Extension number planning

[Ian Houghton]

HI there,  We are having a Mitel 5000 series controller installled in the very near future!  We have been told by our supplier who is in the process of programming this for us that we cant have any extensions starting with (0) Our current system we are using the last 4 digits of our DDI range with happens to start with a (0).

Would really like to know if the above is able to happen and HOW

Thanks

Ian

[Tech Electronics]

Ian,

Not sure what exactly you are asking of us here, but by default "0" is the operator and therefore not allowed to be used as a starting digit for an extension. If the last 4 digits of your DID range start with 0 then you will not be able to use that full DID routing number as your extension, exactly. This really doesn't matter though since most likely your old systems extensions did start with a 0 either.

So what exactly are you wanting to know? Yes, we can route DIDs that start with 0 to any numbering plan allowed within the system; which is pretty flexible. Have you had a design meeting with your vendor about how you want your system programmed?

Thanks,

TE

[dwayneg]

Theoretically you COULD change CALL ATTENDANT in FEATURE CODES to something different than 0, but that would be very unusual.  Folks are just accustomed to dialing 0 to reach their operator.  Could you use 3 or 5 digit extensions if you want DIDs to match (212-555-0123 equals ext 123 or 5123)?

[NTEDave]

Your supplier is correct, even with the attendant Feature code changed to something else you cannot have an extn starting with a zero.

Looks like you will need to go 3 or 5 digits for your numbering.

[Ian Houghton]

Many Thanks for all the replies so far.  Our current phone system is a Cisco and this allows us to have extensions starting with 0
My current number internal number is 0122,  which is the last 4 digits of our DDI range, We cant go to 3 digits as we will have number clashes all over the place, and cant go to 5 digits as one of the DDI ranges has a 0 in that!,  SO i guess the next logical question is what options are left on the Mitel,

Many Thanks

Ian

[dwayneg]

Renumber your extensions.  In the 5000 the DID and ext don't have to match.  So, for example, if DIDs are 212-555-0000 to 0099 they could be mapped to ext 1000 to 1099, one for one.  And now my employees know that if ext is  1234, outside number is 212-555-0234.  Simple swap of 0 for 1.

[Tech Electronics]

Ian,

Personally, what I do for customers in this situation is start their extensions with a 1 instead of a 0. That way if your DID range is 0100 to 0199 let's say, then the extension numbers would be 1100 to 1199. As the DID and extension do not have to match due to the routing tables then we could in theory change the extension to anything we want except numbers starting with 0. I have also had customers with 7 digit extensions, which basically means that their DID and Extension are the same in that we use the office code and local address as the extension, example 678-3040 would be ext 6783040.

Hope that helps out.

Thanks,

TE