FreePBX Extensions Part 5

Extensions are, among other things, all the telephones connected to our FreePBX Asterisk server.

Extension Driver Types

You should know that there are several types of Extension drivers:

• PJSIP – An updated version of the SIP driver. It works with most new VoIP telephones (e.g., Cisco SPA525G2).
• Chan_SIP – The SIP driver that works with most older VoIP telephone models (e.g., Cisco CP-9971).
• DAHDI – (Digium Asterisk Hardware Device Interface) Formerly known as Zaptel, this is the driver that supports telephones from Digium (the company is now called Sangoma) (e.g., the Digium D60 model).
• IAX2 – (Inter-Asterisk eXchange) is a protocol developed for connecting different Asterisk servers with each other.
• Virtual – Virtual extensions, for example, a voicemail box.

Applications – Extensions

To manage extensions, go to Applications > Extensions. To add a new Extension, click on Add Extension and select the driver or interface type from the list. We will now configure a new Extension using a Cisco SPA525G2 telephone as an example.

• We can click Add Extension and select New SIP [chan_pjsip] Extension.
• Alternatively, we can use the quick creation option by clicking Quick Create Extension.

To start, let’s try the second option: creating an Extension quickly.

Quick Create Extension – Step 1

• Type – Select SIP [chan_pjsip].
• Extension Number – Choose any three or four-digit number. This will be the internal number for our telephone.
• Display Name – Any name for our extension (e.g., Reception, Technical Department, John Smith, etc.). This name will appear on the displays of some telephones instead of the Extension number.
• Outbound Caller ID – We will discuss this later. Leave this field blank for now.
• Email Address – The email address assigned to this number.

Click Next to proceed to Step 2.

Quick Create Extension – Step 2

• Enable Find Me/Follow Me – We will cover the Follow Me function in a future article; for now, leave this option disabled.
• Parking Lot – This feature allows you to ‘park’ calls so they can be picked up from another telephone. In the free version, you only have one option.
• Create User Manager User – This option will create a new user for this Extension.
• User Manager Groups – Select a group for our user. By default, only one group, ‘All Users’, is created. If you have many employees with different permissions, you can create several groups in FreePBX and set different permissions for them, for example, which groups can listen to recordings, which groups can create new Extensions, etc.
• Enable Voicemail – Creates a voicemail box for this Extension.
• Voicemail PIN – The PIN required to listen to recorded voicemail messages.

Note: The default PIN is the same as the Extension number. This means that during the first call to the voicemail, the user will be able to configure it, for example, by recording their own greeting and changing the PIN. If you later reset the PIN to be the same as the Extension number, the voicemail box settings for this Extension will be deleted, and the user will be able to configure the mailbox from scratch.

To finish creating the new Extension, press Finish and be sure to press Apply Config in the top right-hand corner to save the new settings.

Editing Extensions

Once we have created Extensions for all the internal telephones in the company, let’s look at the available settings. Go to Applications > Extensions and press the Edit button next to the Extension you want to edit.

A window with a series of useful tabs will appear. Let’s now discuss the options we haven’t mentioned before.

General Tab

• Outbound CID – Our FreePBX is assigned a single external telephone number, let’s say a London area code, 020. Even though our employees are spread across the UK in Manchester, Bristol, and Glasgow, because they are connected to one FreePBX server, when they call clients, all clients will see the London telephone number assigned to our FreePBX. Statistics show that clients are much more likely to answer calls when someone is calling from a local area code. In the Outbound CID window, we can enter telephone numbers with our local city area codes.
• Emergency CID – This is similar to Outbound CID, but much more serious as it concerns calls to emergency numbers. Imagine our employee working in the Glasgow branch needs urgent medical help and has to call an emergency number from this Extension. They dial 999, but the emergency service sees a London number instead of a Glasgow one, and the ambulance goes to the company’s address in London instead of to the person needing help in Glasgow. This is what the Emergency CID option is for, to ensure that in an emergency, the emergency services can correctly locate the caller.
• Secret – This is the secret password that you will need to enter in the VoIP telephone’s settings so it can connect to our FreePBX Asterisk. We will discuss this option in more detail another time.
• Language Code – Here we select the language for our voice recordings used in FreePBX Asterisk. If you don’t see your desired language, you can install it by going to Admin > Sound Languages.

Note: You can record additional sound recordings yourself (e.g., “Please wait”, “All our consultants are busy”, etc.) and upload them to FreePBX, or you can purchase ready-made recordings. The language of the voice recordings can be set independently for each Extension. So, if we have people of different nationalities in the company, each of them can hear the announcements in their native language.

• Select User Directory – User directory settings. Leave the default setting, PBX Internal Directory. The second option, Property Management, is used in hotels where specialised functions like guest check-in and check-out, wake-up calls, reservations, mini-bar, etc., are required. We will not cover this topic in this article as it is too extensive.
• Link to a Default User – By default, the user is assigned to the given Extension. Select a user with the ‘Linked’ option.
• Username – The username will be assigned automatically, or you can create your own by clicking on Use Custom Username.
• Password For New User – The password assigned to the user.
• Groups – The groups to which the user belongs.

Voicemail Tab

Let’s now discuss the most important options in the ‘Voicemail’ tab, where we can manage the voicemail settings for this specific Extension.

• Enabled – Enables or disables the voicemail box for this Extension.
• Voicemail Password – The password needed to listen to saved voicemail messages.
• Require From Same Extension – Disables the need to enter a password if you are checking voicemail for the Extension from which you are currently calling.
  • Explanation: From any telephone in our network, we can listen to voicemail messages not only for the number we are using but also for any other number, as long as we know the voicemail password.
    1. Dialling *97 lets you listen to saved messages for the telephone you are using. The ‘Require From Same Extension’ option can disable the need to enter a password.
    2. Dialling *98 followed by the Extension number lets you listen to messages from another Extension’s voicemail box, but you will always have to provide the password.
• Email Address – The email address to which notifications about new voicemail messages will be sent.
• Email Attachment – If you enable this option, the recorded voice message will be sent as an attachment with the email notification.
• Play CID – Information about the message sender will be included with the message.
• Play Envelope – Information about the time and date the message was left will be included with the message.
• Delete Voicemail – Enable this option if you want FreePBX to delete the voicemail message from your Extension after it has been emailed to you.

Note: Be aware that FreePBX does not check if the email with the message has reached you before deleting it from the voicemail box. If for some reason the email with the recorded message does not arrive, you will not be able to listen to the message, and you may not even know that a client recorded any message for you.

• VmX Locater – This is quite an interesting feature. We can record a personalised greeting for our voicemail, and the caller will be able to choose one of three options. For example, they could connect to the main telephone in the company (e.g., at reception), or they could forward the call to another Extension or to a mobile number. Correctly configuring this function is time-consuming and will not be covered in this article.

Find Me / Follow Me Tab

Imagine a situation where you are often away from your desk, in another part of the company, or out of the office. You can configure the Find Me/Follow Me function to sequentially ring a set of internal or mobile numbers to try and find you. You can configure this function according to dates and times using a Microsoft Outlook, CalDAV, or Apple iCal calendar. The configuration of this function is beyond the scope of this article, so I will try to write a separate article specifically for the Find Me/Follow Me feature.

Advanced Tab

The Advanced tab contains a variety of different functions. There are too many to discuss in one article, but there is one interesting option worth mentioning:

• Max Contacts – By default, you can only connect one telephone to a single Extension. With this option, you can set how many different devices can have the same internal number (Extension number). You can set any number of internal telephones (including SoftPhone applications installed on smartphones) with the same number, which will ring simultaneously. But there’s a catch: to configure several telephones with the same Extension number, you must configure them using the End Point Manager application. In the free version, you can only configure telephones from Sangoma (formerly Digium). A list of supported models can be found in the Other tab. The End Point Manager Pro version, which currently costs $199, allows you to configure multiple devices from other manufacturers with the same number.

Pin Sets Tab

In the FreePBX Asterisk settings, you can block certain calls with a PIN code, for example, calls abroad or to expensive premium-rate numbers. If we have set up such a PIN lock, by enabling the Pinless Dialing option for an Extension, calls from that number will not require a PIN to be entered. We will discuss this issue in more detail another time.

Bulk Editing Settings – Bulk Handler

Bulk Handler doesn’t strictly relate to Extensions, but it’s worth mentioning this feature because it makes life much easier. If you have a dozen, several dozen, several hundred, or more Extensions and you need to change one setting in each of them, changing it in each Extension separately can take a very long time. You can do it much faster using Bulk Handler. With this function, you can export all Extensions to a CSV file, which you can conveniently open and edit in an application like Microsoft Excel. Changing one function for all Extensions will take a few seconds instead of several hours. After editing the file, you can import it back into FreePBX with a single click and apply the changes. Isn’t that simpler?

Using Bulk Handler, you can edit not only Extensions but also many other options. To launch this application, click Admin > Bulk Handler.

Summary

In this article, you have learned how to create and edit Extensions, which is an essential step to later connect them with VoIP telephones. You also now know how voicemail boxes work.