Dial Through Services

'dial-through' services are useful where staff working remotely or on the road need access to company switchboard resources. A unique 01,02,03 or 0800 number is assigned to the company for dial-through purposes, and all inbound callers are authenticated against the caller ID; thus preventing fraudulent use from unauthorised users.

These number ranges in particular are used due to the high charges associated with calling 08xx prefixes from mobile phones. 01,02, and 03 numbers can be included as part of the inclusive-minute allowance of most mobile plans, and are therefore perfect for mobile access, whereas 0800 number access would be more appropriate for land-line access by homeworkers, for example.

The dial-through service enables billing to be centralised to one point (the company phone bill) and avoids the prohibitive call tariffs of 08xx or international calls levied by mobile operators by routing all calls through the company switchboard.

In summary, the benefits of the dial-through service include the ability to:

• Call a customer and appear to be calling from the company switchboard (useful where staff do not want to disclose their mobile number);
• Make international calls via the company switchboard - most effective when the company has an existing LCR (Least Cost Routing) agreement for such calls;
• Make 08xx calls via the company switchboard, therefore avoiding the prohibitive costs of dialling these numbers directly from a mobile;
• Ability to call an internal company extension if the direct dial number of an individual or department is not known or has been forgotten.