DID stands for Direct Inward Dialing and (DID) is used interchangeably with “telephone number” in the Peeredge DocumentationSBC documentation. DID is a service provided by a carrier (e.g. 46 Labs) that allows a phone call to ring to a direct line rather than having to pass through a phone tree or menu in order to be routed to its end location.
The term originates from a time when it was more common for offices to avoid individual phone numbers for employees , and instead utilize extensions. The Direct Inward Dialing The DID service also provides DNIS. VoIP carriers typically deliver DID calls to their customers in an E.164 format.