Call forwarding as part of a ring group

[William Spong]

Hi there,

I'm having problems with the call forwarding feature on a set of Yealink phones.

Heres the scenario. The client has a main external number which routes to a ring group with two or three members who's handsets are based in the main office; generally speaking there is someone in the office at all times but occasionally (and day Saturdays) the office is empty so they want to forward any calls from the ring group to another extension which is located in a different part of the building.

I thought about doing this with "do not disturb" so a staff member could simply press DND and it would route to the correct extension number.

Call forwarding works via DND if you call the extension directly, but it doesn't work when calls come in from the ring group (ie the main external number).

I have tried changing the bw.feature_key_sync = 1 to 0 or going into the web console and changing "Feature Key Synchronization" but neither has any effect.

So essentially I need to be able to forward all calls from a handset, even calls which come in as part of a ring group - it doesn't need to be via DND, just something which is easy for a staff member to switch on and off as they need it. This used to work on a different system for the same client which was based on Cisco phones / Asterisk.

I'm hoping that I'm making a silly mistake and its possible with 3CX / Yealink combo.

The phones are a mix of T42s & T46s.

Thanks in advance for any ideas.

 

[Saqqara]

dnd function does not work with ringgroups

You could change the ringgroup to queue, and have the other extension log in / out of the queue when required. https://www.3cx.com/docs/manual/call-center-queues/

Another option , create a dummy extension and on the ringgroup no answer send it to this dummy extension and depending on the status / forwarding of this dummy extension route the call - requires someone changing the status manually via user web console https://www.3cx.com/user-manual/web-client/#h.astrf9gj7wbb/

 

[William Spong]

Thanks for the reply. I'll take a look at the call queue features and see if it might work in this scenario.

I guess the wider question I have is how do people forward calls to a different number if their extension is part of a ring group? Perhaps a mobile number if they are out of the office etc. It seems a bit of a basic function.

Is there no way to do this with 3CX, or is it a limitation of the 3CX / Yealink combo?

 

[leejor]

It's not the the extension is part of a ring group, it's that a call directed to a ring group will not follow individual forwarding options, but, a call direct to the extension number will. Extensions do not "own" a ring group call, so they cannot "intercept" that call and direct it off to somewhere else. If that were the case, then, depending on the destination (a mobile number that goes immediately to the mobile voicemail), it may mean that no one else gets an opportunity to take the call, and therefore defeats the purpose of using a ring group in the first place.

You can use the Ring my Mobile at the same time, option on an extension that is part of a ring group.
There is also a DND code.

See....
https://www.3cx.com/community/threads/ring-groups-and-dnd.43626/

 

[coastlinetech]

Couldn't he just set the destination if no answer on the primary ring group to a secondary ring group containing the extension in the other part of the office? Then set the destination if no answer of the secondary ring group to the general mailbox voicemail?

When the primary ring group employees aren't going to be able to answer the phone, they can activate DND on the phones themselves (not just the extension profile) which ignores calls to ring groups. The primary ring group will then automatically switch to the destination if no answer secondary ring group for incoming calls. If there's no answer on the secondary ring group, the call is diverted to general mailbox voicemail.

My advice would be to avoid call queues in this situation as the scenario isn't really appropriate for it.

 

[NickD_3CX]

Another approach could be to:
- Switch to a Queue
- Set the "Away" Forwarding Profile of the extension to forward to external number (other options won't work).
- Important! Remember for "Away" you would now want to uncheck "Log out from queues".

That's it, while the agent/extension is in "Available" it will receive calls (as long as logged in), then when they want calls forwarded, switch to "Away", then it will remain logged in but calls will be sent to the number that is set.

Reminder that Outbound Rules must not have "Extension Groups" for the Forwarding Rule to use it.

 

[William Spong]

Ok, thank you all for the suggestions.

One final question. If I were to set the mobile number of someone in the office to an extension number rather than their actual mobile phone number, would checking the box 'Also Ring My Mobile' call the extension?

Or would the system try and call (in my case UK) +44 'extension number' as if it were calling an outside line?

 

[William Spong]

Answering my own question, it doesn't attempt to make an outside call, it calls through to the extension as you would expect.

Just incase that helps anyone else.