call forwarding to a mobile - if unanswered - forward to pager?

[ausername]

Hello,

I'm wondering if the following scenario is possible:

Members of a department share "on-call" duties on a bi-weekly basis.
Each member would have limited priviledges in order to make their own changes and not have to go through IT.

Changes and call flow would would be as follow:

week 1
- A user configures the incoming calls to DID 4444 to be forwarded to "user-cellphone1"
- When a call is received to DID 4444, the call is forwarded to "user-cellphone1".  If nobody answers, the call is then sent to "static pager number1".

week3
- A user configures the incoming calls to DID 4444 to be forwarded to "user-cellphone2"
- When a call is received to DID 4444, the call is forwarded to "user-cellphone2".  If nobody answers, the call is then sent to "static pager number1".


"static pager number1"  will never change, they share the pager during on call duties.

is this possible?

HALP

[johnp]

Can the caller talk to static pager number1?

[VinceWhirlwind]

A pager used to be a number that was answered by a call centre lady who would take a message then type it into some system which would send the message to the pager which would then display a cryptic message on its little LCD screen, stuff like, "Server room on fire. Call Herb", or, "Edna has a virus. Call 606127". I used to get on really well with the lady who sent these messages and she used to mess with me something chronic.
I didn't know these were still around, smartphones do the same thing and a whole lot more much better, and everybody has a smartphone now, even in Namibia and Kazakhstan.
 
I think you do this with a Ring Group 4444.
Put both numbers in the ring group. (I think the Ring Group members themselves have to be System Speed Calls, not the mobile numbers themselves).
Put the overflow as the pager number.
Figure out some way of how to make the users absent/present as required. Maybe group the mobile with their internal extension and put a Group Presence button on their handset.
Or just login to the controller once a fortnight and swap the presence.

[ZuluAlpha]

When forwarding to cells it's always a little tricky because if cellular voicemail picks up it interprets that call as being answered. Sometimes cell voicemail picks up right away when service isn't great. While I think your routing scenario will work for the most part - like anything it will have caveats.

Another consideration might be unified messaging for voicemail. NuPoint can send up to three emails (which can be configured with carriers SMS Gateways). You could also create an email group. However, in this scenario I don't know how the pager would fit in.

[ausername]

thanks for your inputs

As stated, a pager is indeed old technology.. and they're still being used in our city because their coverage is better than cellphone

Unfortunately,  I cannot use the ring group idea because the member would need to be a speed dial (linked to a cellphone number) and that is not compatible with the ring group members criteria.  It's unfortunate because the overflow system of a ring group would have been a great place to insert a speed dial (linked to a pager service).

If the member of my ring group is an extension that has a call forward activated to the user's cellphone, the extension will ring and ignore the call forward always setting.  Is there a way around this?


As stated aswell, the root cause of my issue is the fact that once a call has been sent to a cellphone, the system interprets it as being "answered"

[VinceWhirlwind]

You have discovered that mobile numbers aren't compatible with groups, we have discovered that as well.
 
Your users could arrange with their carrier to have the voicemail on those numbers disabled. Doesn't fix the issue of what happens when the mobile is out of service though.

[ralph]

I may not be understanding the entire scenario but I'm wondering if
1) if the members of the group can be twinned to mobile with the COS option set that makes the user have to press a digit to actually answer the call?

2) For over flow to the pager lady, is is possible to overflow to a phone that's twinned to the pager co?

Ralph

[ZuluAlpha]

I may not be understanding the entire scenario but I'm wondering if
1) if the members of the group can be twinned to mobile with the COS option set that makes the user have to press a digit to actually answer the call?

2) For over flow to the pager lady, is is possible to overflow to a phone that's twinned to the pager co?

Ralph

That's a really good idea about the button press. That would eliminate any issue with cell voicemail or carrier messaging.

You have discovered that mobile numbers aren't compatible with groups, we have discovered that as well.
 
Your users could arrange with their carrier to have the voicemail on those numbers disabled. Doesn't fix the issue of what happens when the mobile is out of service though.

We have  users that have personal ring groups with their main desk number as the primary line and External Hotdesk numbers to their cell phones with voicemail turned off from the carrier. That way, if  they don't answer it goes to their NuPoint voicemail and notifies them by email/text. They use MiCollab to change their presence. I don't know if that's a possible solution here too. Maybe if the call to the PRG isn't answered the Call Rerouting First Alternative can be a speed call that dials the pager.