softPBX Functions

Asterisk provides the telephony and call processing but an application such as freePBX is required configure the sophisticated PBX functions.

freePBX is modular so that you can install the modules that you want and disable or remove those that don’t suit your requirements. In the following sections clicking the “heading” provides additional information.

• General Settings
  • Allows for basic settings to be adjusted.
• Digital Receptionist
  • The ‘Digital Receptionist’ interface is used to setup your auto attendant (IVR) that responds when people call you. Normally heard as “Thank you for calling “XY-Design…, for Sales press 1, for Service press 2”, etc. Voice prompts are available in various languages and accents. Custom recordings can easily be integrated into the menu. These can normally be supplied by the “voice artists” that recorded the voice prompts so that callers are handled in a professional way.
• Extensions
  • This area is for handsets, softphones, paging systems, or anything else that could be considered an ‘extension’ in the classical PBX context.
• Inbound Routes
  • The ‘Inbound Routes’ page lets you configure which destination freePBX uses for calls coming from Trunks. When a call is recieved by Asterisk from a trunk, the DID and/or Caller ID is matched and the call is dispached as per your settings.
• Outbound Routes
  • Outgoing calls are sent over trunks as determined by the configuration of the Outbound Routing page. This is designed to be as flexible as possible, and allows for fall-through and multiple paths - eg, Least Cost Routing!
• Trunks
  • You use a trunk to carry a call (or any number of calls) to a VSP (Voip service provider) or a device that cares about what number you send to it (eg, another Asterisk / freePBX Machine). There are 5 types of trunks supported:
    • Zap
    • IAX2
    • SIP
    • ENUM
    • Custom
• Administrators
  • This module lets you control the access & limit the sections of freePBX to certain users.
• On Hold Music
  • Here you can configure the Music On Hold files that will be played. You can configure various ‘Classes’ of Music on Hold, which are used in Queues. The idea behind that is your ‘default’ MOH is standard music, and your various queues can have different ‘hold’ music while they’re waiting.
• Conferences
  • This is a standard multi-party conferencing facility that is available for both internal and external callers.
• System Recordings
  • System Recordings are used in Ring Groups and Conferences for various announcements.
• Paging and Intercom
  • Paging lets you, with phones that support it, do a ‘Page’ - you dial a number, and all the phones in the group pick up automatically, go into hands free, and play through their speaker what the caller is saying.
• Queues
  • Queues allow you to manage a large number of incoming calls, as you would expect to have in a Call Center. This is very intelligent application, and has a lot of configuration options.
• Ring Groups
  • This defines a group of phones that ring simultaneously on in sequence, stopping when any one of them is picked up.
• Time Conditions
  • This allows you to do an ‘if’ and change the destination of an incoming call based on the current Time, Weekday, Day of the Month, or Month. For example this allows the Receptionist menu to change based on the Time and Day of the Week, allows settings for “out of office hours”.
• Online Support
  • Online support for freePBX
• Backup and Restore
  • This offes a regular backup schedule to ensure that you have a copy of your Asterisk and freePBX configuration, voicemail and CDR records. Also restores a previous backup, in case of data loss or a major configuration fault
• Asterisk CLI
  • A system admin feature that allows you to run a command as if it was typed into the asterisk command line.
• Destinations
  • The destinations modules facilitates the way calls are handled, routed and accepted, this is needed by other freePBX modules.
• DISA
  • DISA (which stands for Direct Inward System Access) allows you to provide an internal dialtone to external callers. When you configure a DISA destination, you can use it as a menu destination within a Digital Receptionist, so that you can get an internal Asterisk dialtone. This means you could call into your Asterisk system and dial out as if you were using an extension connected to the Asterisk box itself. Uses CallerID and Pin for authentication and security.
• Callback
  • This sets a callback destination that calls a user back and provides access to an application. An example of this would be a caller that dials your system, disconnects, is called back and then provided a DISA application to make a phone call.
• Follow Me
  • Follow-Me settings are just like a mini ring group, but it’s tied directly to your extension. If you not at your desk, your mobile rings, etc.
• Feature Codes
  • Preset numbers that allow specific features to be set or cancelled on a phone extension, such as call forwarding, do not dusturb etc.
• Misc Destinations
  • This feature allows any number you would dial from a standard extension to be used as a destination in for example the receptionist menu. Also allows remote collection of Voicemail etc.
• Parking Lot
  • This allows you to configure all the normal settings for the call parking functionality of Asterisk.
• PIN Sets
  • PIN Sets allow you to use a range of PIN’s, rather than just one, for example when accessing trunks.
• Print Extensions
  • This module will print a list of users and extensions. Handy for creating a company directory listing quickly.
• Call Cost
  • Allows a variety of call cost statistics to be generated.