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Extension Management

Summary: Storing Contact Phone Numbers and Changing the Default Phone or Fax Number

Storing Contact Phone Numbers

When the customer of a company using a Virtual PBX® calls in to the main number and dials or is otherwise connected to an extension on the Virtual PBX® system, the system looks at the contact phone numbers stored in the system by the extension owner and calls each number in succession until the extension owner either answers or all numbers are exhausted. In the latter case the caller is then sent to voice mail, and the extension owner is paged.

When a new Virtual PBX® system is initiated, the contact phone numbers are entered by us as part of the set up. After that it is up to each individual extension owner to maintain his contact phone numbers; if a phone number changes or if he wishes a different set, he must enter the new numbers.

To change a contact phone number, the extension owner dials into the system and enters #[Extension]#[Password]#. At this point he may listen to the menus or simply dial 212 without waiting for the voice prompts. (System administrators must enter a 1 before the 2 to act as an extension owner.) The meaning of the string, 212 is: 2, Access phone extensions; 1, Access phone numbers; and 2, Review or edit the phone numbers.

At this point entering any of the digits 1 through 4 will select the corresponding contact phone number. Entering 5 or 6 will select the corresponding contact fax number, and entering 7 will select the pager number.

After having dialed beyond the "Review-or-edit-phone-numbers" point, to review the existing contact phone number 1, for example, listen to the menus or enter 11 directly without waiting for the voice prompts. The number stored in contact phone number 1 will then be spoken. When the review is finished the menus automatically go back one level to the choice of contact phone numbers.

After having dialed beyond the "Review-or-edit-phone-numbers" point, to change the existing contact phone number 1, for example, listen to the menus or enter 12 directly without waiting for the voice prompts. At this point the system will prompt for the entry of the new phone number. The number must be entered with 1 plus the area code. A # sign is not entered at the end as the system uses the elapsed time after the last entry to decide that the entire number has been entered. A contact phone number can be erased by making no entry after the prompt, but by simply waiting. After the system has determined that all of the number has been entered, it will repeat the number entered and ask if the number is correct. If it is press 1, if not press 2 and reenter the number. After a successful entry and 1 is pressed, the system will report that the number was successfully entered, and that is all there is to it.

Typically the contact phone numbers will be the extension owner's cell phone, his office phone, and perhaps even his home phone; but that can change when traveling. Let us assume that an extension owner checks into a hotel with direct-inward-dial (DID) and gets room 1011. DID means that someone can dial him directly at, for example, 1-415-221-1011 where 415 and 221 are the area code and prefix of the hotel's phone system respectively. He wants his customers to be able to reach him in his room while, for example, he spends the day cleaning up his paper work and accounts. Furthermore, he wants them to reach him exactly as if he were working in his office. Assume that his extension is 473, that his password is 56789, and that calls ring at contact number 1 first.

When he checks into the hotel, he calls his Virtual PBX® main number and when the auto-attendant answers, he dials #[extension]#[password]#, i.e. #473#56789#, which gets him to his extension options menus. Next he dials 21212, 2 to access phone extensions, 1 to access phone numbers, 2 to review or edit phone numbers, 1 to access the first contact phone number, and 2 to store a new contact phone number. He then dials the new contact phone number, 14152211011. Next he listens to the system's repeat of the number, 1-415-221-1011; and if it is correct, he presses 1 and then hangs up. He will now have all calls to his extension routed to his hotel room exactly as if he were in his office, and no one will know that he is in a hotel room. Using the SHORTCUTS feature, it is possible to press a single stored number and dial #473#56789#21212 as one long string then the room number, 14152211011, can be entered as described above. Don't forget that a system administrator must dial 1 before the string 21212 to act as an extension owner.

Now let us assume that instead of checking into a hotel with Direct-Inward-Dial, he checks into a hotel with DTAA, Dial-Through-an-Auto-Attendant. The difference is that the hotel auto-attendant first answers and asks the caller to dial the room number. Assume that the hotel number is 1-415-221-6600 and that he is in room 1011. VirtualPBX.com's system has provided for this case with the "wait-for-answer" character, #2, and the "one-second pause" character, *2. The pause, if necessary, allows the auto-attendant to at least begin speaking its greeting so that our system does not out race it.

In this second example, our intrepid business traveler dials into his VirtualPBX; and when it answers, he enters the following string: #473#56789#2121214152216600#2*2*21011 (remember his extension is 473, his password is 5678, and 21212 gets to his contact phone number menus unless he is a system administrator where it is 121212). This can be entered in pieces as described above or as one long string, or the SHORTCUTS feature can be used. Next he listens to the system's repeat of the number, 1-415-221-6600 [wait for answer] [pause] [pause] 1011; and if it is correct, he presses 1 and then hangs up. Again he will now receive all calls to his extension exactly as if he were in his office with no human or hotel Auto-Attendant intervention.

The important difference between this example and the one above is that the wait-for-answer character, #2, must be entered after the phone number to give the hotel auto-attendant a chance to answer. The pauses, *2, may or may not be necessary depending on how the hotel auto-attendant is programmed.

The two examples above while applied to someone traveling on business apply equally to overlaying a Virtual PBX® on an older legacy PBX in order to have all of the features of the most advanced and expensive PBX systems without spending the large sum necessary for a complete upgrade of an old phone system. As long as the older PBX has either Direct-Inward-Dial (DID) or Dial-Through-an-Auto-Attendant (DTAA), the Virtual PBX® can be seamlessly added to it by porting or remote-call-forwarding the existing phone number and entering the contact phone numbers exactly as described above.

The strings can be entered all at once, or the user can listen to the Virtual PBX® menus. After each number in the above string the system will prompt for the next number. I have only given the complete string in one long gulp, to indicated what numbers must be entered to achieve the desired result and to illustrate that is not really necessary to wait for the voice prompts if one already knows the system quite well or uses the SHORTCUTS.

One more little point: Many hotels charge one dollar for each out-bound call. Since the Virtual PBX® has an out bound dialing feature that allows multiple out-bound calls without breaking the connection, the business traveler can make a string of out-bound calls, but the hotel switch board only sees the one call to his Virtual PBX®. The savings can be considerable, especially since the 800, 888, or 877 number of the Virtual PBX® allow calls all over the U.S. and Canada at the 800/888/877 rates.

Changing the Default Phone or Fax Number

What happens with this option depends on whether "follow-me calling" is turned "on" or "off". Dialing the string #[extension]#[password]# 224 enters the "edit-follow-me-calling" menu. when this menu has been entered: 1 enables "follow-me calling", 2 disables it, and 3 allows the extension owner to edit which numbers are tried by "follow-me calling".

To change the default phone or fax numbers, the extension owner dials into the system and enters #[Extension]#[Password]#. At this point he may listen to the menus or simply dial 211 without waiting for the voice prompts. (System administrators must enter a 1 before the 2 to act as an extension owner.) The meaning of the string, 211 is: 2, Access phone extensions; 1, Access phone numbers; and 1, Change which contact phone or fax number is the default.

At this point first assume that "follow-me calling" has been turned off. If any number 1 through 4 is pressed, ONLY that number will ring if the extension is dialed by a caller. Similarly 5 or 6 will select which fax number will received the faxes. If the extension owner does not enter any fax numbers in 5 or 6, his fax will be stored on the system, and he has the option of downloading the fax at any machine which he happens to find convenient at the time.

Now, conversely, assume that "follow-me calling" has been turned on. After #[Extension]#[Password]# 211 has been dialed, selecting any number 1 through 4 determines which number rings first in the "follow-me calling" search. The balance of the numbers ring in the order that they are store in slots 1 through 4.

The default settings when a new Virtual PBX® system is created are: "Follow-me calling" on and calls will ring at the first contact phone number first.