What is a DID (Direct Inward Dialing) Number?
In historical terms, a DID is a feature offered by telephone companies in order to serve the needs of their customers via PBX (Private Branch Exchange) systems. In practical terms, a DID number (also called a DDI in Europe and sometimes referred to as a virtual number) is a local geographic
Typically a DID is used to provide local telephone numbers for customers around the world, or to provide customers with an access from regular land-lines or non-PSTN destinations such as VoIP.
What is a Channel?
Channels define the number of simultaneous inbound calls that you can receive on a DID. Therefore if your DID includes two channels, then you are able to receive two inbound calls at the same time. At DID World Wide, we allow you to add Shared or dedicated channels to DIDs.
How Many Channels are Included when I Buy a DID?
All DIDs are provided with two dedicated (non-shared) channels at no extra cost, allowing two concurrent incoming calls on the same number. This is applicable to non-PSTN forwarding destinations only.
Why would I Need Multiple Channels per DID?
If you are forwarding calls to a non-PSTN device such as VoIP, it is possible to have multiple concurrent incoming calls on the same number. Depending on your application, it may be desirable for you to have a single DID, but allow many calls to be placed to that number at any one time. For example, you may require that a certain DID number should be able to handle 10 simultaneous incoming calls. In this case, you would need 10 dedicated (non-shared) channels for this number. At DID World Wide, we allow you to add flexible or dedicated channels to DIDs.
Can I Buy Additional Channels for my DIDs?
All DIDs are provided with two dedicated (non-shared) channels. Additional channels may be purchased as required, depending on the country in which the local telephone number has been procured. To view the list of countries which support additional channels, login to your account and go to the Channels page. At DID World Wide, we allow you to add flexible or dedicated channels to DIDs.
What is the Difference between Shared and Dedicated (non-shared) Channels?
Dedicated (non-shared) channels are assigned to a specific DID, and allow additional simultaneous calls only on that particular number. Note, that by default, all DIDs are provided with two dedicated (non-shared) channels at no extra cost. But you may increase the concurrent call capacity of your selected numbers by adding extra channels.
Flexible (shared) channels cover a group of selected DIDs, and allow additional call capacity on all those numbers. As additional incoming calls are received, flexible channels are dynamically allocated to DIDs within a specified group on a first-come, first-served basis. The group of numbers, flexible (shared) channels are assigned to may be comprised of DIDs from anywhere in the world, for example, DIDs from Canada, Spain and Australia may be included in the same flexible channel group.
It should be noted that, by default, all DIDs are provided with two dedicated channels, over and above any flexible channels purchased. This ensures that even if all flexible channels allocated to a group are occupied, your DIDs have the capacity to receive (at least) two concurrent incoming calls.
