External hotline ringing internal number

[wakeboardTX]

I have an 8X24 DR4 rel 01 and have programmed 2 ATA's as hotlines dialing another office. I have set them up to access line pool A. One of them works properly and the other will occasionally terminate on an intercom in the same office (manager's phone of course). I have not been able to duplicate the problem. Both ATA's are programmed the same except for the number that they dial. I have noticed that there are no lines programmed in line pool A. Over half of the lines are programmed as "Public". I am not sure if I should be programming the lines as pool A (which most sets are assigned with) or Public.
Installer guide says - line type:
PUBLIC can be accessed by more than one telephone
PRIVATE can only be assigned to one telephone
POOL assigns the line to one of 15 pools

I do not understand the difference between PUBLIC and POOL.
Where do I programm the access code for a Public line?

I also do not understand the function of assigning the external code. According to the installer's guide, the external code allows M7100's and ATA's to access external lines.

I have left the external code at the default (9) and am able to access lines in pool C (access code 7) and pool D (access code 6) from M7100 sets.

If anyone could shed some light on this I would appreciate it and I apologize for the long post.

Dale in Houston

 

[RikRodgers]

The external code kindly overlooks any pool assignments, and just grabs a line. (unless the line is programmed as private.)

If you've got 9 in the dialout string, that's exactly what they're doing.

You said they're grabbing from poolC. How many CO's are in that pool? If there's only 1, then the first ATA to dial out will lock out the second.

Also, are your trunks programmed Supervised?