Options for External Calls Using Route Patterns
As discussed earlier, Cisco CallManager will wait ten seconds before
assuming dialing is completed. There are two options that can be added
to route patterns destined for outside North America through the PSTN.
The more common of the two is dialing the number zero (0).
To configure this option, you could add the statement:
Route Pattern = 0.!
0. is necessary to access the PSTN, while ! is the wildcard that represents
a digit (or number of digits). With this setup, the Cisco
CallManager still waits ten seconds to see if any more digits are dialed.
If none follow, the Cisco CallManager assumes the dialing is complete
and routes the call.
There is also the second option. This configuration instructs users
to dial a pound sign (#) to end the dial string so the call can be placed
immediately. The drawback is that you are expecting the user to listen to
the instruction and change their existing dialing habits. As you know,
people aren’t always happy with change, especially if they are used to
something easier (or that they are familiar with).
Route Pattern = 0.!#
0. is the code necessary to access the PSTN, while ! is the wildcard
that represents a digit (or number of digits). With this setup, the Cisco
CallManager will still wait ten seconds to see if any more digits are
dialed. If none follow, the Cisco CallManager assumes dialing is complete
and routes the call. The # (pound) is the end character. When the
user dials the pound key, the Cisco CallManager terminates the dialing
string and immediately routes the call.