Prove that this call entered Follow Me
Record one authorized call's timestamp and timezone, source, dialed DID or extension, intended primary extension, external destination and observed result. First prove the upstream route selected that extension and that Find Me/Follow Me was enabled for it. A configured list, a user's feature-code report or a mobile missed-call notification does not establish the branch taken by this call.
Sangoma's version 13 guide places Follow Me settings under the extension's Find Me/Follow Me tab and uses the separate Follow Me page mainly to show or change enabled state. The installed FreePBX 17 modules remain authoritative. Preserve module versions, enabled state, initial ring time, strategy, list, ring time, no-answer destination and the supported apply result before changing anything.
Read the external destination as a different dial path
Sangoma documents a trailing # in the Follow-Me List to mark a number as external. Keep the stored list entry, the number after FreePBX removes its marker and the digits presented to outbound routing as three separate values. A plain internal extension, a remote-system extension and an external public number do not share one reachability test.
Inspect the generated dial branch read-only after Submit and Apply Config; do not edit FreePBX-owned dialplan. Correlate the affected call and prove whether Asterisk created the external channel. If it did not, keep list parsing, enabled state, strategy, timers and generated branch in scope. If it did, continue with the exact route and trunk attempt rather than adding another Follow Me entry.
Trace the added leg through outbound routing
An external Follow Me destination is a new outbound call leg. Preserve the digits received by outbound routing, the first matching pattern, route order, selected trunk, sent number and caller identity. A working ordinary call to the same mobile is a useful control only when it uses the same caller, digits, route, trunk and identity policy. It does not by itself prove the Follow Me leg is equivalent.
For the correlated channel, retain the SIP response or local failure, Asterisk DIALSTATUS and per-channel hangup cause separately. An announcement, busy result or no ring at the mobile cannot distinguish pattern mismatch, authorization, caller-ID rejection, unavailable capacity, transport failure or a remote no-answer result. Correct only the owner supported by that evidence.
Check the extension's outbound-route permission owner
A Follow Me external destination can be denied before the trunk even when the same digits work from another extension. Sangoma's Extension Routing guide says a route blocked for an extension also blocks that extension's Follow Me and call-forward number, and that an installed Class of Service module takes control away from Extension Routing. Record which permission system is installed and enabled, the owning extension, the matched route and the denial evidence.
Do not enable every route or change the carrier merely to make the mobile ring. Grant only the destination class required for this extension-owned workflow, keep emergency routing under its approved policy and retest one matched and one intentionally denied number. No installed commercial-module state or route permission was inspected for this diagnostic.
Keep caller identity and mobile presentation separate
Sangoma exposes separate external caller-ID modes for Follow Me and notes that the original caller identity is subject to the outbound route and trunk. Do not assume an incoming caller's number is authorized for retransmission. Preserve the original caller, the FreePBX-selected identity, any asserted identity header, the trunk's accepted identity and what the mobile displays.
Use the carrier-approved identity for this call type and keep emergency callback identity under its own approved procedure. A different displayed number is not proof that the wrong trunk handled the call; conversely, a rejected asserted identity is not repaired by changing codecs, NAT or the mobile handset.
Separate ringing, answer and confirmation
Follow Me can enable confirmation for external destinations so a human must press 1 before the original caller is connected. Sangoma's version-labelled references limit confirmation to ring-all variants and describe separate remote and too-late announcements. Preserve the configured strategy, whether confirmation was invoked, the announcement heard, the digit sent and the dialplan result.
A mobile may ring and answer into its carrier voicemail while the business caller never connects. With confirmation enabled, the external channel can answer but remain unbridged until the acceptance digit succeeds; with another destination already accepted or the timer expired, the remote party can hear the too-late path. Those are not missing-ring symptoms. Diagnose DTMF or media only after proving the external channel answered and the confirmation application ran.
Verify timers, capacity and the final destination
Initial Ring Time delays the Follow Me list, while Ring Time applies to the list and hunt-style strategies can repeat that interval for each iteration. Compare configured seconds with channel creation, provisional responses, answer and cancellation timestamps. A short upstream timer or another destination answering can cancel the mobile leg before the mobile network presents it.
Record extra trunk channels, provider limits and any billed legs without guessing a capacity figure. Then allow every destination to remain unanswered and prove the configured no-answer branch and intended mailbox. A mobile carrier mailbox, FreePBX mailbox and another fallback destination are different answers and data owners.
Retest a bounded matrix and remove temporary evidence capture
After the smallest supported correction, repeat an internal call to the extension and a representative inbound call. Test desk answer, mobile human answer, mobile rejection, mobile unreachable, no answer to the intended destination and a second listed target where policy allows. Confirm the route, trunk response, caller identity, confirmation result, original-caller bridge, bidirectional audio and final mailbox separately.
Use protocol logging only for the authorized reproduction and remove or redact numbers, credentials, SDP addresses and personal calling data afterward. Roll back if an unaffected call, emergency identity boundary or no-answer path regresses. No PBX, module, extension, route, list, number, caller identity, trunk, provider account, mobile network, confirmation prompt, DTMF path, mailbox, capacity, price, availability, compatibility or live call was inspected or tested for this guide.
core show version
core set verbose 5
pjsip set logger on
# Place one authorized affected call; correlate its channels, route, responses and causes.
pjsip set logger off
core set verbose 0Sources & applicability
Primary references for the technical details above. Operational examples and planning checklists are VoIP.info editorial guidance.
- Sangoma FreePBX Follow Me user guide ↗
- Sangoma FreePBX UCP Find Me/Follow Me ↗
- Sangoma FreePBX extension Find Me/Follow Me fields ↗
- Sangoma FreePBX outbound routes ↗
- Asterisk Dial application ↗
- Asterisk per-channel hangup-cause inspection ↗
- Asterisk bounded debug-information collection ↗
- Sangoma FreePBX Follow Me module overview ↗
- Sangoma FreePBX outbound routes ↗
- Sangoma FreePBX Extension Routing ↗
- Sangoma FreePBX feature codes ↗
Examples require adaptation to your topology. No live PBX or hardware testing is claimed.