Any freepbx/elastix gurus?

[bobsmith]

So.... I'm hoping I find some pbx gurus here... I'm setting up an Elastix server to replace a Cisco call manager at the moment.

One thing I can't seem to figure out how to do with elastix at the moment:

we have a trunk set up that will pass calls to us starting with 8xxx and our extensions are set up so that they are: 5xxx and we'd like to transform the numbers when they come in the trunk so that 8 gets replaced with 5 and gets matched to existing inbound routes 5xxx without having to create a separate 8xxx inbound routes for every extension we have seeing that that would be rather tedious work and that means we have to remember to do this every time we create an extension.

Can elastix/freepbx do this? It seems simple enough to transform outgoing numbers before sending them out a trunk but for the life of me I can't seem to figure out how to do this for inbound calls.

Thanks in advance!

[Gremlin]

No experience with those (so take what I say with a grain of salt, as it's not my strength), we use 3CX, but surely you don't have inbound routes for every 5x extension? Couldn't the same be applied to 8x?

Alternatively, you should be able to specify the extensions, not get them handed to you in a specific format?

[bobsmith]

Well the issue is that I'm replacing an existing set up on call manager so changing everyone's extensions is out of the question. Also have three different trunks that all present the DID in different format...

Hmmm I suppose probably the easiest to do is what you suggest and change the way that DID is presented from the trunks though. One of the trunks I can't change it easily but I control one of the others so I can change that, and another trunk I should be able to ask the other admin really nice to put a outbound transformation on the trunk for me...

[edit] - oh yes we have an inbound routes for every single extension. That's the part I was really puzzled about elastix. For each inbound route I only seem to be able to specify one extension. I was hoping someone could correct me on that.

[Gremlin]

Good god, an inbound route for every extension?

Is the trunk one or two numbers, or a block of DDI's (or multiple blocks of DDI's)? Can't remember specifics off hand, but we send all inbound calls to groups, hunt groups etc.

[bobsmith]

Yep. an inbound route for every extension. I've got a block of DDIs that come in and every single bloody person in the office has their own DDI. Lol about half the people use their phones once a week.

At least when you import the extensions you can import one set of DDI with it. I just need to add one more each...

Other than that Elastix/freepbx/asterisk set up is very nice though. Great quality runs on our VM infrastructure for easy backup/restore and uses very little resource. Can't beat the price either (especially when you compare to cisco solutions...)

[Gremlin]

Can't beat the price either (especially when you compare to cisco solutions...)

Yeah, try unobtainable.

Speak to distributor, yep, I'll take a couple of x gigabit switches (8 or 16 port, unmanaged, something minor). Sure... oh, you're not Cisco certified. I'm sorry, you'll need to gain Cisco certification before you can sell their products.

Wuh? It's a switch? You serious?

A month later they contacted me back, saying, we haven't heard from you about gaining certification. I said don't bother, bought from a brand that would actually sell it, feel free to pass that up to Cisco.

Funnily enough, tried to switch from Juniper routers to Fortinet, same problem... can't imagine the thousands they've lost on routers, and we've actually got more useful products (just a steep freaking learning curve).