Table of Contents
In cases where using the standard phone system is impracticable, such as an office building where hundreds of individual phones may be in use, phone extensions provide extended directory alternatives. When using a typical phone extension, you must first call the main number for the facility or service and wait for an operator or automated system to ask for the extension number you need. Landlines only employ this technique, whereas smartphones employ additional techniques for speeding up calls to extensions.
Extensions enable businesses and organizations to route calls directly to various corporate divisions. Therefore, if you want to call a company’s HR department directly, you can call the number and add an extension to route the call directly to the HR department. When to enter the extension number will be prompted by the phone number. We mentioned below are the steps to Dial an Extension on Smartphone.
Steps to Dial an Extension on Smartphone
Dial an extension on iPhone
Nearly all smartphone models, whether they run an iPhone or an Android version, have the ability to call an extension. On an iPhone, how do you dial an extension? Take these actions;
- Open your Phone app on the main screen.
- Now long-press the “*” key (or asterisk) until a comma appears. The comma here acts as a pause and lets your phone know it is dialing an extension.
- Next, you are allowed to enter the extension number after the comma.
- Finally, click on the green phone button, and you will dial straight to the person you are trying to reach.
Dial an extension android
The ability to dial an extension is not exclusive to iOS phones; if you use an Android device, you can also do so for personal purposes. How does one use an Android phone to call an extension? Take these actions;
Method one: using the “pause” mode
- Open your Android phone, locate the “Phone” application and click on it.
- Next, enter the main number you are calling using the device’s dialer.
- After entering your phone number completely, long-press the “*” key on the dialer until a comma appears at the end. If your Android device doesn’t have a “*” feature, you need to press the 3-vertical-dot icon menu instead. Then select the “Add 2-sec pause” option in the pop-up menu.
- As you see the “,” appears after the main number, type your extension number.
- Finally, click on the green “Call” button to proceed with contacting your phone number.
Method two: using the “Wait” mode
In comparison to the “Pause” method, using the “wait” mode requires you to wait until the end of an automated message before entering the extension number.
- Open your Android phone, locate the “Phone” application and click on it.
- Next, enter the main number you are calling using the device’s dialer, the same as the previous pathway.
- After entering your primary phone number completely, long press on the “#” key until a semi-colon appears at the end part of the number. If your Android device has no “#” feature for any reason, click on the 3-vertical-dot icon menu on the dialer, and then select the “Add wait” option in the pop-up menu. This will then make a semi-colon appear after the main phone number.
- Now, enter your extension number.
- Finally, click on the green “Call” button to proceed with contacting your phone number.
Final Words
We hope you like our article on how to Dial an Extension on Smartphone. A phone extension is a brief additional number that is added to your main business number and given to a specific employee, project team, or department. It derives its origin from your main phone number and can be extended to as many divisions or staff members within your company as possible. Callers can connect with various company departments and employees using extensions. Numerous routes and short cuts created especially for VoIP extensions can help you and your callers save time.