Force On-Call Phone to Ring

[nathansol99]

Hello everyone, would appreciate some help with figuring out the best way to go about this. Right now we either have the on-call person carry another physical phone with the 3cx app on it, or log into the on-call extension on their app.

I would like to eliminate the necessity of that and have an on-call queue that can be logged in and out of. However, I want to make sure that calls always go through, regardless of the extension's status. Any recommendations on how best to do that?

 

[VoIPTools]

I would create a dummy extension and make it a member of the queue. Then configure this extension to ring the mobile phone simultaneously. That way, regardless of the registration status of the 3CX phone, the call will still be forwarded to their mobile.

Be careful, however, to ensure the queue's polling strategy is setup to move to the next agent in the queue BEFORE the mobile phone voicemail will pick up. Also, be aware that if the mobile phone is turned off or unreachable, the mobile carrier will immediately answer the phone and send the call to the voicemail of the mobile phone.

We do this with our 3CX On Call Manager (OCM) tool when customers want a live-answer option. Then OCM manages the recurring schedules and logs the appropriate people in/out of the queue automatically. We also support failing over to voicemail if nobody answers the queue.

 

[nathansol99]

I would create a dummy extension and make it a member of the queue. Then configure this extension to ring the mobile phone simultaneously. That way, regardless of the registration status of the 3CX phone, the call will still be forwarded to their mobile.

Be careful, however, to ensure the queue's polling strategy is setup to move to the next agent in the queue BEFORE the mobile phone voicemail will pick up. Also, be aware that if the mobile phone is turned off or unreachable, the mobile carrier will immediately answer the phone and send the call to the voicemail of the mobile phone.

We do this with our 3CX On Call Manager (OCM) tool when customers want a live-answer option. Then OCM manages the recurring schedules and logs the appropriate people in/out of the queue automatically. We also support failing over to voicemail if nobody answers the queue.

Thats somewhat how I was thinking of going about it. The issues that I see with that is that user is going to be getting those calls on their mobile phone and won't be recorded, and more importantly that requires an admin to update the mobile number every time the on-call person changes. Unless I'm missing something?

Also was checking out your product, do you offer a sku that's just the 3CX On Call Manager? Or do you have to purchase the entire package?

 

[VoIPTools]

I should really look at how we configure remote agents for OCM. Reach out to our live chat and someone in support will walk you through the process (with or without our tools). Our tool logs people in/out of the queue automatically. I see no reason why you could not do the same (except without our tool it would be a manual process). Staff can specify their personal mobile phone numbers for the dummy extension -- so no need to change the phone number or pass around a support mobile phone.

In our OCM tool you schedule who is on call, and when, based on a recurring schedule (web-based calendar). You don't have to change the phone number or remember to log in/out of the queue. It's all handled automatically based on the schedule. We also provide failover to voicemail if nobody answers the queue call. If the call ends up routed to voicemail, we start pounding people with email, text, and phone calls with escalations (adding people to the notification list) up to 30 levels with an unlimited number of users per level.

Our tools generally are offered as a suite of tools, rather than individual tools. That means you get everything for one price. But for very large installations we sometimes will build a tailored subscription. We also have a partner program that includes discounts and an NFR license.