Opting out of ring group whilst away.

[ThomasAJ]

I have a support package but the answers I am getting re ring group are making me wonder why I purchased 3CX.

The setup is very simple as I have set up a test system with 2 extensions and 1 ring group.

I want (and I would have thought most setups want this) is for a user to flag their MyPhone as Away or Out Of Office and so their extension does not ring when a call is directed to that RG. (a call not to that extension specifically but to the RG)

Support tells me the ONLY way is to dial *61 to set up a DND.
Problem is the status remains as Available *everywhere* (visually) in the 3CX system and there is NO WAY to know that someone has dialled *61.

Why do I want a "no ring"?

Well if say a dept has 5 exts. and 4 are away in a meeting and a call comes in to that dept. RG then surely the only ext. that should ring should be the 1 that is not away.

I must be missing something either in my understanding of the 3CX setup or in phone systems design.

Anyway if someone wants a job setting up my system then can you please PM me. You will be able to RDP into my test server and play to your heart's content. I can put money into your account instantly beforehand via say Paypal. I can give you a fairly detailed spec. The slight catch is that I need it ready for production by Tues 17 July. I am in Aust. but I don't think that should matter.

 

[leejor]

Well if say a dept has 5 exts. and 4 are away in a meeting and a call comes in to that dept. RG then surely the only ext. that should ring should be the 1 that is not away.

The thinking is probably that, yes, all phones will ring (if that is the type of ring group you've set-up), but so what, the one person (or two) that is/are there will answer that call. If that one person is on a call, then you have the ring group go off to a mailbox, or receptionist after 15 or 20 seconds. Then the person on the phone knows that there was another call and probably a message waiting for the department.

 

[ThomasAJ]

So if there are 10 extensions then all 10 should ring at once - what a racket - staff would object.
Surely a dept. has 1 first point of contact, then the next etc. otherwise why allow the members of the RG to be ordered into a ring sequence.

And the other issue is the 'nobody but nobody knows that DND has been set for X number of extensions'
OR
the no brainer is that Away and Out Of Office means "don't ring my phone".

Actually it does mean "don't ring" when called internally - but when the RG is called via say an external call it does ring. makes no sense at all to me.

 

[leejor]

So if there are 10 extensions then all 10 should ring at once - what a racket - staff would object.
Surely a dept. has 1 first point of contact, then the next etc. otherwise why allow the members of the RG to be ordered into a ring sequence.

While I can't explain the rational behind the other points you bring up. I can address this. If you have 10 extensions in a ring group, they are all going to ring anyway until someone, in the group answers. If they are all in close proximity, as you are suggesting, then the ringer volume would not need to be set very high. The flashing light in a SIP set and a common ringer (ATA in same ring group connected to bell?), would allow the individual ringers to be turned off. Having someone remember to set DND every time they step away from a desk, and remember to remove it when back, is asking a lot from most users. I know a lot of people that forget to turn on call-forwarding at the end of the day.

In the case of the ring group sequential option, this is something you would only want to use with a very small ring group. Using it with 10 users, and allowing each, time to answer, risks the caller hanging up, as they could be listing to ringback tone for quite some time.

 

[leejor]

The "common ringer" approach was widely used in the days of key systems. Not all sets would ring, just a common buzzer or bell in the department. One key on all sets would be flashing, and upon hearing the buzzer, someone would answer the call.

Given that people will also want to receive calls to their individual extensions in the SIP world, it is not practical to turn the ringers off completely, but they could be turned down to the point that they can still be heard when the person is at their desk.

 

[netswork]

You could use a queue rather than a ring group. Then the users phone will not ring if they are not available in the queue.

 

[ThomasAJ]

You could use a queue rather than a ring group. Then the users phone will not ring if they are not available in the queue

I don't understand the difference between Ring Group and Queue.

Perhaps a tiny explanation woud be appreciated.

 

[lneblett]

See if this helps:

http://www.3cx.com/docs/manual/

 

[SY]

You could use a queue rather than a ring group. Then the users phone will not ring if they are not available in the queue

I don't understand the difference between Ring Group and Queue.

Perhaps a tiny explanation woud be appreciated.

Ring group is a routing point which tries (only once) to delivers a call to the set of extensions which are currently available. There are no "retry", "waiting" and "agent status" functionality.
"Call Queue" interacts with the caller, waits for an agent who can handle the call and maintain the queue of callers.

 

[netswork]

Ya...queues are the "the next available representative will be with you shortly".

The calls get routed into the queue and are "on hold" until an agent that is logged into the queue is free, meaning not on a phone call. You have several different options for routing which agent gets the next call. Queues are generally used when you have more call volume than you have people to answer the calls. The agents phone will not ring until they are logged into the queue. Either by a dial code or via the myphone application.