What is speed dial?

What is speed dial

Speed dial is a code of one to a few digits that the PBX translates into a full phone number. Instead of dialing 03-1234567 for the main branch, you dial 88, and the PBX dials the full number.

Everyone knows the idea from the home phone and the mobile: a long press on 2 calls Mom. The difference is where the shortcut is stored. On a phone, the shortcut is stored on the device itself, and only whoever holds it can use it. In a PBX, the shortcut is stored in the PBX, and every extension in the organization can use it — from any device.

How it works

1. The administrator sets up a list in the PBX: code against number. For example 88 — the main branch, 91 — the paper supplier, 95 — the transportation company.
2. An employee dials the code from his extension.
3. The PBX recognizes that it is a speed dial code, and not an extension number, and replaces it with the full number.
4. The call goes out as usual, with the caller ID set for the extension.

The important point: when the supplier's number changes, you update it once in the PBX, and all the employees keep dialing 91 without knowing that anything changed. There is no need to update contacts on twenty phones.

You need to plan the codes so that they don't collide with the extension numbers. If the extensions are 100–199, a speed dial code of 150 would confuse the PBX. It is common to reserve a separate range, for example codes that start with 8 or 9, or codes with a star.

Real-life examples

• A chain with several branches — a code for each branch, even when the branches are not on the same PBX.
• Yeshiva — a code for transportation, the main kitchen, the mashgiach, the yeshiva doctor. The dormitory staff at night don't need to look for numbers.
• A business in Bnei Brak — a code for regular suppliers and deliveries. New employees get a single sheet with the codes.
• Nonprofit — a code for the print shop, the event hall, the volunteer coordinator on a campaign evening.
• An emergency line inside an organization — a short, familiar code for an important number, which everyone remembers even under stress.

Speed dial, contacts or a BLF key?

A BLF key is a phone key that dials a colleague and shows whether they are on a call. It suits extensions inside the organization. Speed dial is mainly for external numbers that the whole organization uses.

Advantages and Limitations

The advantages are clear: less typing, fewer mistakes in digits, one number updated for the whole organization, and a new employee who starts working on day one without collecting numbers. There is also an advantage people think about less: the full number does not have to be shared with every employee. It is enough that they know the code.

The limits: speed dial works only from inside the PBX. Someone calling from outside cannot press 88 and reach the branch. That is what an IVR menu is for. Also, a shortcut does not change the nature of the call: a call to a mobile phone or abroad stays a call to a mobile phone or abroad, even when the code is short.

How to plan a code list

Start with what you dial most. Go over the call history for the last month and check which external numbers are dialed again and again. Those are the first candidates for a code.

Group by topic. For example: 80–84 for branches, 85–89 for suppliers, 90–94 for services (transportation, garage, lab). This makes them easy to remember, and easy to guess a code you don't remember: "suppliers start with 8."

Leave room. If you have three branches today, reserve codes for five. A code that you change after everyone has gotten used to it causes mistakes.

Write the list down. The code, the destination, and who is responsible for updating it. That way, when a supplier changes a number, it is clear who needs to update the code.

Tips and common mistakes

• Not too many codes. Ten to twenty codes that people really use are better than a hundred that nobody remembers.
• A code sheet next to the phone, or in the shared folder. A code that nobody knows about saves nothing.
• Clean up. A supplier that was replaced, a branch that closed. A code that dials an old number wastes time and causes confusion.
• Check for conflicts with extension numbers and with routing codes.
• Remember outgoing calls. A speed dial to a number abroad is still an international call, and it will be charged accordingly.

A full example: the code list of a store chain

A chain of four housewares stores, a central warehouse and an office. Before the list, each saleswoman kept notes with numbers, and every store had different versions. The manager went over a month of call history, marked the numbers that were dialed more than ten times, and got this:

What the chain learned within a month: code 80 for the office was the most useful, because it led to a hunt group and not to one person. Code 90 saved the most mistakes, because the delivery company's number is long and confusing. And code 99 was hardly used, which is fine: an emergency code should be available, not popular. They printed the list on a single card that is stuck next to every phone, and it is identical in every store.

A code list by who uses it: a yeshiva with a dormitory

In a store chain the question is "where to." In a yeshiva the more important question is "who": the dormitory staff at night, the secretaries during the day, the kitchen early in the morning. So when you build a list for an institution, it is worth adding a column for who uses each code. It determines what you print next to which phone.

Note row 93. This is an intentional mistake that we left in the table: a number that changes every week does not belong in speed dial. A code is for fixed things. A number that rotates belongs in the contacts of whoever needs it, or on the duty roster. The yeshiva's final list stayed with eight codes, not nine.

What was printed: next to the dormitory phone, a card with 81, 91, 92 only, in large letters. Next to the secretaries, the full list. A night staff member looking for a doctor doesn't need to go through the laundry codes.

Three cases that start with a code and end with a call

A branch on another PBX. A nonprofit with a branch in Jerusalem and a branch in Bnei Brak, each on a separate PBX. Employees in Bnei Brak press 82 and reach the Jerusalem secretaries. From the PBX's point of view this is an ordinary outgoing call to Jerusalem's main number, so it goes through the IVR menu there like any caller. The solution: the code dials the secretaries' direct number (a number set up to bypass the menu), not the main number. If the branch has no such number, this is the time to add one.

A supplier that changed numbers. The packaging supplier of a Bnei Brak business moved to a new number. It used to go like this: a message in the group, some people updated, some didn't, and two weeks of calls to a disconnected number. With code 92 it is a one-minute change on one screen. It is worth using the moment to check the other codes too: a replaced supplier is a reason to review the whole list.

Emergency contacts. In a small factory, 97 is set for the alarm center, 98 for the insurance company and 99 for the manager. Note: these are not a replacement for the national emergency numbers. 100, 101 and 102 are dialed directly, with no code and no prefix. It is important to check that no speed-dial code starts with the same digits, so the PBX won't wait for another digit when someone dials 100 under stress.

Rules for choosing the codes themselves

The general planning (start with the common numbers, group by topic) has already been covered. Here are the rules about the digits themselves, the ones that prevent problems that only show up after everyone has gotten used to the codes:

• A code cannot be the beginning of another number. If there is an extension 810, the code 81 will make the PBX wait a few seconds after every press of 81, because it doesn't know whether another digit is coming. The result: "slow" dialing that nobody understands.
• Don't start with 0. The digit 0 opens full numbers and prefixes, and in many PBXs also an outside line. A code that starts with 0 will be taken as the start of a number.
• Don't start with 1. 1 opens the emergency numbers and the national services. Leave this digit clear.
• Uniform length. All codes with two digits, or all with three. Mixing 8 and 81 creates exactly the waiting problem from the first item.
• One code per destination. Two codes for the same supplier seem convenient, but in practice one of them will be forgotten when the number changes.
• A code with meaning, if possible. 84 for branch number 4, 9 followed by a digit for services. Not required, but it helps whoever doesn't remember.
• An owner for every code. Next to each row, the name of whoever updates it. Without this, everyone assumes someone else will update it.

A simple test before approving a list: press each code from one phone, and measure how long passes until the ringing starts. If one code takes longer than the others, it is a sign that it conflicts with something.

When it doesn't work: symptom, cause, fix

Mistakes that repeat in every organization. A code for the private mobile of an employee who left, and everyone keeps dialing a stranger. A code for a number abroad that looks like a local call, and the surprise arrives in the bill. A list that is printed once and never updated, so the card next to the phone contradicts the PBX. And the opposite: an accurate list in the PBX that nobody told the employees about. In all cases the fix is the same: a regular review of the list once a quarter, together with the call history, which shows which codes are in use at all.