Line Pools - Order of Lines in a Pool

[tcwinont]

Thanks in advance for any insights.

I have a MICS R1T1, 6-port fiber expansion card, M12X0 trunk module and 4 LD/DS trunk cards 2 of which are in the module. I am running on a 3-digit DN system and have an old StarTalk C running. I currently have CO lines going into the system in this as;

line001 - Pool A
line002 - Pool A
line003 - Pool B
line004 - Pool B
line025 - Pool C
line026 - Pool C
line027 - Pool C
line028 - Pool D
line048 - Pool D
line049 - Pool E
line050 - Pool E
line051 - Pool F <- new line

What I'm trying to accomplish is that I have two ATA's that I will put on two fax machines and assign extensions to them(let's say ext 242 and 231). One machine will be mostly used for faxing out on line 026 and receiving on line051 for transmitting simply because the number at line051 has been widely published.

For their line access, I will change line026 to be in Pool F with my new line051. I am planning on setting both extensions to be prime to Pool F. I know that I need to dial 9 with a pause to get one of the two outside lines in the pool and get a dial tone to fax out. Because of the sequence of numbers for line Pool F, will I get line026 first instead of 051 when both lines are free simply because of the lower number? I'd prefer ext242 to pick-up line026 first because it'll be least likely busy and not want to tie up the number at line051 but pickup line051 if it is busy. But I'd like ext231 to pickup line051 first.

I will also have automatic fax switches so that the Auto Attendent and fax machines can work properly. I know that I'll have to program the extensions say that on foward busy will go to the other extension if it's sending or receiving a fax on it.

I already have a fax, ATA and fax swith on line050 but without the AA and it works great. So I've given this a lot of thought with diagrams, sketches and scenerios to that point where I'm got a headache now.

It's just with all of the faxing out that we've been doing lately I've gotten to the point where I need this done.

Boy, what a long post...hope I have put everything down right. Thanks for reading fellows.

 

[bkrike]

From your line numbering, I assume you have analog; My question is why are you running your faxes through the system at all? Why not just dedicate two lines for your faxes, make one inbound and the other outbound. You can even put them in a CO hunt group if you want, but just connect them straight to dial tone. All this other stuff is added expense and complexity (for what reason?)

 

[tcwinont]

Bkrike:

Yes, you're right I have analog.

The reason for running the fax line through the system is kind of complicated but as follows.

There is actually 4 companies working sometimes together in the same office building (architects and engineers). They're associated according to line pools A,B,C,D and E. They're all using the published fax line number to send and receive faxes except E which I do not have the AA answering. You can image how busy it is especially when doing a broadcast (group) fax.

This line belongs to the company at Pool A (which I work for, I'm an architectural desiger by trade, by default the IT guy)which only has two lines in the hunt group. The idea is to add the fax number to the same hunt group and let the fax switch determine where the incoming call goes to. I would probably add another 1 or two lines into the hunt group for Pool A (at the telco of course) for a total of 5 for Pool A including the main fax line.

A lot of times, people call for persons at Pool A lines (only 2 lines) for B and C and vice versa. Basically we're missing too many calls when both lines are tied up. My customers are getting busy signals from the telco whih makes us look bad.

If the fax is trying to send out, it'll pick up the next free line in the line pool it's assigned to (ideally). Since the main fax line will be mainly for receiving, I can have a second fax line out using line assigned via a line pool.

Told you it was complicated! I think I'll get a better handle on it once I have everything installed at which I can start adjusting my settings and listen to feedback I get from outgoing and incoming calls.

 

[bkrike]

OK…to answer your questions on pools, it is actually the reverse of how you are thinking. If 026 and 051 are in a pool by themselves and both lines are free, 051 will be accessed outbound by the system first, then 026. You can always change which line gets picked up first by changing where they port into the system (the physical x-connects.)

 

[tcwinont]

Bkrike:

Hmm...so if I where to put line 052 and 053 in the same pool, then 053 would get picked up first? I guess that would kind of make sense looking from a telco point of view if you had 4 lines in a hunt group, you'd always have your 'main number' ring up first and in a line pool, the first line picked up would be the last one so the first one isn't tied up and so on and so on.

When I think of all of the different variables in a KSU, I think back to the part in Austin Powers 2 movie where he is about to go back in time and goes crossed-eyed!

Thanks for you help.

 

[telemarv]

A neat thing you can do with ATA's is set them up as Hotlines - external to line pool.... no access codes to remember. as soon as fax goes off hook, the system will pick a line in the correct pool. Let me knw if you need details on how to set this up.

 

[tcwinont]

telemarv:

Is what I'm doing, putting line026 and 051 going to work? From what brike says and I understand is that if a line pool is assigned to an extension I would program in '9 pause' on my fax machines to get the first avaiable of the two, 051 then 026. I did see hotline in my programming (I'm at home now) but have never used it. Can you please elaborate?

Thanks.

 

[bkrike]

I only explained how pools work. I did not mention anything about a pause, and my recommendation would still be to do what was outlined in my first post… (to bypass the MICS entirely for faxes.) What Telemarv is describing will allow you to bypass dialing the 9.

 

[tcwinont]

bkrike:

You're right, I'm sorry.

What I meant I know about the '9 pause' from past experience. What you are recommending about putting the fax line(s) outside of the MICS entirely is what I have now but I still want to try and get it into the KSU. I know I'm causing myself a whole lot of headaches (not to mention my vendor) but I still think I can accomplish it and it would be well worth the effort.

I'll post my results down for everybody to see.

Thanks.

 

[telemarv]

I have to agree with Bk what you're trying to do will work but certainly easier if you just dedicated lines to your fax machine. What is the point of having more than one line available to a piece of equipment that can only handle one line. If the machine is busy its busy.

The only time I would put a fax machine on a telephone system is to share the fax line for outbound voice calls and only if the fax line was not used very often.

Share fax lines by putting them in a line pool and use ata's to connect to the system. fax DN's are programmed as hotline > external > use line pool x > external dial string contains only a puase (F71). This way when a fax goes off hook it receives dial tone from a line in the designated line pool (starting from the highest line # in the pool). User merely enters the digits into the fax as if it connected to a dedicated line.

You'll find hotline under admin programming > capabilites > set abilities

For the fax to answer lines (being R1T1 software) set all lines access yes, ring yes.

 

[tcwinont]

telemarv:

Thanks for your response. For the line(s), I'm just merely trying to have some more flexibility in the system without having to add more lines from the telco. Depending on how things go, I might just only put one of the machines (in coming) outside the KSU if it's that busy and have an outgoing on the system and into a line pool.