly what i see on my phone. if i try to prepend a non numeric character then i get Unknown showing on my cell.