In this example, a customer requires one PSTN route for long distance to area code 416, a different PSTN route for long distance to area code 514, and a third PSTN route for all other long distance PSTN calls within North America. The same customer wants to restrict long distance PSTN calls to office code 976 regardless of area code. The use of wildcards in ARS minimizes the number of ARS entries required to specify these routes.
These ARS entries will produce the required ARS behavior:
|
9 1 416 |
+ 7 |
Route 1 |
Least cost route to area code 416. |
|
9 1 416 976 |
+ 4 |
Route 99 |
Restricted route. |
|
9 1 514 |
+ 7 |
Route 2 |
Least cost route to area code 514. |
|
9 1 514 976 |
+ 4 |
Route 99 |
Restricted route. |
|
9 1 XXX 976 |
+ 4 |
Route 99 |
Restricted route. |
|
9 1 |
+ 10 |
Route 3 |
Route for other long distance calls. |
The need for some of these entries may not be immediately obvious to those that have not worked with ARS wildcards before. For instance, the two restricted route entries "9 1 514 976 +4" and "9 1 XXX 976 +4" which both go the same, restricted route 99, may initially appear to be redundant, until you consider that ARS evaluates the most specific rule. In this case "9 1 514 976 +4" is more specific than either "9 1 XXX 976 +4", or "9 1 514 +7", (without "9 1 514 976 +4", "9 1 514 +7" will be the chosen route).