Cellphone with multiple 0800 numbers with notification of number called

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timmmay

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#110804 16-Oct-2012 15:28

This isn't a Vodafone specific question, but I don't know where else to ask, and he's with Vodafone.

A friend of mine runs several businesses, he wants a different 0800 for each, which he wants to ring on his cellphone. He wants to answer the phone with the correct business name, so he has to know what number the caller called.

Is there any practical way to do this? Having multiple phones isn't a good solution, and neither is voicemail or an answering service of any kind. He wants it cheap, as he expects low call volume, so $50/month/number would be expensive.

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#702117 16-Oct-2012 15:29

As the terminating number is the same it would not be possible to tell what 0800 number was called

timmmay

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#702119 16-Oct-2012 15:35

Do you or anyone else have any kind of alternate solution that might work? He could use another 0800 number provider if required, for example I use WxC after I left Vodafone.

Zeon

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#702121 16-Oct-2012 15:37

You could setup a PBX with the incoming 0800 numbers being passed as CIDs. Based on this you could then forward the calls with different outgoing CIDs based on the incoming calls. Pretty sure you can do this with ASterisk from what I've seen.

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johnr

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#702128 16-Oct-2012 15:50

Would only work if you the caller already

Regs

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#702131 16-Oct-2012 15:57

the asterisk option would work if you consume two lines - one for the incoming 0800 and one for the outgoing 'forwarded' (re-routed) call. that would cost you for the outgoing call though.

running a SIP client on the cellphone doing VoIP would be an option also. instead of 'forwarding' the call out, you just send it to the SIP client with a modified caller display name. this option relies on good mobile data network though, and also would incur extra cost.

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timmmay

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#702215 16-Oct-2012 19:22

Asterix is an interesting idea, fairly technical though I guess. Can anyone think of a simpler option?

jbard

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#702226 16-Oct-2012 19:49

timmmay: Asterix is an interesting idea, fairly technical though I guess. Can anyone think of a simpler option?

I'm completely unsure on this but is it possible to use a dual sim phone. This would rely on the phone telling you which SIM was being called but it might be possible.

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timmmay

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#702230 16-Oct-2012 20:13

Interesting idea JB, I'll suggest he look into it thanks :)

PenultimateHop

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#702270 17-Oct-2012 03:46

Some toll free operators (TelstraClear and Zintel spring to mind) used to offer a service where a tone was played when the 0800 call was connected to indicate which number was dialled. One beep, number one, two beeps, number two, etc. This is a fairly rudimentary way of implementing it, but it worked. The caller didn't hear the beep.

You could implement something like this with Asterisk too fairly easily I think.

timmmay

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#702281 17-Oct-2012 06:16

Thanks PH, I'll pass that on to my friend. I really think running Asterix is beyond what he was hoping to do. The tone thing may work though, if they still do it. Vodafone used to have a voice say "0800 call", which made you miss the start of what the caller said.

tcpdump

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#702430 17-Oct-2012 12:07

There is the option of getting the 0800 from 2talk (or other voip provider).
In their web interface you set up automatic call forwarding to your friend's mobile phone.

He will pay the cost of receiving the 0800 call plus the outgoing call to his mobile - although since it's a low call volume this shouldn't be a problem.
As it's a forwarded call he will see the 0800 number as caller ID so he will know how to answer. Obviously he won't be able to see the ID of the caller but he can see it in the 2talk web interface.

Edit: I'm certain that 2talk could change the caller id to show both the originating ID and the 0800 number called although it's not something that's offered currently.
In asterisk it's as simple as:

exten => xxx,1,Set(CALLERID(num)=0800123456-${CALLERID(num)})

timmmay

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#702444 17-Oct-2012 12:18

That sounds like it's worth looking into, thanks TCP :-)

sbiddle

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#702460 17-Oct-2012 13:05

The solution is very simple and is something I've deployed before but my solution requires Asterisk. Run the 0800 numbers into Asterisk where they're placed in a queue, connect the call to the mobile and when you answer announce the originating ANI/CLI of the call and the trunk it entered on and then bridge both channels together.

It's all of about 5 minutes work (or more if I was charging somebody for the solution!

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timmmay

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#702462 17-Oct-2012 13:08

Sbiddle, can you give me the one sentence version of how difficult it is to set up an Asterix server and get it all working, for someone with good technical knowledge but no VoIP knowledge? Can it be hosted by someone who knows what they're doing?

sbiddle

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#702474 17-Oct-2012 13:09

I also built a way to do this using Asterisk, a combination of softphone on the mobile or SMS notifications and then a SIP 302 redirects from the Asterisk box so it saved having to pay outbound call costs to the mobile but it took me a long time to build that solution so I'm not giving it away for free.

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