When going through our reviews, comparisons and blog articles, you can see that virtual phone system providers offer seemingly countless features in their services. Most of them are pretty self-explanatory: call forwarding, call blocking, answering rules, voicemail messages and so on.
However, there are a few features you might not be familiar with, like DID (Direct Inward Calling), feature codes, ring groups, DNIS (Dialed Number Identification Service) and call blasting.
So, if you haven’t heard of these features before, this is your article to read.
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Direct Inward Calling
Often abbreviated DID, this feature allows callers to get immediately connected to a destination (without the need for an operator), whether it is an individual user, a ring group (see later), a device or even a voicemail. From the receiver’s point of view this means that a block of telephone numbers are provided for calling into a company’s PBX (private branch exchange) system which can be associated to various individuals without the need to install physical lines to each connection.
Feature Codes
If you are familiar with video games, you probably heard about cheat codes. Feature codes (or dial codes) are something like cheat codes: these are 2- or 3-digit numbers with which you can give commands to your phone system using a regular desk phone. For example, you can manage call forwarding and hot desking, park calls, direct calls to voicemail, block your outbound caller ID and much more.
Ring Groups
A ring group is basically a group of people to whom the administrator of a virtual phone system can associate one or more extensions. When a caller calls any of the associated extensions, they start ringing simultaneously until one of the members of the ring group picks up the phone or until the call is directed to voicemail.
Dialed Number Identification Service
Mostly used by companies maintaining several (mostly toll-free) numbers, Dialed Number Identification Service (or DNIS for short) helps you determine at which phone number your company was called. During the call your system recognizes the DNIS number associated to the number the call was placed from, so your caller can be directed to the right extension or operator, hear the right message or have support in his/her native language.
Call Blasting
This is a more advanced form of the follow-me find-me feature with which you are able to pick up a call wherever you are. Unlike the follow-me find-me function, though, every single number assigned in the ringing sequence is rang simultaneously for a predetermined amount of time until the call is answered, directed to the following number(s) or it is forwarded to voicemail.
Best VoIP Systems of 2020
| Rank | Provider | Info | Visit |
1 | Editor's Choice 2020  |
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2 |   |
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3 |  |
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