Dialling out

A phone can dial a number in any of the forms people actually use: with a +, with the country’s own international prefix, in the local form, or as the full international number without its +. FireTone reads each one the way the phone network does, using the rules of the country it is dialled from.

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The country a call is dialled from

Each organisation has a Country (Organisations → edit). An extension can have its own Country when that desk sits somewhere else. Leave it blank and the extension uses the organisation’s. The country only matters for a number typed without a +. For example, 0412345678 is an Australian mobile when dialled from Australia, and means nothing from India.

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How a number is read

In this order:

1. An extension of your organisation. Any length: 1001, 911003, or a seven-digit extension. The exact extension always wins.
2. An emergency number of the country. See below.
3. A number with + is used as it is, if it is a real number.
4. A number in the country’s own form. This covers the country’s international prefix and its local numbers.
5. Your outside-line prefix, removed. If the organisation sets an Outside-line prefix (for example 9), a number dialled with it in front is read again without it.
6. A full international number without its +. 919216217231 is read as +919216217231, India, from any country.
7. Anything else is refused. The caller hears “The number you dialled is not valid”, and the reason is logged.

Each country’s international prefix comes from the country itself: 0011 in Australia, 00 in India and the UK, 011 in North America. Dialling 00 out of habit also works where that country uses a different prefix.

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Emergency calls

FireTone does not carry emergency calls. If somebody dials their country’s emergency number (000 or 112 in Australia, 112 in India, 911 in North America, 999 in the UK), the call is answered and they hear:

Emergency calls cannot be made from this phone. Please hang up and call from a mobile or landline.

It is logged as a warning. If your organisation uses text-to-speech, the message is spoken in your organisation’s voice; otherwise a recorded prompt plays.

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Numbers that forward

A number set to forward to an outside number (Phone numbers → destination External), and a flow’s Route external step, need a valid number to forward to. It is checked when you save, in your organisation’s country, and stored in full international form. A number with nothing to forward to, or a typo, is refused with the reason.

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When a call does not go through

The daemon’s log carries each outgoing call’s details:

• routing: what was dialled, the international number it was read as, the country used, and how it was read (local, international, emergency, invalid) and why.
• outbound: for each carrier tried, the exact number that carrier was sent after its own number format and prefix, and the caller ID presented.
• outbound call refused by the carrier: a warning with the carrier’s SIP answer (403, 503, …). A refusal usually means the caller ID was not accepted, or the number is wrong.

The call’s page in the panel shows the carrier’s answer under Far end. When the number was dialled in another form, the page also shows it under Dialled as. A call FireTone refuses before any carrier sees it is announced with its reason: “This service is not allowed” when no route covers the number, “Calls to this destination are not allowed on your account” when there is no rate for it, and “Your balance is not enough to make this call” when credit has run out. Your operator can set a recording for each; see refusal announcements. A busy line, or one nobody answers, ends the call. The next carrier is tried only when a carrier refuses or fails the call.