I have asked this question before but probably in the wrong way, we are looking at setting up a * PBX and having many (50 lines) outbound calls via a PSTN gateway (any advice here on which one would be good)
We would like to have a unique number seen at the other end and not our main phone line number. in other words we want to specify CID.
We have many reason for wanting to do this the biggest one being able to determine who called who for customer service reason as we have lots of people using different phones some remotly via VOIP.
okay so you want a * setup, with a large PSTN link with a lot of DIDs (phone numbers). You want to be able to set your outbound caller ID to one of these DIDs at will so a caller can call back directly the way he was called.
You can do this with VoIP. Get a good wholesale provider. Wholesale providers charge a small fee for each DID (phone number) and you pay per minute for outbound, and on all outbound calls you can set any caller ID you want.
Many PRIs also work the same way, but it depends on what service you have.
If you are using analog lines you cannot SET your caller ID, but you can block it with *67… each line will probably have its own caller id. THis is far less helpful.
IMHO your best bet is either find a good VoIP provider, or get some PRI quotes for whatever you need. I’d do it with a Digium/sangoma card instead of a gateway personally but YMMV.
OK, starting to understand but still a little fuzzy on somethings
Am I correct in thinking we can do the following
Setup a Asterisk server
Add PCI card (Digium/sangoma)
Connect this to a ISDN30 (not sure about this)
Setup all out hard and soft phones
Buy some extra DID’s (from somewhere)
Then we can set the CID based on who is calling out and who we want it returning to?
Extra questons:
We already have some phone numbers (DID) can we simply use these by just setting CID or do we need special permission or something?
Can we set the CID to one of our mobile numbers?
looking at the above, what I’m asking is with Asterisk and ISDN30 can we set the CID without any red tape?
in the US at least dunno about current court cases but I know most wholesale providers let you set CLI to any 10 digit number…
However I get the idea that you are in Europe so setting outbound CID may work differently there. I know if you have a PRI and DIDs on the PRI you should be able to set caller ID to those DIDs, but perhaps won’t be able to set it arbitrarily like USA…
I think ISDN30 is what they call an E1 there, it’s a type of PRI. This is one option. Your other option would be a VoIP carrier. You should investigate both options, get quotes etc, and find which one is right for you. You can also mix and match (both PRI and VoIP) if you wnat…
with your idea you are mostly correct except that where you get DIDs is probably where you get your service, either PRI or the VoIP carrier. You’d have to ask the carrier about setting caller id w/out red tape…