voicemail pro question

[amartin2006]

Hi people, just a quick enquiry. When voicemail is activated on an extension which is currently in use, the caller recieves 2-3 rings before going to the mailbox of that extension. I have a customer who isn't happy with this setup and I must agree. Surely if the person is on the phone it should go straight to voicemail, not ring for a while giving the caller the impression the person isn't on the phone. Is there a way of altering this without deactivating voicemail all together?

 

[cztech]

amartin,

Check that the user has Call Waiting disabled (User/Telephony) or dial *16 (CallWaitingOff). Also make them aware of DND feature (via button programming or *08 on the phone itself to enable). With DND on and/or Call Waiting disabled, callers into/transfered to this extension should go straight to voicmail as you desire.

CZ

 

[janni78]

If you're busy the voicemail will not answer right away for the caller, he will hear 1 ring before the voicemail answers.
It apparently needs that time to answer

But if you get 2-3 you probably have call waiting on that user.

 

[aarenot]

no more putting the first call on hold to answer the second call with cw turned off.

 

[disturbedone]

All posts are correct....depending on your system setup.

If using an analogue phone and it's busy then the 2nd call will go straight to VM unless you have Call Waiting enabled. However the caller will always here a ring or two before the VM picks up.

If the user has a DT (20xx) phone then the external caller will go straight to VM unless you have Call Waiting enabled. Internal callers need to press the VMAIL button or just get busy tone.

If using 3.x with DS (24xx/54xx) phones then you run into problems which are well documented and numerous threads have appeared here before. With these phones you use Call Appearance buttons, 3 is the default. If you have a free CA then it will always ring ie CA1 is busy but the 2nd call will ring CA2. You can remove CA2 & CA3 and just leave CA1 but this will disable the ability to transfer calls! You can remove all CAs but you will lose functionality like the Call Log in the phone. All new features require CAs. You can have only 2 CAs and use the "RESERVE_LAST_CA=" Source Number which will reserve the last CA for outgoing calls only ie no incoming so if CA1 is busy the the 2nd call goes straight to VM. This has been documented in a Tech Tip a while ago.

Hope this clarifies it.

 

[amartin2006]

Thanks for all the tips. The problem they have is internal. When people our ringing each other they are being fooled into believing that callers are not on the phone, with the one ring, before the voicemail kicks in. Is there no way at all sending the calls directly throug to voicemail or removing the ring the caller hears? I'm finding with the IP Office it's the small things the IP office does or doen't do, which annoys the customers most!

 

[disturbedone]

No. They will always here this one ring before VM kicks in. If they're hearing 3-5 rings then it's the CA issue I mentioned.

Most systems with VM will do this anyway, depending on the type/model. Systems that have SLT/POTS ports connected to a VM using DTMF signalling will always give a brief ring. Some inskin/IP VMs will answer with not ring tone to the caller but the vast majority will give a brief, sometimes on a blip, before answering. It's just so the caller knows something is happening while the information like caller details are passed to the VM. If all they've to pick about is having to wait a second or two before they hear a greeting, they need to worry about more important things!

 

[aarenot]

install phone manager for the users, so they can tell who is on the phone.

 

[disturbedone]

While the PhMgr for all users suggestion might work, you'll probably find a big reluctance for the ALL users to open up a screen, find the user they're after, look at the colour of the user, try and remember which colour is meant for what state, or move their mouse over the user to determine if they're busy or not. Most users cannot be bothered with this long winded process just to find out if a user is on the phone or not. Busy tone has been doing it for 100 years or so!

This still won't get around the fact that it will take few seconds for the voicemail to answer the transferred call.

amartin2006 - is it a couple of seconds or is it 10-15 seconds (the no answer timer)??? If 10-15 then use the info about Call Appearances I gave in a previous post. If only a few seconds there's nothing you can do.

 

[aarenot]

disturdedone is correct on having to open pm, and look at the icon. it can be left open though, and used to dial as well, if they are open to that. if not, then it would be a pain to have to start it up, etc.

 

[Shine52]

I don't think you have any problems here. Its how 99% of PBX's work. Give them a busy indicator on their phones if they need to know who is on the phone. Again 99% of PBX's willl ring once before going to VM, and 99% of people would get excited knowing they could handle multiple calls at once. Do you want to be able handle multiple calls at once, or is more important for an internal person to "know they are on the phone". Sounds like a customer I would have fun w/. Are they TRADERS by chance??

Figure it out damn-it!

 

[aarenot]

make the change that does not allow a second call if they are on the phone. if they do not like that, change it back. then they get to make a decision based on their experience, and you can offer them either option.

neither is a better solution, unless the customer prefers it.