Line Selections

[BrentEaston]

Sorry if this has been answered, but can't seem to locate it.

Currently, all of the phones in my office are MLX-28D phones on a Legend Magix I think.

We have 20 incomming lines, and each line rings on each phone, and is useable by each extension.

When a user goes off hook, they get line 20. When 20 is busy... the get #19. When 20 frees up, they get 20... etc.

Anyway, my company wants me to change lines 18, 19, and 20 to ring in their own group of extensions, which I believe I can do. Question is... how can I change every extension to start with Line 17 (when they go off hook), and work down from there? So, if a user goes off hook to ever make a call, they will never select line 18, 19, or 20 (unless lines 1-17 are busy... then the user could select one of those).

Thanks.

 

[TouchToneTommy]

Go to the phone, press Feature 00, dial *14, press the line keys in the order that you want them to be accessed (the green light next to the button will come on when it is selected), dial **14, and Feature *00 to exit.

Or you can do it through SPM under Centralized Telephone programming.

 

[BrentEaston]

Thank you very much for the reply. That seems to work... except, I can only select 8 lines at a time. When I press a ninth line button, the system phone beeps. Plus, the lights next to each line button flash Green. Is that correct?

Thanks again.

 

[jlshelton]

Confirmed from the Legend 7 manual:

Up to eight line buttons (except on single-line telephones) can be programmed in the ALS sequence for an extension, either through centralized telephone programming or through extension programming, using programming codes only. NOTE: Your current Automatic Line Selection table is deleted immediately after you press *14. There is no way to cancel the operation. You must program new selections and then press **14 to end the operation.

I'm not sure about the lights.

You are certainly at the point that you might consider moving from Key Mode to Hybrid Mode, and putting your CO lines into pools by function. Then give phones access to the correct pools. You are probably at the point that it doesn't matter which line (from a group of related lines) the user picks; they just need to either pick up a ringing line (to answer a call) or an idle line (to call out.)

Moving to Pooled (Hybrid) operation would free up buttons, simplify call management, allow you to add more lines in the future, and allow you to purchase smaller, cheaper phones (like the MLX-10D).

 

[BrentEaston]

I agree that the pooled line solution is a much better approch, however I didn't set this system up... and for some reason, managers here think that it is easier if a user can see which line is on hold, then having to figure out a new way to put the call on hold or transfer a call. I dunno... If I had my way, this system would run MUCH differently then it does.

Does this mean that I cannot adjust the automatic line selection for these phones? And, if that is the case, how were they origionally programmed in this manner? Each extension automatically adjusts to the next free line when a line becomes in use. It does this for all 20 lines (not just 8). So, is it possible to create a new ALS sequence for lines 1 thru 17 that would be on every phone?

Also, what happens then to this extension I was trying the new ALS on (Ext. 40)? Now, that extension only selects 8 lines, instead of all 20. If I use Central Tel Program, and copy an extension's settings to that one, will that fix my "adjustments" to that extension?

Thanks again for your help. Sorry if these questions sound a bit "novice" but I just want to understand in more detail, and be able to make this setup work for them.

 

[TouchToneTommy]

Rats, you may have to remove the lines from the extension, and then add them back again. In key mode, it will select the personal lines, so that may do the trick.

 

[BrentEaston]

I read another posting about removing the lines and then adding them back to the extension in the order I want them selected. If that is what I have to do, to make this setup work, is there a fast and easy way to re-program all 55 extensions at one time? Or, do I have to program each extension separately?

If I can't do it easily, then what I thing I might will instead, is move the last 3 lines (the ones they want in their personal group), to be lines 1,2, and 3. Then move the lines that were 1 - 17 to now be lines 4 - 20. Since all extensions select line 20 first anyway... that wouldn't be a big issue.

Next question is... can I change the way a specific line rings? So, if line 1,2 or 3 rang.... it would sound differntly then lines 4 - 20?

Thanks for all the insight on this.

 

[jlshelton]

First, you can program any line button to ring Immediate, Delay, or No Ring. Delay is 2 rings on any Outside Line button.

Second, you can set whether a phone rings once, quietly, if the user is already on a call, or keeps ringing annoyingly. This is the Abbreviated Ring option, and by default, it's set on.

Third is the personalized ringing patter, 1 - 8, that helps one user distinguish his/her phone from someone else's. The user can select that from their phone feature menu. But this applies to all ringing from that phone, not on a per-line basis.

Distinctive Ringing is the system's way of denoting what kind of call (internal, outside, transferred, etc) is arriving. For example, inside call is 1 long ring, outside is a long ring followed by a short ring, etc.

I do not believe there's a standard way to distinguish one line from another other than the options above. The Partner system has such an option, which is handy.

 

[mrpeabody]

BrentEaston:

You are correct about line assign and ALS. Program one phone using Extensions/Line Assign. Delete all lines off the phone. To be safe, I always exit the Line Assign program to make sure it takes (that might be my own Norstar paranoia). Then go back in and add the lines in the correct order. You can then do a Line Copy from one extension to another.