I often have the need to call numbers that require entry of additional digits after the normal 10 digit number has been answered. A good case in point is the host number for my FreeConferenceCalling conference line. It has a 10 digit number, followed by a 6 digit conference code, then finally a 4 digit host access code.
In the past I have had to dial the number, wait for the prompt for the conference number, then wait for the prompt to enter the host code. When I am home working from in front of my computer this isn’t a problem, but dialing in while on-the-go is more challenging.
A long time IEEE Central Texas Section colleague and a fellow member of CapMac, Tom Grim, suggested simplifying this by creating an entry in Contacts and using the ‘Pause’ feature of the iPhone. Actually most smart phones how have both a ‘Pause’ and ‘Wait’ function built into their dialing systems.
For the iPhone these added dialing commands are:
- ‘Pause’ represented by a comma “,” – will cause a 2 second delay for each comma entered
- ‘Wait’ represented by a semi-colon “;” – will cause the dialing to wait for the “Dial” button to be pressed
So for my FreeConferenceCalling requirement I created a “Free ConferenceCalling” in the Contacts App on my Mac. After the 10 digits for the conference number I typed in two commas for a 4 second delay, then my conference code. Since I am also the moderator on the calls using this number, I followed with two more commas for an additional 4 second delay, then my host number. The resulting phone number looks something like this (999) 999 9999,,888888,,7777 in contacts.
This is synced to my iPhone via iCloud and now all I have to do is to find Free ConferenceCalling in my Contacts or Recents on my iPhone and, with a single touch, I can be dialed into the conference call.
You can enter a number directly into contacts on your iPhone as well. Open the Phone App >> Contacts. Either select an existing contact to edit or touch the “+” button to add a new entry. Enter or edit the phone number then touch the “+*#” key in the bottom left of the screen. That will bring up ‘Pause’ and ‘Wait’ as entries that can be made through your iPhone into the phone number field in contacts.
If you choose to insert a ‘Wait’ command, you would follow it with the next set of numbers to be dialed (such as (999) 999 9999;123456). When you then dialed this number, the phone number will be dialed and the iPhone will present you with a screen containing a Dial button and the additional digits to dial (see bottom left in image below). This would be useful when the delay between when the call was answered and when additional dialing could be entered was unpredictable requiring manual intervention.
Note that this will work for any instance where you need to dial a phone number followed by an extension. It will also work when you dial in and the phone is answered by a automated service asking you to pick the option you want to be connected to.
See my other iOS articles
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