Solved Force ON-NET calls

[Connexium Partner]

Hello,

We are using one specific trunk provider for inbound calls but a different one for outbound. There are over a 100 dids in this installation.

In a perfect world, the users would all use their internal extensions to call each other but they are just too used to dialling their direct phone numbers. I did a lot to incentivize the use of BLF, explain the 3cx PBook, print employee extensions sheets, etc.. So the current setup has me pay twice for outbound than inbound for calls between 2 offices literally feet apart haha...


Is there an easy way to force or redirect all the outbound calls to use the inbound trunk provider so the calls stay "ON NET" (free)?

I was thinking of outbound call rules but I could only enter maybe 20-22 DID per rule and have to do it twice if they dial with the E.164 or only the US10 way.

Thank you for any suggestions.

 

[Alphabetic]

You could turn on Direct SIP and add the DIDs to the extension?

 

[leejor]

Outbound rules, and a loop trunk, should not be that complicated in the outbound rules if the DIDs are limited to a block. So if you had 100 sequential numbers, the rule would be something like (9) 222 555-12xx, where the last two digits (xx) was the range of DID numbers. Of course you'd need a rule to cover any other format, that the number was dialed (prefix).

Worse case scenario is that a rule would have to be created for each DID, if the numbers are not in sequence.

 

[Connexium Partner]

Thanks for your replies guys.

@kieferschild
I forgot to mention that the users all share the same Cloud instance but are separated between 7 locations, all connected via SBC. How would that work (if it can)

@leejor
It would be easy if it was a block eh? Which is almost never the case FML! haha
Unfortunately, since it's a multi-location customer, they all have different numbers. Maybe a few blocks of 3-7 numbers. But they all share the same area code. Can you wildcard the prefixes? like if the number was 555-678-1234, could I wildcard *6781234 you think? I kind of forgot this part in my intermediate training.

Oh, and what is a loop trunk? Seems interesting...

Would be nice to have an ON-NET check box for trunks so the PBS will know to override the outbound rules and use the same trunk for added DIDs.

Any other suggestions would be appreciated if someone thinks of one. Otherwise, I will resort to manually adding the DIDs to a bunch of outbound rules.

 

[Alphabetic]

Thanks for your replies guys.

@kieferschild
I forgot to mention that the users all share the same Cloud instance but are separated between 7 locations, all connected via SBC. How would that work (if it can)

@leejor
It would be easy if it was a block eh? Which is almost never the case FML! haha
Unfortunately, since it's a multi-location customer, they all have different numbers. Maybe a few blocks of 3-7 numbers. But they all share the same area code. Can you wildcard the prefixes? like if the number was 555-678-1234, could I wildcard *6781234 you think? I kind of forgot this part in my intermediate training.

Oh, and what is a loop trunk? Seems interesting...

Would be nice to have an ON-NET check box for trunks so the PBS will know to override the outbound rules and use the same trunk for added DIDs.

Any other suggestions would be appreciated if someone thinks of one. Otherwise, I will resort to manually adding the DIDs to a bunch of outbound rules.

Doesnt matter where they are, as long as they're on the same PBX and registered then call will go through.

Try it - Put someones DDI in the setting I mentioned above and turn on SIP dialing.

Dial the number and it will ring their ext.

 

[Connexium Partner]

@kieferschild
Oh, yeah, works like a charm! I never really had to play and experiment with this option. It's very useful!
I still have some of my end-users dialling using the "1" in front of the 10-digit North American number but most of them don't. So that should be good enough for me at this point. I have added all their DIDs in the "SIP ID". Should save us some trunk usage.

I am grateful for this great community we have here!

I'm still open to other suggestions if someone has something else.
Cheers!

 

[leejor]

A loop trunk is simply one that has a destination IP of 127.0.0.1. Calls go out, then route back in, so you have to set up inbound rules to handle the DIDs as well as outbound rules to sent desired calls to that trunk. The disadvantage is that any call will use two SC licenses for it's duration. However, you can add less frequently dialed variations of the DID numbers (different from the SIP ID), such as those with a prefix, in the outbound rules, so the calls still stay internal.It may be that only some numbers are still being dialed this way, so you could add rules as required, rather than all at once.

 

[Connexium Partner]

Thank you guys for the very creative ideas. I would not have thought about that. Its truly appreciated!