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Ring group + boomerang?

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polyphemos

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Upgrading from version 7 to 8, one of the best additions is the "boomerang" feature (although I'm aware we're not allowed to call it that...).

However, it turns out to be handicapped in two ways, which taken together make it useless to me.

1)

I have for a year or so used ring groups to have mobile phones ring simultaneously with user's deskphones. Worked like a charm under 7.x - only drawback was that calls occasionally got hijacked by mobile voicemail systems.

Now, the "boomerang" should fix that problem, right? Imagine my disappointment when I find that the "boomerang" feature DOES NOT WORK FOR CALLS THAT ARRIVE VIA A RING GROUP!

I have no idea whether this is by design or by omission. Perhaps there is a technical reason which makes it difficult to achieve. But the fact is that when I change a "mobile extension" from Forward to external number to Offer option to reject call and divert to Vmail, the extension stops forwarding externally altogether.

If I don't route the call via a ring group, but directly to the "mobile extension", everything works.

Yes, I know I can have the call forwarded to "boomerang" after first ringing its 3-4 signals on the deskphone. But that means it will be more or less a minute before the caller finally gets an answer, and by then most callers have long since given up.

2)

Secondly, it appears that even when the "boomerang" works, there is no obvious way to configure which route it will select for the outgoing call.

When I use the Forward to external number setting, I've learned (by trial and error) that 3CX regards that call as originated by the incoming caller. So by defining an outbound rule which picks up all calls not from a system extension, I can make it use (for example) a route with reasonable rates for calling mobiles.

But when I use the "boomerang", the call is originated by a system extension called IVRForward, for which I am unable to define an outbound rule, because the interface only accepts numbers as names for extensions.

By trial and error - again - I have found that IVRForward always chooses the first outbound rule which matches the destination (07 in the case of Swedish mobiles). But it entirely disregards anything entered in the Calls from extension(s) field. This means that the only way I can cheat it into selecting a specific route is by
a) putting the rule before any other rules which apply to prefix 07, and
b) limiting the rule to a NON-EXISTING extension (so that it does not pick up everybody's calls to mobile).

Doable, but not exactly optimal or intuitive.

*

I'd be interested to hear whether others have made the same experiences - and if they find them equally problematic.

But I would also like to know whether 3CX developers have technical reasons for taking one step forward but two backwards, and what could be done to overcome them.

For the time being, I'm back to my old config, but I'd really like to be able to use the "boomerang" which is a superior solution.

/Peter
 
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