Partner ACS 7.0 Programing question

[carso12]

I am reconfiguring our existing system.

I need to be able to have a call come in on line 1, if it isn't answered or if it is busy to transfer to line 2 and if it still isn't answered, go to voice messaging.

I'm not sure this is possible, however, I'm thinking I need to change the system to hybrid and then pool lines 1 & 2.

Am I on the right track, or is this even possible? Any help is greatly appreciated.

[thiel2]

With analog loop start lines, jumping from Line 1 to Line 2 on no answer is asking the phone company to provide "Call Forward on No Answer" - can't be done by the phone system itself, and the big question is "WHY"?

I think what you want to do is have the call ring on EXTENSION XX, if not answered then ring on EXTENSION YY, and if still not answered, cover to Voice Mail, where it can be answered by a single mailbox or an automated attendant.

So, let's say Ext. 10 is the phone that you want to ring first, and Ext. 11 is the phone you want to ring 2nd, and you want the automated attendant to cover if neither extension answers the call.

Set Ext. 10 to Immediate Ring, set Ext. 11 to Delayed Ring, set the VMS Hunt Delay to 6 rings, assign the lines to Cal Dist. Group. 7, and record an automated attendant greeting.

Post back with specifics, and I can give you specific programming instructions

[carso12]

Thank you for your response. I need another open phone line as we get multiple calls during the same time of day and don't want everything going to voicemail. What I'm trying to do is have extension 10 answer all incoming calls if possible. If line 1 is busy it transfers to line 2 (via phone company) and will ring and be answered by extension YY. If they don't answer or that line is also busy, then it will transfer to voicemail. (I guess it need to be able to go in reverse as well, ie if extension YY in on line 1, extension 10 can pick up the call on line 2)

I called the phone company and they can call forward on no answer which is what I need.

That being said, I am changing my general parameters back to "Key System", assigning line coverage extension for lines 1 & 2 to extension 10. Not using a "ASA" since lines will be covered by a person, but using a Partner Voice Messaging PC Card for all non answered calls.

Do I need to use any Hunt Group for those lines? Do I need to have any delayed ring?

Line 3 will be a designated fax to Hunt group 8 with its own extension and line 4 will be a going to a different business with line coverage to extension 11 and it's own voice messaging.

Thanks for any insight you might have.

[thiel2]

You really don't want to use telephone company forwarding the accomplish this. Reason, the Partner phones don't ring in sync with the phone company ring. If a line stops ringing from the phone company end, the Partner will ring 2 more times before it realizes that it is no longer receiving ring signal from the phone company. So say line 1 rings 4 times from the phone company, the forwards to line 2,. Line 1 will still be "ringing" on the Partner phones even though the call is not there anymore, and is now ringing on line 2. Also, if a call must ring 4 times on Line 1, transfer to Line 2 and ring 4 more times before voicemail answers, the caller has heard 8 rings, and probably hung up by now.

What you want is for Line 1 and Line 2 to be put into a Hunt Group, or Rollover, or whatever your phone company calls it. All callers dial the telephone number for Line 1. If Line 1 is idle, that is where the call rings. If line 1 is in use, the call rings to Line 2. If BOTH Line 1 and Line 2 are in use, the caller gets a BUSY signal, because there are no more paths into the phone system, unless you add more outside lines and include them in the hunt/rollover (and again, when they are all in use, the caller gets a BUSY)

You will set the main extension to Immediate Ring, the backup extension to Delayed Ring. You will use Call Dist Group 7 to assign the lines to be answered by the automated attendant, or Call Coverage to assign the lines to be answered by an individual mailbox. You will use VMS Hunt Delay or Call Coverage Delay to set the number of rings before the voicemail system answers the call.

If line 3 is dedicated to the fax machine, and you never receive incoming voice calls on that number, there is no need to put the fax extension into hunt group 8, just assign line 3 with immediate ring to the fax extension number. If you do receive incoming voice calls on that line, and it is answered by the auto attendant, then hunt group 8 will cause it to automatically transfer to the fax extension if CNG tone is detected.

Line 4 will be assigned to mailbox 11 with Call Coverage (#208-04-11).

[carso12]

I can't thank you enough for your help. My terminology of this is my greatest downfall. You are correct in that the phone company calls this feature "Hunting". I would have asked for the wrong feature. I'm programming the phone system through the Partner ACS PC Administration software, so finding where I program everything through that system rather than through the phone itself is a challenge, yet a lot easier in the long run.

If I have any other questions, I'll post them here. Won't know until I activate the system. Thanks again.

[carso12]

Ok, I have everything up and running and have one issue still. It has to do with the Partner voice messaging system. I have only one mailbox set up for extension 10, which has call coverage for both lines 1 & 2 (which the phone company has in a hunting group.) I get a busy signal if both lines are busy (on active calls), however, I'm getting a strange attendant message I think from the phone company rather than my system when someone is leaving a voicemail and another call goes unanswered and thus tries to go to voicemail. I'm assuming the voicemail system can only record one message at a time.

I'm wondering how to allow two calls to go to voicemail at the same time with this setup. Do I need to initialize another mailbox somehow? How do I have it cover with the hunting for both lines 1 & 2?

Any help would be appreciated.

[thiel2]

The Partner Voice Messaging PC card has 2 ports, so it is able to answer 2 simultaneous calls, even if they are both being answered by mailbox 10. Confirm that Ext. 78 and 79 are assigned to Hunt Group 7, #505-7-78-1, #505-7-79-1

Perhaps the phone company has some other feature on your lines, like Call Forward on No Answer, or Call Forward on Busy, or has voicemail enabled on their end, which is answering your calls before your system can?

Can you use 3 cell phones to place 3 simultaneous calls to your main number? 1st and 2nd ones should get mailbox 10, the 3rd one should get a busy signal.

[carso12]

I have both ext 78 & 79 in Hunt Group 7. The phone company does not have the features above on the line except as it pertains to their hunting. Whether this is creating an issue I don't know. I have the mailbox system initialized for 2 mailboxes, one of which is being used for a different phone number completely, leaving only 1 for this issue. We've tried the three simultaneous call check and that's how we know that the second voicemail is not picking up but the third call gets a busy signal. The only hunt group assigned is 7 for the answering system. There are no other extensions in hunt groups. I have lines 1 & 2 in line coverage (owned) on extension 10 but am not using a "call coverage" feature. The lines can be answered by any extension in the office, I just don't have them ringing on those phones. I have automatic VMS Cover assigned only to ext 10 with a cover ring of 4.
If it is allowed or agreeable with you, It might be easier to discuss over the phone. Let me know if you have anymore insight. Thanks.

[thiel2]

The lines must be set for either Immediate or Delayed ring on the extension whose mailbox is covering. You're not set up to receive pm's, but if you correct that and pm me, I'll be glad to share my google voice number

[carso12]

For some reason (new member?) the administrator hasn't allowed me private message privileges. Not sure how to correct that issue on the forum. Can I give an email address here that we can communicate further?

[carso12]

I just got off the phone with the phone company for the 4th time and finally discovered that they had indeed left a voice mail service running on our primary line, so the attendant message people were getting when it was suppose to go to our in house voicemail, was the phone companies message. I am waiting to have the phone company make all their corrections, then if we are still having issues I'll let you know. It's so hard to know if problems are my programing or the phone companies, especially when they give me wrong information the first 3 times I call!