Ho to have Call Forwarding only when subaccount has not answered?

General
1

Hello!

I am not able to figure out how I can have the following workflow:

  • I want one subaccount that, when reached and not answered, the call would be forwarded to a cell phone number.
  • If not reached (no answer), go to voicemail.

I see call forward does not work, because I cannot set it up to kick in only when a subaccount has not answered (instead of voicemail).

Call Hunting is very near, but I cannot set a delay to stop hunting and send to a voicemail if no answer.

I do not see how to set that up in an IVR.

Is there any solution for this workflow?

Thank you very much for any help!

2

Hi!
You cannot do that with a subaccount as the forwarder is considered to be a different call destination.
Instead, you can use the Call Hunting feature on your DID. Create a Call hunting with the two members you want. The first member will be the subaccount and the second will be the Forwarder to the cell phone. Then set the voicemail you want on your DID. The voicemail delay should match the total delay of your call hunting.

1 Like
3

Hello!

Thank you for your answer. This is what I kind of figured out, that this is not possible to do it this way. I also cannot do the setup you suggest because there are multiple users (sub accounts) under this main phone number.

The solution I came up with is to create a ring group for that user, and the IVR would send any calls for this person to the ring group, making the cell and his extension ring at the same time. If no answer, voicemail.

This is the best we could come up with.

Thank you very much for your suggestion! :blush:

4

I think there would be a possible solution for your use case. It is a little more tedious to make, but I think I may just work. I have not tried it myself, so I am not 100% sure that it will do what you want.

If I understand correctly, in a nutshell, you want this call routing flow:
DID → IVR → Subaccount → Cell phone → Voicemail.

Here is how I think this can be configured.
DID → IVR → Call Hunting → Ring Group → Forwarder → Voicemail.

The magic happens in cascading the Call Hunting into the Ring Group as the second option. The Call Hunting gives the ring sequence between the subaccount and the cell phone forwarder while the ring group bring the capability of having the call transferred to a voicemail as the last resort.

Step 1 - Voicemails:
Configure your Voicemails (you should already have this done)

Step 2 - Forwarders
Configure your Forwarders, one for each cell phone (you should also have this done by now)

Step 3 - Ring Groups
For each Forwarder, create a Ring Group which has only one member: the Forwarder to the cell phone. In that ring group set the voicemail to the one you want to send the call to if the cell phone does not answer after the delay.
The use of a Ring Group here is the only way I could find that would allow to make a fallback to the voicemail of your choice.

Step 4 - Call Hunting
For each subaccount, create a Call Hunting with 2 members: The subaccount that will ring first and the Ring Group containing the cell phone forwarder and the voicemail that you want as the fallback. Set the order of the hunting to “Follow order”. You may need to put plenty of time to the Ring Group member because you have to account for the cell phone ringing time and the voicemail recording in the case the forwarder does not answer and the call goes to the voicemail. If you put too little time for the Ring Group, I fear that the system may hang up while the voicemail is playing the announcement or while the caller is recording their message.

Step 5 - IVR
Point each of your IVR options to the corresponding Call Hunting.

Just be careful about the cell phone’s own voicemail. If the delay for the forwarder in the Ring Group is too long, the Cell phone may actually start going to their own voicemail before being cut by the Ring Group delay and go to the VoIP voicemail. This can be weird for the caller having an announcement starting and being cut by another announcement. Also, if the cell phone is not turned on when a call is forwarded to it, the call may go directly to the cell phone’s voicemail and the caller may be forwarded to the intended VoIP.ms voicemail while recording their message on the cell voice voicemail. Unfortunately, you cannot control the cell phone voicemail sequence, unless you configure all your cell phones to never go to their voicemail.

Let me know if this works for you.

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5

Hello @IntPlus,

Wow, thank you very much for coming up with this—very clever. I did not have the time to test it yet, but I also think that it could work. :blush::+1:

Best regards!