cgashlin01,
The easist way to do this is put an Asterisk button on everyones phone and have that button be the Trunk Group to the Asterisk System. Then all they do is hit that button and then dial the extension they want to dial. It may require a # key to let the Asterisk know you are done dialing.
If you don't like that solution then we can follow on with the next one which is to create a route within the 5000 to do this for you, but you may also need one for 911 calls as well since it will need to be at the top of the route list.
First of all 5 is a feature code in the 5000 so you would need to change that to something else.
Go to System > Devices and Feature Codes > Feature Codes: sort by Feature Code and find 5 which should be conference. Now, single left-click on the 5 and change it to any available number.
Now we need to create a Facility Group so we know what digits we are sending and what Trunk Group we will use.
Go to System > Numbering Plan > Facility Groups: Right-click on the right-hand side and select Create Facility Group and take the PXXX extension it provides.
Next label it Asterisk by single left-clicking in the Description Field and type in Asterisk.
Now, double left-click on the PXXX number for the Asterisk Facility Group to open it up and then double left-click on the Dial Rules. This is where we determine what will be sent to the Asterisk system so all we need to leave in here is ECHO Equal Access and you can delete the rest.
Go back one on the Facility Group by pressing the <- back arrow and then double left-click on Trunk Groups/Nodes. This is where we define what Trunk Group or Node we will be sending the Local Address Digits to. So, at this point you just right-click in the area on the right-hand side and select Add to Trunk Groups/Nodes List... and then select SIP Trunk Group and click Next>. Find you SIP Trunk Group for the Asterisk System and then click Add Items followed by the Finish button.
Now we need to create a Route Group that will take the dialed digits and call through the new Facility Group.
Go to System > Numbering Plan > Route Groups: Right-click on the right-hand side and select Create Route Group. Now, single left-click on the Description field of the new Route Group and type in Asterisk. Once that is done then double left-click on the PXXXX of the new Route Group to open it up. Here we will add the new Facility Group to this Route Group by double left-clicking on the Facility Groups folder and then right-click once on the right-hand side and select Add to Facility Groups List... Make sure the Facility Group Type is highlighted and then click Next>. Next select your new Asterisk Facility Group and click Add Items button followed by the Finish button. Now we will want to back up so click the <- back arrow and select Dial Patterns by double left-clicking on it. Now we will need to add some new dial patterns so single right-click and select Add to Dial Patterns List... Put 5xx in your dial pattern and then click on the OK button.
Now we need to put this new Route Group up to the top of the list so that the pattern doesn't match with anything else.
Alright the routes are setup, but the system still doesn't know how to use them so we need to trick it into using our new route by creating a pattern in our Toll Strings so it thinks that we are dialing a number that requires Equal Access.
Go to System > Numbering Plan > Toll Strings > Q: single right-click on the right-hand side and select Add to Q List... Next we will single left-click on the empty Dial Pattern field and type in 5xx. The X denotes any number 0-9 so 5 plus any other two digits will match as a Toll String.
*** Disclaimer***
I have never done this myself, but in theory it should work just fine with the way I explained here. The problem I see is that the system would need to know when you are done dialing your number which would be the # key. Another issue is that when 911 is dialed it always looks at Route 1 IF you have the Emergency Extension of each phone set to use ARS [Default=92000].
Let me know if it works and we can adjust as needed since most of the time you would be dialing more digits to denote that it is an equal access call followed by the digits for the extension. For example let's say that our Equal Access was 989 and our extension we want to contact is 501. We would dial 989501# and then it would grab the right trunk group and call out while dropping the 989 part of the number dialed.
Thanks,
TE
