Re-route conference calls to keep them local

[ProudCanadian]

Hi everybody!

I am having an issue (Especially at the executive level) where when people are dialing into the conference bridge they are using the external DID number instead of calling the local extension. Not only is this wasting a concurrent call and causing us to be billed by our SIP provider, more importantly it is causing a worse experience for these users.

While ideally they should be calling the local extension number, and this has been explained multiple times to them, I need to find a way to work around their behavior. How can I have the phone system setup to automatically forward outbound calls to our DID locally instead to the conference extension?

 

[leejor]

Two solutions that have been used in the past...
Assign an extension a SIP ID that is the same as the DID number including any required prefix,
or, create a loop trunk that uses the outbound rules, to send a call out, then right back in, to be processed as an incoming DID call.
Unfortunately, the second option will use two concurrent licences.

 

[ProudCanadian]

So essentially create a dummy extension with the DID as a prefix, then have it set to forward to mobile (With mobile being the conference extension)?

 

[Saqqara]

Create dummy extension, and add your ddi number as the SIP ID and use forwarding rules to route to the conf ext.

You could also create an outbound rule that blocks your conf ddi number,

 

[cobaltit]

You could also just use outbound rules to block calls to your external conference DID and then maybe they will figure it out.