Creating ShoreTel Prefix Lists

When installing a ShoreTel phone system at a new site you might have issues dialing long distance to some phone numbers if you haven't configure your Local Prefix List for the trunk group at that site.  Specifically you can expect to have problems calling phone numbers in your same area code which need to be treated at long distance. 

For example an office in Fargo, North Dakota will have a 701 area code, however calls placed to Bismarck and Grand Forks, North Dakota (both of which are also in the 701 area code) need to be dialed as long distance.  To accomplish this we need to create a prefix list of NPA-NXX numbers that are local to Fargo.  When I had to do this for the first time I didn't know how to go about it, thus below is the process I developed.  There are likely other ways to accomplish this that are simpler, however here is the process I used for looking up the numbers to include an my list and importing those numbers into ShoreTel Director:

1)  Open Microsoft Excel and with a blank workbook open go to the Data tab on your ribbon, and click Get External Data From Web.

2) Using the NPA-NXX (the first six digits) of your main phone number, edit the following URL for your site and paste it into the address field then click Import.  (In this example, the main number assigned to my Fargo office is 701-237-1234, thus I use 701 and 237 in the URL.):

http://www.localcallingguide.com/xmllocalprefix.php?npa=701&nxx=237

3) In Excel delete all the columns except the the ones labeled NPA and NXX.  With only these two columns remaining also delete the header row.  Your data should look like the following.  After you have the data formatted save it as a comma delimited test file.  It is imperative that the file is in the comma delimited format because this is the format ShoreTel is expecting to import.

4) Launch ShoreTel Director, expand the Trunks menu and select Local Prefixes.  On the Local Prefixes page click, "Add new list."  Give the list a name such as "Fargo Prefixes," then click the Import button.  Browse for the comma delimited file you created earlier and click Upload.  You should now see the Prefixes in your list.

5)  Expand the Trunks menu and click Trunk Groups.  Open the Trunk Group you are configuring, and then near the bottom of the page you fill find the field labeled Prefix List.  Select your list from the drop-down.

6) Now it's time to place several test calls to local phone numbers, in-state long distance phone numbers and out of state long distance phone numbers.