Call-thru to conference has outgoing calls limit of 60 minutes

Hi.

I have upgraded to a SoHo account, because I would like to use PBXes for conference calls. My setup is such, that I distribute the call-thru PIN and when people call the DID they enter the PIN and on the dialtone they dial the extension of the conference room (the extension number prefixed with '8'). Obviously I have no outbound routes at all, so users cannot mis-use this service to call any external number.

My problem is that the calls time-out after 60 minutes. According to the SoHo account details, there is a 60 minutes time-out for outgoing calls. But why does this limit apply on internal call-thru and is this how the system is supposed to work?

Would there be another way to achieve what I want, e.g. by diverting directly to the conference room of a selected extension (don't know how to do this, as the conference extensions do not appear in the list of extensions for inbound routing). Which account would I need to upgrade to to achieve what I want?

BR dbh.

This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by dbh on 05.11.2008 at 12:56.

RE: Call-thru to conference has outgoing calls limit of 60 minutes

Callthru also has the limit because it is tied to callback that needs to have it.

To be able to route to the conference directly create a classical extension pointing to your conference room.

RE: Call-thru to conference has outgoing calls limit of 60 minutes

It is unclear to me how a classical extension can point to another extension (conference in my case). Which option is this?

RE: Call-thru to conference has outgoing calls limit of 60 minutes

Examples:

• Your conference room has the number 8200. Create a classical extension 300 that dials 8200 (enter 8200 as PSTN number).
  
• Alternatively you can create a classical extension 200 that points to its own conference 8200.

RE: Call-thru to conference has outgoing calls limit of 60 minutes

Thank you very much. This seems to be working like a charm. Of course two limitations are now present: 1) I only have one conference room 2) There is no PIN access to the conference room. But I can live with this, if there is no other way to implement this without using call-thru.

One last question: Will this solution be restrcited by the 2000 monthly minutes in the SoHo account, or is this only for outbound calls as it was the case for the 60 minues pr. call limit?

This post has been edited 1 time(s), it was last edited by dbh on 18.11.2008 at 19:03.

RE: Call-thru to conference has outgoing calls limit of 60 minutes

You can resolve these limitations by inserting a Digital Receptionist. This allows extension numbers to be dialed (no menu options). Choose PIN like extension numbers for your conference rooms. The recording of your Digital Receptionist can prompt to enter such PIN.

Minutes are inbound and outbound as you can check in your Usage Display.