I just finished setting up a client with PBXact and all is working great. They have a scenario that Im not 100% on how to configure so hopefully someone has done this before.
The main company DID sits with Verizon and is forwarded to the Admin Assistants cell phone because they have been working from home due to COVID and their new office building being built. Now that I have their new office up and running and phones all hooked up they are ready for me to port the main number over.
They complained that currently, the number being with Verizon and forwarded to the Admin cell phone, if she didnt answer, the person would get this persons âpersonalâ cell phone VM message which they arent happy with because its not company VM message. They think it sends a confusing message to clients calling in when they get the admin assistants personal cell phone VM message.
So I now have the new PBXact system up with multiple trunks from SipStation up and running and I have their main number with Verizon transfering over to Sipstation. Once the transfer is complete they want that main number to forward to the admin cell phone again.
The question is, if she doesnt answer the cell phone how can that call make it into the Ext101- Receptionist VM???
Or, if its easier, Id like anyone calling the Main DID (which will be pointed to Ext100) to ALSO ring the Adminâs cell phone that she can answer either at the front desk Ext100 OR her cell phone but if nobody answers, that person gets delivered to Ext100 VMâŚ
The other option is I put Sangoma Connect on her cell phone and have both Ext 100 desk phone and Sangoma Connect on her cell both ring when Ext100 rings which I also do right now with my extension at the officeâŚ
Just trying to figure out the best way to do what they want.
Normally you can do this one of 2 ways. The first way is to enable call confirm so that the cell phone user has to answer the call, then confirm it before the call will go through. The second way is to adjust the ring time so that if the cell phone user doesnât answer, the call will pull back to the system vm before the cell phone vm picks up the call. For me, this is normally ~18-20 seconds.
EDIT: as @lgaetz mentioned, if the cell phone itâs forwarding to is off-network it will go straight to the cell phone VM.
Right, so my solution to that is send it through follow me and change the ring time to something like 18 seconds. This time is reached before the cell phone can answer the call with VM, so asterisk pulls the call back.
My point is that the mobile VM will intercept before 18 seconds of ringing if the mobile is off the network. You need to enable confirm calls to be 100% certain.
⌠except in the specific case @lgaetz pointed out. If the phone is off or otherwise âoff netâ, the call will immediately drop to the phoneâs voicemail. Donât get me wrong - Iâve done this myself with some of my customers, so I agree that it is a comfortable solution in some cases, but in this one edge case, it fails.
Iâve start using your first solution and started using FMFM and Call Confirm on the cell phone. That way, if the call doesnât get confirmed, regardless of the reason, the call will always from to one of the âotherâ destinations.
Great discussion and points on the different options. FMFM was what I was thinking but didnt know about the Call Confirm. Is there a wiki on setting this up or how do I turn on Call Confirm so I can test this out?
I wasnt aware of Call Confirm so I was worried like others pointed out above that if the Admin didnt have service it would still go to VM so I was going to put Sangoma Connect on her phone and have Ext100 deskphone and her Connect cell app ring at the same time and she can answer either and both would go to Ext 100 VM if it went unansweredâŚ
In my experience, that doesnât work well. Adding the call setup time, time to recognize itâs ringing (most phones start at low volume or vibrate only), time to get it out of your pocket, time to look at the caller ID and answer, the call is likely gone.
Unfortunately, the âconfirm callsâ option is also problematic, being unsafe to use while driving.
Itâs a real shame that after all these years, FreePBX still doesnât have a reliable way to forward to a mobile number without interception by carrier voicemail.
If you have good quality Wi-Fi and/or 5G/LTE coverage, a mobile SIP app will avoid the voicemail issue. Unfortunately, they are often incompatible with car Bluetooth, such that you have to answer on the mobile device.
It does, itâs called confirm calls. I get the point youâre making, you want something that doesnât rely on dtmf, and the only other way I can think of to confirm a human answers would be STT. This sounds like a perfectly workable solution, need to bang together a proof of concept next rainy weekend.
I think Im just going to throw Sangoma Connect on her cell phone and have Ext100 deskphone and her Connect app ring. Im using a PBXact 100 so I have 1000 licenses or something like that. It doesnt need a Wifi/5G connection Ive been using it for a long time now and it works great everywhere. This is a short term need of only a month or so till she comes back from medical leave. They will always end up in the correct company VM which is the main concern even if she doesnt get the call or has no/terrible serviceâŚ