VICIdial Carrier Global String: What That Field Actually Does

When you add a carrier in VICIdial you get a small grid of fields: Carrier ID, Registration String, Account Entry, Protocol, Dialplan Entry, Server IP, and one that confuses almost everyone the first time they see it: Global String. It is optional, the form lets you submit with it blank, and most setups never touch it. That is exactly why it is worth understanding before you copy a config you do not fully follow.

The short version: the Global String lets you define a global variable that your dialplan can reference instead of repeating the full trunk path on every line. It is a convenience for keeping your routing readable, not a required step to make calls go out.

What a global variable buys you

In Asterisk, a global variable is a name you set once and reuse anywhere. A classic example is the legacy TRUNK variable for hardware lines, where the config sets TRUNK=Zap/r1 once and the dialplan dials ${TRUNK}/${EXTEN:1}. The Global String field on a VICIdial carrier writes that kind of variable into the auto-generated conf so your trunk has a friendly handle.

For a typical SIP carrier an example value looks like SIP/testcarrier. Once that global exists, a Dial line in your routing can reference the variable rather than hard-coding the peer name in three different places. If you ever rename the trunk, you change the global in one spot instead of hunting through your dialplan.

How the field decides the outcome

flowchart TD
  A[Carrier saved] --> B{Global String set?}
  B -->|No| C[Dialplan uses literal trunk path]
  B -->|Yes| D[Global variable written to conf]
  D --> E[Dialplan references variable]
  C --> F[Calls route out]
  E --> F

As the flow shows, the Global String never decides whether calls go out. The Account Entry and Dialplan Entry do that work. The global only changes how the trunk is named inside the generated config. Leave it blank and your routing simply spells out the full path on each Dial line, which is fine for one or two carriers.

Where it fits with the other carrier fields

The Global String sits between two fields that do the heavy lifting. The Account Entry defines the peer your VICIdial server talks to. The Dialplan Entry defines the pattern matches and Dial commands that actually send the call. If you set a Global String, your Dialplan Entry is where you reference it. Get those two right first, then add a global only if it makes your config cleaner.

For the field that controls the trunk name string in the conf, see the value spelled out in your Dialplan and confirm it matches what the peer expects. A mismatch between the global name and the Dial reference is a common cause of calls that never leave the box, even though the SIP trunk itself registers fine. Because the conf is auto-generated from these fields, a typo in the Global String quietly breaks routing without any obvious error on the Carrier record itself.

For the broader picture of how all these carrier fields work together, start with our VICIdial carrier integration guide. If you want to dig into the field that does the routing, read our companion post on the carrier Dialplan Entry.

Wrap-up

Treat the Global String as a readability tool, not a switch. Blank is a valid, common answer. Set it when running multiple carriers makes a short reusable name worth the extra line. On VICIfast we generate the carrier conf for you and your dialer is live in under 40 seconds, so you can test these field choices on a real box instead of guessing. See our pricing to spin one up.