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Creating an on-call forward

David Levy
Level 1
Level 1

I am trying to create a way for an office staff to have the ability to change the on-call number for night shifts.  The night AA will have an option to page out.  Having them access the UC320 menu doesn't seem ideal.  A friend of mine who works with large VoIP installations suggested that I create a virtual phone, have the AA forward the night on-call to that extension, then forward that phone to an external number.  They could access that virtual phone through a web browser to change the call forward option.  Is the UC320 capable of doing something like this?  If so, with it automatically creating a Voice VLAN, how can I establish a route to that network?  Or is there another way the UC320 can accomplish something this?

12 Replies 12

Hi David,

I think what they are suggesting is to use a service like Google Voice (voice.google.com) where you would get a local number from Google Voice.  You would then configure the UC320W to forward to the google voice number as an external number.  The end customer could then log into the google voice account and forward the calls from the google voice number to which ever staff is on call that night.

Chris

Chris,

Wouldn't it be possible to:

1. Create a "shared" extension.

2. Assign this extension to a button on a phone.

3. Point the AA "on-call" option to this extension.

4. Forward that extension from the phone by taking it off hook, then pressing CFWD.

Or would this not work on the 320?

Chris, thanks, I didn't think of using Google Voice.  But, at my work we have a high end Cisco voice system and we can web into the phones and it graphically looks like the phones with all the features.  I was wondering if the UC320 has that type of functionality with 504G phones.  That's where the virtual phone came in.  It would take up a "slot" and be assigned a "user."

Daniel, I thought of assigning the extension, but all the buttons on the phones have already been assigned.  This system has 4 shared FXO lines and each are assigned a button on a every phone.  I guess I could share the button with the extension and an FXO line.  If it'll work.

Hi,

The Call Forward All button only works for the primary private extension.  We don't have a way for end users to forward shared resources (shared FXO lines or shared extensions) on the fly.  You can change the Call Forwarding for an extension in the UC320W configuration utility but I don't think that is what you are trying to accomplish.

Chris

So basically to do it how I described you would have to have a "dummy" phone that was only used for this on-call forwarding.

Chris, does call-forwarding work properly in key-mode?

Chris, I tried doing the Google Voice forward.  But, the UC320 is not letting me select an extension other than 9 to dial out.  In this office, there are 4 lines.  The first line, which is also an extension on every phone, requires a 9 to dial out.  The other 3 do not.  If one of those three lines is chosen directly from the phone, the number can be dialed directly.  If you let the system choose which line to dial out from, then 9 is needed.

In this case, the first line is busy with AA to forward the on-call.  The UC320 picks up line 2 to dial out.  Since it doesn't need the 9, the call fails.  And, the system is forcing me to select 9 from the drop down box.  Any suggestions?

Hi Daniel,

If I understand what you are saying, the system is configured as a Blended system where you have 3 shared FXO lines provisioned on each phone and 1 FXO line that is probably routed on inbound calls to a huntgroup or shared Extension.

One thing you can do is on the FXO Shared Lines page is check the box to allow the FXO to be used for outbound calls for each Shared FXO line if you want to allow that line to be used for outbound calls by dialing a 9.  If you do this than at any given time you can make 4 simultaneous outbound calls to different addresses by dialing a 9 as long as the shared FXO lines are not already in use.  The downside is if a user or group requires a dedicated line, then this should be unchecked for that FXO line.

To help you prioritize, the FXO line selection when you dial a 9 starts with the first available FXO port starting at port 1 until it finds an unused FXO to make an outbound call.

Hope this helps.

Chris

Chris, that's actually how I have it setup.  The other 3 lines are checked for outbound calls, but if one of them is selected directly, 9 cannot be used for some reason.  But, if you select the first line (extenstion) and press 9, then the system finds the first available outbound line.  During the day, most of the lines are always in use by either someone calling in or the staff calling out.  Is there another setting that I'm missing, or could this be a bug?

Thanks, Dave

Hi Dave,

Sounds like it is working as expected.  When you are in Blended Mode the user has both Key System functionality and PBX functionality.  What I mean by that is if you select a Shared FXO line directly, then no 9 is used.  In this scenario you are in Key System mode, so you simply dial the external address.  However, if you select an extension button to make an outbound call, you are in PBX mode and have to dial the external steering digit, 9 in your case, before dialing the external address. 

Hope this helps...

Chris

Ok, so why does the AA force a 9 to be dialed to grab a line to dial an external number?  That's what is causing a problem since the 3 shared FXO lines do not need the 9 when grabbed directly.

Hi Dave,

The AA is treated like an extension, (0 by default) and so it needs to operate in PBX mode if transfering to an external number.  I believe if you put the system in pure Key system mode, AA wouldn't even allow you to transfer to external numbers.

Chris

Is the best way to change from blended to PBX mode or should I make each one of the shared FXO lines like an extension?  Sounds like either way will take some configuration changes to work out.

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