atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information PLanning: 3-digit or 4-digit extensions?

Hi experts,
My brain hurts. I'm just about to purchase an IP Office (IP enabled) system for my small(35 people) company. I plan to have DID for managers, directors, etc. Corporate (~125 employees and growing) has a traditional PBX with no DID (using 3-digit internal extensions range of 100-460 or so). Although they haven't announced it, I'm SURE that they'll be going VoIP in the future & hence will be expecting extension dialing to us. I'm trying to head off an extension #s renumbering change when Corporate connects to us (which I assume will happen if they see that we're using 3-digit extensions. Also, I think it's more slickerer to have the DID match internal extensions. The problem is: MANAGEMENT IS NOT GOING TO BE HAPPY WITH 4-digit extensions. Can somebody simplify and explain this whole fooking mess to me & give me an argument to use 4-digit extensions in a 35-person company? If I'm completely off base in my thinking, can someone PLEASE set me strait? Thanks in advance for your patience & help!

Woody:

Tell them that the longer extension numbers make the company look bigger. It kills me when I hear a radio ad that says "call XXX-XXXX, extension 14". That sends up a red flag that they are a company probably using a ten-year-old Partner system that they bought on e-Bay!

Today's trend is DID and for the extension number to match the last four digits of the number.

I think just this little bit of information might help. All small companies want to project a larger image and what better way than through a free resource like phone numbers that they already own?

By the way, IF networked offices become an item, you will probably need to do 4-digits anyway. That's the way most manufacturers' networking packages are going, for obvious reasons.

Tell the old man that he needs to step up to the plate and accept today's technology. Then, clean out your desk and send me an e-mail when you find new work.

I feel your pain, but really, the only way to address your issue is to jump straight into four digits.

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Ed
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How come there's always enough time to go back and fix it a second time?

I stand on the other side of the fence on this one. I agree it is nice to have DID match extension numbers, but why really? If a customer has a DID number, he does not need the persons extension number. What I do try to do, if the customer wants it, is to have say ext 106 have a DID number ending in 06, knowing full well that the chance of him having a DID ending in 106 is a 1 in 10 chance, at best.

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Voice and Data Cabling in DFW, [email protected]
DnR Communications

I'm an advocate of having your extension numbers match the DID numbers. It makes changes down the road much easier when you can clearly list the used/unused extension numbers etc. It's also convenient for the office personell to only have one number to remember.

As far as the DN length goes, I'd lean towards a 3 digit number from what you've described. It sounds like you only have two sites with future capacities of < 100 at the one and < 300 at the other. You shouldn't have a problem building a numbering scheme around that as long as your DID bank fits in.

I see both sides. I think it would be NICE if everything matched---but I have quite a few systems out there that have 3-digit extensions and DIDs that don't match---and everyone does just fine. When I add a new extension, I have a form that I leave on the desk 1. Extension number 2. DID number 3. MB Password and a small cheat sheet. No big deal.

125 and growing and DID now is the time to change. I would first ask them if they already have literature with their old extensions though. Believe it or not that can be a hefty price to change all that.

If you are installing a new PBX. Now is the time to do it, not later. Yea there are going to be some growing pains. But in the long run 4 digit extension with matching DID's is the way to go.

I worked in a place that had 3 digit extensions. All extensions were DID's and the numbering plan ran like this:

Main bldg. xxx-n500 - xxx-n699
warehouse xxx-n700 - n799
satellite office xxx-n800 - n899

This whole plan was put in when converting from multiple 1A2's to a full Fujitsu PBX setup (1 Starlog, 2 Focuses). The leading digit of the three digit extension was a routing digit for the remote switches.

Users complained when they were transferred from one site to another that they could not take their numbers with them, but neither myself nor my vendor knew any other way to route them.

Because of this and NANPA issues the Fujitsu stuff was dumped in favor of Mitel SX-2000's at each site, plus 2 more sites, (ahh, the booming 1990's!)and another block of 200 DID's

We kept the 3 digit numbers but with DPNSS we were able to put numbers anywhere.

At my next company, we also had 3 digit extensions locally, but to call anywhere else in the company(worldwide), we dialed 8+xxx-xxxx to use the corporate net.

Bottom line, I guess, is how many users you eventually expect to have - 1000 with 3 digits or 10,000 with four. As far as enduser complaints go, most of 'em would bitch if you hung them with a new rope...

jsaxe

No matter what people are afraid of change. The 4-digit is better for the long run as the future spells out a 1 number for everything, home, cell, office, fax, whatever. The four digit rule applies for networking because its hard to get DID ranges that work througout a network. I'm getting kick back now from a national company because I told them they now have to go to 5 digit extensions for their 7 large locations to work seamlessly. Try convincing 2000+ people instead of 35.

Woody,

If you install the IP Office, please pack your bags, get the help wanted ads, and be prepared to hit the road. You do realize the disruption caused every time you add a telephone to the software? Do you realize you'll spend a fortune making your network strong enough to support this system? How about multiple call processing at the answering positions?

Get a real telephone switch, make it a hybrid (IP friendly), use the 4-digit numbering system with matching DIDs, and then you will have the best of all worlds and will be the hero when it all works. Maybe that corner office and new title ---- or at least you'll still have your old job.

"Do you realize you'll spend a fortune making your network strong enough to support this system?"

Woody, can you please explain this statement in a little more detail? Are you referring to the IP Office platform itself, or are you referring to any IP-enabled system here? Jamie (Original Poster ot this thread)