Ring Groups and Call Queues

[yaro]

Can someone explain to me what's the relation between RG and CQs? I find it pretty confusing especially seeing exactly the same settings for a particular RG and a CQ whit the only difference being the Virtual Extension number.
yaro

 

[abc123]

In essence they are similar when you first look at them.

Ring groups can have paging. Queues can queue.

Queues can also have intro prompts and queues can announce the position to the caller.

Ring groups are always on (ie an extension is always logged into the group) but queues allow an extension to be logged out (except it is still an all or nothing - log in to all queues you are a member of or none - but hope that changes in the future).

The main difference is behind the scenes.

When a call comes into a ring group it rings the phones in the group as per the call hunt setup. But if a phone is busy then that phone is temporary out of the group. When all phones in the group are busy then the ring group will no longer "hold" the calls and will follow the instructions set up in the ring group for when the phones are busy/not answered.

A queue however will keep the caller in the queue even if ALL phones in the queue are busy. The queue will only move on when the queue timeout (at the bottom, as opposed to the ring timeout at the top) is reached or there are no extensions logged in.

So if you want to keep your callers in the queue while you finish your other calls then use a queue. If you want them to go to voicemail or a DA then use a ring group.

There are a few more things such as music on hold etc for queue too but the big one is how calls are handled once all extensions are busy. Or if people need to log in and out.

 

[yaro]

OK but what happens when I've got a Ring Group and a Call Queue with the same users as members? Which takes priority. Does the Ring Group pass over to a call queue.
yaro

 

[abc123]

No it doesnt work like that.... it works on extension status. We have multiple groups and multiple queues with the same users.

If a call comes in and routes to a group then the system will call the extensions in the group, either ring all or in a hunt one at a time. If an extension is busy then it cannot be in a queue (if the extension can handle more than 1 call and the pbx is set to use the extension busy not the system busy then it will be in a queue) so wont ring.

If at the same time a call comes into a ring group the group will do the same - ring the extensions according to a strategy.

The extension that is busy will not ring but the others will. And again it depends on where the busy status is set.

We prefer queues in this scenario as the caller gets answered and held until someone can take the call or it times out.

 

[yaro]

Hallelujah. Now I got it. Thanks a lot for the great explenation.
yaro

 

[yaro]

Sorry to be a pain but are you saying an extension can handle more than 1 call? How's that?
yaro

 

[abc123]

Sorry to be a pain but are you saying an extension can handle more than 1 call? How's that?
yaro

If you have a "multiline" phone. And I use that term loosely as it doesnt mean the traditional POTS multiline phones.

For example I have a Linksys SPA942. it is the SPA9xx series. The 4 means it has 4 sip phones inside it (again loose terminology) and the 2 means it has two ethernet ports (it has a switch) so I can plug it into the network and my computer into it.

The 4 channels can all be the same extension or different - in my case i have 3 of one extensions (101) and 1 of another (102).

So if a call comes into the queue and I am on a call on 101, the second light will light up on my phone to let me know. I can then put the first call on hold and take a second call, which I often do if the first one is a non urgent or personal call and the second one is to our support desk and is urgent.

The 3cx soft phone does the same thing. It has multiple lines on it so as long as you tell the 3cx pbx to use the phone status you can put people on hold while you make another call on the same phone with the same extension.

 

[yaro]

So that's the thing. Thanks for your help again. Really appreciate it.
yaro