Transfer and clear?

[35mph]

We are looking at purchasing a TalkSwitch telephone system. We will install it at our main public phone number, then program it to say "For Joe, press 1, for Susan, press 2, etc." Then the calls will be forwarded to our respective, geographically disbursed locations.

We have been told that if a caller presses 1, then the TalkSwitch will forward the call, but will keep our main phone line "occupied" until the call is completed. We have been told that one way around this is to use a service from the phone company called "Transfer and Clear" or Centrex.

The phone company knows nothing about "transfer and clear" but they do know about Centrex, which sounds relatively expensive, and would practically negate the need for the little TalkSwitch phone system (but at a much higher cost).

I am surprised first of all that the TalkSwitch would not "free up" our main telephone line after it had already forwarded the call... but I've been told that that is the case from two different reps. Is there not a small (inexpensive) phone system that WOULD free up that line (transfer and clear)? Or is there another feature from the phone company that we could ask about? (They have mentioned hunting/rollover, but that involves having more than one line, etc....)

For what it is worth, our business gets very few calls per day (5 - 10), but when we get a call, we are usually on it for an hour or so.

Again, my novice brain finds it strange that there isn't a simple call forwarding device that would simply answer the incoming call, provide the caller with options regarding who to talk to, then forward the call, then free up the line for another incoming call.

TIA for your advice.

 

[bkrike]

The only way to do that with analog lines is by using Centrex. You don’t have to order the whole Centrex package though…you can just get the off premise transfer feature. Another term for it is link or flash transfer Your scenario of not clearing the line is true no matter who the manufacturer of the phone system is. Think about it logically: The system cant free up the line unless the CO becomes involved in the process. If you use your system to create the transfer, then the system would be using two of your lines: one that the caller came in on, and another to dial out to the second location. The system then joins the two lines together for the duration of the call. There are problems inherent to this setup when using analog lines. First, you use two of your lines for the one call. Second, the volume is typically diminished

Getting Centrex or link transfer abilities on your lines is not that expensive. It should cost no more than 5 dollars per line per month. And once the transfer is completed, all your lines are free again.

 

[35mph]

Thank you very much for that helpful information... I'll be talking to the phone company tomorrow about Centrex, and I'll ask about getting just the link or flash transfer feature...