Making calls with different DIDs

[Chin007]

Looking at a scenario where users will need to press 1 to select which DID is displayed or 2 for another DID.
Truck supports multiple DID and DIDs are tied in to trunk.

I know one option is to create different extensions and assign different DID for outbound calls but this is not realistic as customer has one user who may need to make calls using different DID without having to switch to another extension.

Is there any solution for this? Have come across a few customers who need this feature.

 

[leejor]

If you need to change your outbound caller ID on a per call basis, you can do this using the caller ID setting, in the outbound rules.

You would create multiple rules, accessing each with a different prefix. this can be one, or two digits depending how many different outbound numbers you need to display. Each rule will have a different caller ID defined. These can all route out on the same trunk group. Of course, this all relies on your provider allowing the caller IDs you want to send.

 

[Chin007]

Have set those rules and used 55 as prefix. when i dial 55 before the number, nothing happens. Maybe i am not dialing the prefix correctly?

 

[leejor]

Check the 3CX Activity Log to see what happened to the call. If it did match a rule, then that too will show. Do you mean that you just get silence? Usually if there is no match you will hear fast busy, or something else to indicate that your call failed.

I assume that your rule strips the 55, from the number and adds any required prefixes.

 

[VoIPTools]

To @leejor's point, you have to carefully set up a new outbound rule. Be sure too that no preceding rules match your call. You might want to put this rule at the very top of your list of rules so it gets evaluated first.

I would propose a rule that requires the call start with the digit "8" and have a length of 11 characters. So, if you wanted to dial 8016424655, you would dial 88016424655. Then instruct the rule to strip 1 digit (the extra "8" at the beginning). Also, do not forget to configure the desired outbound DID for this rule

You can create a separate rule for each DID you need to display for outbound calls. This works well if you do not have very many DIDs. But you may find that creating a lot of outbound rules (one for each DID) may be infeasible, or at least administratively difficult to manage.

Another alternative would be to take a look at our 3CX Caller ID tool. With this tool, a manager builds a list of DIDs and gives each DID a name (Truck name?). The tool provides a ultra-simple web page where you select the desired DID (by selecting the truck name?) and it updates your extension's outbound caller ID to the selected number. Then place your call as usual. There is also a revert button you can use to change your caller ID back to the default number.

This tool is typically used by outbound call centers to control their caller IDs, and I think it would work well for your situation too.