Computers & Electronics

How Can I Set Up Multiple Phone Lines/Extensions For a Business?

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  • Jun 27th, 2022 2:09 pm
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Dec 20, 2014
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Toronto, ON

How Can I Set Up Multiple Phone Lines/Extensions For a Business?

I asked this question in the small business section, but I thought I'd give it a post here as well since it's a technical issue.

I work at a relatively small business, but we need about 2 or 3 extra lines because 1 just isn't enough, perhaps some extensions where people can leave voicemails, too. Is there a way to manually split the phone line yourself with a special phone system, or do we have to pay Bell an additional fee to do this?

Thanks
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Aug 2, 2004
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Dubstep wrote: I work at a relatively small business, but we need about 2 or 3 extra lines because 1 just isn't enough, perhaps some extensions where people can leave voicemails, too. Is there a way to manually split the phone line yourself with a special phone system, or do we have to pay Bell an additional fee to do this?
You cannot create extra lines from 1 physical line. If you are currently with Bell, you are basically at their mercy. If that single line is occupied, you may get a second call via call waiting. But a third call is going to voice mail or a busy signal.

Do you have a phone system?

The best way is to move to VoIP and get a phone system. Set up an auto attendant and have it answer all your calls and direct them to the appropriate user. This will also allow you to mix vendors, but it is not a good idea to do so. You will want either a ring down or roll over service (calling one number and shuffling it down all your numbers)

You can buy either a commercial system, or build your own.

They now also have cloud based systems, you pay per extension.
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Jan 21, 2018
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Definitely go VoIP. At one time we paid Telus $450/month for our business phone lines with group features. Then one month they had some kind of internal re-org and our monthly bill was suddenly $650 - with back billing for 2 months that made it over $1000 for that month. We raised a complaint, which took Telus 6 months to resolve. They eventually rolled everything back and refunded all the overcharging, but too late - we switched to VoIP and never looked back. Now we pay $50/month for the same service.
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Scote64 wrote: Definitely go VoIP. At one time we paid Telus $450/month for our business phone lines with group features. Then one month they had some kind of internal re-org and our monthly bill was suddenly $650 - with back billing for 2 months that made it over $1000 for that month. We raised a complaint, which took Telus 6 months to resolve. They eventually rolled everything back and refunded all the overcharging, but too late - we switched to VoIP and never looked back. Now we pay $50/month for the same service.
Please recommend the carrier you're using now and the time your phone line was down while switching? Also, what's your internet speed? A lot of voip carriers available, setup might be a hassle though. Please let me know as this is quite urgent!
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Aug 22, 2006
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I personally like voip.ms because it has more features than other providers for a decent price.
Their PBX basically allows almost full functionality without being required to host your own.
The only downside is that internal calls now get routed to the internet. But let's face it... even with the worst codec out there, even 1mbps could host up to 10 concurrent calls.

If you have the skills to host your own PBX, it allows for greater flexibility and functionality but if you're a novice or just can't be assed to, voip.ms is a great compromise.
Do you not have anything else to do rather than argue with strangers on the internet
Nope. That's why I'm on the internet arguing with strangers. If I had anything better to do I'd probably be doing it.
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death_hawk wrote: I personally like voip.ms because it has more features than other providers for a decent price.
Their PBX basically allows almost full functionality without being required to host your own.
The only downside is that internal calls now get routed to the internet. But let's face it... even with the worst codec out there, even 1mbps could host up to 10 concurrent calls.

If you have the skills to host your own PBX, it allows for greater flexibility and functionality but if you're a novice or just can't be assed to, voip.ms is a great compromise.
Thanks a bunch! I used their service in the past to park a few telephone numbers. I ordered ordered a vanity toll-free did last night, but never understood their potential in that regard. I will do my best to opt for that option. Thank again, dude :)
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Jul 26, 2007
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Awhile back I setup 5 lines for a business costing approx $5000 including main box, music on hold, vmail, external intercom, cables and 10 phones for each desks. Plus 5 line fees from bell.

As already suggested here, look into voip for their relatively low fee. Cheaper to buy individual voip ATA and single phone for each desk then setting up a box with a greeter, vmail and extension system. Even cheaper is fpl $100 per sip per line but it's for home use only. Downside of voip is when it don't work, you need to troubleshoot yourself and downtime might hurt your business, but you can quickly forward all calls to your cell phone.
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Sep 12, 2008
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Canada
Just remember that if you use VoIP, your Internet goes down, you also have no phone lines. So you might want to have a backup method of Internet with automatic failover.
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Aug 2, 2004
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shplad wrote: Just remember that if you use VoIP, your Internet goes down, you also have no phone lines. So you might want to have a backup method of Internet with automatic failover.
Most if not all VoIP services allows you to redirect calls to a cell phone in case of an outage.

@Dubstep

If you’re inclined, I would setup Asterisk on a spare computer and use VoIP.ms for termination. This will give you a little more control and you can call each other internally without routing through the internet.
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Gee wrote: Most if not all VoIP services allows you to redirect calls to a cell phone in case of an outage.

@Dubstep

If you’re inclined, I would setup Asterisk on a spare computer and use VoIP.ms for termination. This will give you a little more control and you can call each other internally without routing through the internet.
Are any of you guys in the GTA? I have been researching all of this for the past few hours and it seems like a big hurdle, but I will do my best. I've got a spare PC I'm working on that I had laying around, going to initiate the port out from Bell tomorrow with approval from the boss, too, the line was down for over 2 weeks, and they are way too incompetent.

I may need some help down the line and wouldn't mind paying you guys with some car parts or cash to help getting this system up. Please let me know. :)
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Jul 26, 2007
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Dubstep wrote: approval from the boss
Trust me on this when it's not your company and have a boss, do not cheap out and get voip and make yourself look good for the moment for setting up a low cost phone system. When and it will happen, phone system goes down, you will get all the blame and you will regret making the decision to go voip.

Only do this when it your own business and you can troubleshoot yourself.

Other then that, tell your boss he needs to spend regular bell lines and attach it to a regular phone, if he don't want to get the expensive phone system.
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Aug 2, 2004
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Dubstep wrote: I may need some help down the line and wouldn't mind paying you guys with some car parts or cash to help getting this system up. Please let me know. :)
I am north of the GTA?

What would you like to do?
Last edited by Gee on Jun 27th, 2022 1:39 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Sep 12, 2008
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Or make sure you have a decent IT services company available...which is something
the company should have already.

Not having one is planning to fail. Ask anyone these days.
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Aug 2, 2004
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peteryorkuca wrote: Other then that, tell your boss he needs to spend regular bell lines and attach it to a regular phone, if he don't want to get the expensive phone system.
Bell has moved to VoIP for the most part. VoIP is very reliable if you have decent internet. If you are concerned about setting up a PBX, it is mostly web based now.

If you are still uncomfortable with a PBX, then find an old Compact ICS or some other key system and use ATA (Analogue Telephone Adapters) to connect VoIP lines to the system
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Dec 20, 2014
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peteryorkuca wrote: Trust me on this when it's not your company and have a boss, do not cheap out and get voip and make yourself look good for the moment for setting up a low cost phone system. When and it will happen, phone system goes down, you will get all the blame and you will regret making the decision to go voip.

Only do this when it your own business and you can troubleshoot yourself.

Other then that, tell your boss he needs to spend regular bell lines and attach it to a regular phone, if he don't want to get the expensive phone system.
I'm going to try doing the process with a few other employees, I'm not planning to stay there for that long because, travel :) but I'll educate at least one other person along the way to troubleshoot everything while I'm gone if anything bad happens. I can't stand Bell and Rogers, they are parasites and I'd love to do anything and everything without them if possible. The limitations with Bell are real, we just had our phone line down for more than 2 weeks cause of the heavy winds that happened, their staff didn't show up twice for the repairs, I'm sure the VOIP issues could be resolved 1 or 2 days tops.
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Gee wrote: I am north of the GTA?

What would you like to do?
There's so much to take in. Okay, so I am looking at Free PBX, I just burn the iso on a disk or usb and install it on an old PC, then wait? Once it's finished I add the details for voip.ms, I could probably find out all of that myself.

So what I'm confused about is how to actually get the ethernet cable running from the modem to the PC, then from the PC to all 4 phones — actually setting up the hardware via the server. I really want to learn all of this as a layman and help others with it.
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Aug 2, 2004
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Dubstep wrote: So what I'm confused about is how to actually get the ethernet cable running from the modem to the PC, then from the PC to all 4 phones — actually setting up the hardware via the server. I really want to learn all of this as a layman and help others with it.
Setup FreePBX, connect it to your router

FreePBX will get an IP address. This will be the server address for your end points (phones)

Create your extensions, lets say you create 5 extensions

101
102
103
104
0

Zero will be the operator or auto attendant

If you get IP phones, you connect the phones with an ethernet cable to your router. The phones will get their own IP address from the router. You will need three pieces of information for each phone

Extension (login)
Password (Voicemail Pin Code)
Server address (IP address of your FreePBX)

That is a simplified summary. It is a little more complex in reality.

For instance when you get a call, you automatically send it to extension 0, and let the auto attendant answer the call, if I enter an extension, then you forward that call to the phone. If the phone is not connected, you can opt to play the voicemail or forward to their cell phone etc.
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Dec 20, 2014
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Gee wrote: Setup FreePBX, connect it to your router

FreePBX will get an IP address. This will be the server address for your end points (phones)

Create your extensions, lets say you create 5 extensions

101
102
103
104
0

Zero will be the operator or auto attendant

If you get IP phones, you connect the phones with an ethernet cable to your router. The phones will get their own IP address from the router. You will need three pieces of information for each phone

Extension (login)
Password (Voicemail Pin Code)
Server address (IP address of your FreePBX)

That is a simplified summary. It is a little more complex in reality.

For instance when you get a call, you automatically send it to extension 0, and let the auto attendant answer the call, if I enter an extension, then you forward that call to the phone. If the phone is not connected, you can opt to play the voicemail or forward to their cell phone etc.
Awesome, thank you! I'll experiment in the coming weeks, I hope to have it all setup by mid July if all the porting out of bell goes as planned.
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Aug 2, 2004
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Dubstep wrote: Awesome, thank you! I'll experiment in the coming weeks, I hope to have it all setup by mid July if all the porting out of bell goes as planned.
If each person has a computer, you can also setup soft phones with a headset instead of using physical phones
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Gee wrote: If each person has a computer, you can also setup soft phones with a headset instead of using physical phones
Will consider that option for myself, could that work without the PBX? I ideally want 1 hard phone per person, plus 2 softphones (one on PC, one on cellphone)

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