When calling any organization or service center, one is often irritated by the long waiting time required to connect to the desired individual. Often, this is because we do not know their extension, or the receptionist takes too long to connect us.
To minimize this hassle, let us learn about how to dial an extension.
There are Android Dialer Apps that allow you to save extensions within the contact details saved on your device. This can be achieved via 2 means:
1. Pause
With the pause option, a user (someone who will eventually dial the destination) can save the contact number with the addition of a “comma”. This can be easily found amongst the punctuation tabs on your phone’s keypad.
However, for this option to work, you will have to find out the correct extension. Once you know what it is, it can be saved in the following format on your Android phone:
Number Comma Extension
E.g., 001-9482125678,90
In the above example, 001 is the country code for the US, followed by the telephone number, and 90 is the extension of the department.
Saving the contact number in your phone that has the Dialer App means that you would automatically be directed to the required personnel.
Once the app detects that your call has been received at the other end, it will directly lead you to the desired extension.
2. Wait
Most often, you know which extension you want to connect to, based on either your past experience or an understanding of the nature of the conversation you want to indulge in. However, you still prefer listening to the entire recording before dialing the extension – just to ensure you don’t miss out on any important information or update.
Under such circumstances, the application has to be programmed to wait for the recording to end before leading you to the extension directly.
How to dial an extension this way means that the contact number has to be saved in the app along with a semicolon which is denoted by ‘;’ sign.
Taking the same example, we used to explain the ‘pause’ option let us consider that the telephone number is:
9482125678
And, the extension is 90.
Now, you should save it in the following format:
Number Semicolon Extension
E.g., 001-9482125678 ; 90
Throughout the duration of your call, a reminder will repeatedly pop on your phone screen asking if it should link to the saved extension. However, it would only do so once you acknowledge by selecting an affirmative answer.
Shortcomings of these processes and the Trick to overcome them
One of the problems that you might occasionally face, if you use the ‘pause’ option, is that the organization’s automated system is unable to detect the extension. Reason being that these systems answer the call almost instantly, causing them to miss out on the required extension. It is amusing how even these so-called “automated” systems also require a few seconds to process the built-in information to successfully dial the required extension.
Since these systems answer the call instantaneously, they are not able to detect the extension.
A smart hack to solve this issue is to add additional disruptions between the number and extension saved in your phone. E.g., placing numerous commas instead of one.
Each comma is likely to induce an additional pause of two seconds, thus increasing the chances of landing on the correct extension.
How to Dial an Extension directly via iPhone?
Having discussed the ‘pause’ and ‘wait’ options with reference to Android apps above, the iPhone users might be left wondering if this facility can be incorporated in their devices as well. The answer is YES!
The good news is that Apple has a built-in feature in its operating system only. Therefore, the procedure to go about it in an iPhone is pretty simple. The steps involved are as follows:
- Access your contact list on the phone
- Select the phone number you wish to add the extension with
- Edit the number
- Add the comma or semicolon depending on whether you wish to incorporate a pause or wait for feature. The positioning of these symbols within the number will be in the same format as discussed in the Android section.
- Once you have edited the number, tap Done and you are good to go.
The hack to prolong the pause (using multiple commas) is similar for Android and iPhone.
Given the fact that due to the widespread use of mobile phones, people hardly remember any contact numbers by heart these days, it is highly unlikely that they would remember the extensions too. Therefore, these simple features in both Android and iPhone can make our lives easier. Along with informing our readers about these options, we have also outlined the processes regarding how to dial extensions directly – via both devices. We hope you find them helpful.