Outbound Dial Map

The Outbound Dial Map controls how Evolution UC routes different dial patterns. There are three elements that you can control: the route, the target, and the dial strings. Three routes are predefined: Local, Long Distance, and International.  All three are designed to be used as their name suggests and the dial strings listed under each route determine the route’s action. 

The outbound dialmap can be accessed by browsing to 'Call Routing' → 'Outbound Dial Map':

The following 2 paragraphs utilize an example to explain the outbound call process.

An internal call is dialed and the digits are passed to Evolution UC. Evolution UC compares the digits to the digit strings. If a match is found Evolution UC associates the internal call with the route that the matched dial string belongs to. If 4221244 is dialed on a default installation of Evolution UC then the dialed digits will match the pattern _XXXXXXX. By default _XXXXXXX belongs to the route LOCAL. The call will be sent to the Target of the route LOCAL. If the route LOCAL is set to VoIP Provider / Trunk Group and the Target Trunk Group 1 then the call will be sent to Trunk Group 1 (trunk groups are set under 'Resources' → 'Phone Lines' → your specific provider). If you have analog lines with a TDM400P card then Trunk Group 1 may refer to the TDM400P. Thus the outgoing call flow is as follows:

4221244 is dialed → matches _XXXXXXX in route LOCAL → route LOCAL targets Trunk Group 1 → Trunk Group 1 is set to TDM400P → call is connected to an available analog port on the TDM400P → the call is sent to your analog provider.

Assign a target trunk group for each route according to your preference. If you have one service provider then all four routes should point to the same target. If you have multiple service providers you may choose to prefer one for LOCAL and another for LONG DISTANCE, etc. One reason for this type of configuration is that different service providers may offer different rates for local versus long distance calls. You may also elect to have backup service providers in the event your primary provider is unable to route the call, or to play a message to outbound callers stating all lines are busy when the primary provider’s lines are in use.

Outbound dial strings can be modified by clicking edit to edit the route and then clicking the check box to view the dial strings. Local dial rules may require you to add or modify the dial strings. The following table explains the characters that may be used in dial strings other than the numbers 0 through 9:

Additional routes can be added to the system as well, this is done by clicking the add new route link. These routes can be for very specific dialing situations such as a dial code you would like to use to access a special provider or to route internal extension dials to other systems.

You can also adjust the order the routes. This is done buy utilizing the green up and down arrows. The order of the routes determines the priority the system assigns to each route when a match is made to a dialed number.

Outbound Number Translation

Outbound routes that explicitly refer to a trunk group will supply their dial strings for manipulation under the trunk group’s Advanced Options. Outbound number translation allows you to prepend or remove digits from a dialed number before it is sent to the service provider. For example if your provider requires eleven digits (a 1 plus the 3-digit area code and 7-digit local number) for all calls whether they are local or long distance but you do not want to dial a 1 for local calls then you can add that 1 using outbound number translation.

The column titled Number Dialed displays the dial strings that are associated with this trunk group. If an outbound number matches one of these strings it will be passed to this trunk group. Modify the text box to the immediate right of the dial string that you want to translate before sending to your provider. The Translate To field contains the variable ${DIALED} that will be passed to the service
provider. If left as ${DIALED} the number will be sent to the service provider as dialed. To add digits to the front or back simply add digits to the variable. For example to prepend a one to the dialed number enter 1${DIALED} or append a one to the number enter ${DIALED}1. To strip digits use this guide: ${DIALED:offset:length}. Following are some examples of stripping digits:

• ${123456789:1} returns 23456789
• ${123456789:3} returns 456789
• ${123456789:-4} returns 6789
• ${123456789:5:2} returns 67
• ${123456789:2:3}returns 345

You can also insert a ‘w’ in front of the variable ${DIALED} to force a half-second pause before Evolution PBX connects to the provider and sends the dialed (or translated) string. For example, ww${DIALED} would force a one second delay before the call is attempted. 

Below is an example of some translations in a SIP trunk:

• The 7 digit dial (_XXXXXXX) is being translated to 1602XXXXXXX
• The 10 digit dial (_XXXXXXXXXX) is being translated to 1XXXXXXXXXX
• 911 is being sent exactly as it was dialed

Telephone Dial Strings

SIP-based VoIP telephones have their own dial strings that impact when a call is sent to Evolution PBX. Different telephone manufacturers use different methods of implementing dial strings but the strings are usually the same or similar to those used with Evolution PBX. The dial strings that are local to the telephone impact if, and when, a user must use the Send (or Dial) button to place a call as well as interactions such as dialing 9 to place an external call. For reference, the default dial strings for Polycom and Cisco telephones provisioned with Evolution PBX are provided in the following table: