Guide · Dialer extension
The dialer extension: an AI voice agent option for Australian call queues
The dialer extension adds a press-2 option to the wait message a caller already hears. Callers on hold get one new line: press 2 to talk to an AI voice agent now instead of waiting. A caller who presses 2 has opted in, so they arrive ready to work with the agent, where a caller a routing rule sent there might not. Anything the agent can't finish returns the caller to a person at the front of the queue, not the back, so opting in costs the caller nothing. We build this for Australian contact centres from Perth.
By Brian Foody, VerticalAI. Published 14 September 2026. Reviewed 14 September 2026.
Explainer
The dialer extension pattern
01
Why add a press-2 option instead of routing every caller to the agent?
A caller who reaches the agent because a rule sent them there never chose it, and a rough first call reads as evidence the whole deployment failed. A caller who presses 2 chose the agent over the wait, so the same rough edge reads as an early product they tried, not a broken phone line.
Most contact centres already play a message while a caller holds. Adding the option is a change to that message and a few minutes of configuration on the phone system already in place, not a new deployment.
02
What does the dialer extension pattern look like?
The wait message a caller hears today gets one new line. Everything else about the pattern follows from that single change.
- The message states the wait, then the option: on hold, about six minutes, press 2 to talk to the AI agent now.
- Press 2 routes the caller to the agent through the dialer extension already wired into the phone system. No new number, no new channel.
- Anything the agent can't finish sends the caller back to a person at the front of the queue, not the back. Opting in costs the caller nothing.
- A caller who presses nothing keeps the queue they have today.
03
Why do self-selected callers make better early testers?
A caller who presses 2 is telling you something a routing rule can't: that they would rather try the agent than wait. That caller forgives more, reports more, and gives the agent real call volume before the business has to trust it with everyone.
A forced deployment gets its first data from a random slice of your callers, including the ones who most wanted a person. An opt-in line gets its first data from the callers who wanted the agent.
04
How does this help during periods of high call volume?
A queue grows for two reasons: more calls, or the same calls taking longer to answer. Either way, the wait message is already playing, so the press-2 option is already in front of every caller stuck in it.
Callers who take the option shorten the queue for everyone who doesn't, without adding a person to the roster for the one busiest hour of the week. That is the same maths that decides when a support line closes for the day: the roster is sized for one window, and anything above it becomes a queue.
05
Why is this a lower-risk way to introduce voice AI?
Every deployment of AI into a live phone line carries some risk, because a caller who has a bad experience blames the business, not the pilot stage the agent is in. An opt-in line moves that risk onto the smallest possible group: callers who chose to try something new.
It is also reversible without anyone noticing. Turn the option off in the wait message and the queue goes back to exactly what it was, because nothing about the existing routing ever changed.
06
What does this look like for an Australian business?
We have wired this option into the phone system for existing Australian clients, alongside the wait message they already run.
The config takes a few minutes regardless of the dialer or PBX behind the number, and the agent that answers is built the same way as any other voice agent: from your own call recordings, with each query type tested as a scenario before a real caller meets it. The call data that persists is stored in Sydney, and the security page lists where each part of a call runs.
FAQ
Questions people ask before they buy
No. It adds one line to the message that already plays. A caller who doesn't press 2 keeps the queue they have today.
The caller goes back to a person at the front of the queue, not the back. Opting in never costs a caller their place in line.
They chose it. A caller who presses 2 expects an AI agent, so an early rough edge reads as a new product, not a broken phone line.
No. It routes through the dialer extension already wired into the number you publish today. The build is a few minutes of configuration once the agent itself is built.
Yes. An opt-in option only reaches callers who choose it, so it can run any time a queue forms, not only on the after-hours line.
A small number of existing clients, wired into phone systems already handling real call volume.
No. Offering it adds a choice. A caller who presses nothing keeps talking to a person, the same as before the option existed.
Sources
Where the numbers on this page come from
Put an agent on the calls you are missing
We scope it against your own recordings, prove it on test scenarios, and hand it over answering your number.