Does External Call forward keep lines open?

[peirano]

Hello, hope someone out there can shed some light.... dont know if I'm wording this right.. but I hope someone will understand.

SituationHistory)
I have a server(Server1) that we are using for IVR, it has a local number (555-555-5551) that is front ended with an 800 number that people call to access this server. At an offsite location we have another Server(ServerDRP) with a local number (666-666-6661), at present time if Server1 needs to go offline for any reason we have to call our service provider and ask them to change the conversion number on the 800 number from 555-555-5551 to 666-666-6661, this can take anywhere from 4-24 hours....

what our plan is, and this is where I need a bit of help. We would like to create a DID on our PBX(Meridian 1) lets say... 777-777-7771 that would be the conversion number for the 800 number. This DID would do an external call forward to whatever system we want to be active at that time. so something like

ld 23
new
acd
xxxx (The DID)
maxp 1
ncfw yyyy (whatever system I want active at the time)

my questin is, will this keep 2 lines open in my PBX or will this hand off the call... so when I say 2 lines open one would be the call coming in, and the other would be the external forward... or is the PBX smart enough, just to hand it off? and keep no lines open... and also, will this support multiple callers at the same time, because our servers have 24 lines each that hunt? and we can expect up to 15-20 callers at any given moment.

Any help would be appreciated, and please take it easy on me.. I'm still learning.

Thank you.

 

[KillianK]

LD 60 and stat you channels for which ever DCH you are using, providing it is ISDN

 

[acewarlock]

What does the STAT get him?

 

[johnpoole]

that's a loaded question.. if i build a maxp 1 acd, say pointing it to mail.. you dial that did 20 times. if i have 20 trunks and 20 vm channels, all calls go through.. the same is true with a 800 dnis.. if the provider is allowing more then one call.. most providers can provide as many as you want, there may be a charge..

so the only way to get a "good" answer is to test it.. i would use a station with 5 or 6 keys in hunt, (cls hta lhk 6) change my ncfw to the scr on key 0 (did) then call the dnis.. put it on hold and call it again.. the switch does not block it, a maxp 1 acd is never busy..

john poole
bellsouth business
columbia,sc

 

[acewarlock]

Most of the 800 numbers where I worked last only allowed 10 calls max free to be calling at the same time. If we wanted more the telco charged about $10 per month each extra.

 

[MagnaRGP]

The short answer is one call in to your 800# and forwarded back out uses 2 trunks (channels).

 

[peirano]

Thank you.. that's what I was looking for.

you guys are the best.. guess I will need to find another way to do it.

Thanks again.

 

[hawks]

If your carrier allows link transfer then you can use that and let them do the transfer.

 

[Tralfaz7698]

I would suggest that you work with your carrier to set up a service level agreement. Emergency re-route of a toll free number should be done in just a few minutes if you call in and immediately if you have a web portal to their routing tables. Time is $$ or mad customers when calls aren't getting to the right termination.

 

[acewarlock]

We also used a feature from the provider called remote call forwarding. we would dialin and change the forward number, different providers call it different things.

 

[johnpoole]

we use a service that we can dial in and change the dnis, but not the number of allowed forwards..

i found about that on a cut where a cust was moving back in the day when you could not move numbers inter-exchange.. we put in a rolm mod 10, new did's and had the old lines forwarded to the did pilot.. tested great. monday morning we found out that they had one forward per line.. 200 phones, 4 t1's and a total of 10 inbound calls.. you could dial the new did, perfect, call the old listed.. busy.. user did not have nice things to say, sending 30 acd agents home was not part of the plan

john poole
bellsouth business
columbia,sc

 

[acewarlock]

We always order at least 10 call paths. some telcos give you 10 for free, but other charge for each one over 1