Parking, Pickup and Transfer
From Pbxnsip Wiki
 | Before you can perform parking, pickup or transfer, you must first put your last call on hold. Then you can dial the star code as a regular call.
Please note that the Sipura devices from Linksys by default are not able to support star codes with more than two digits. Putting the call on hold first males sure that the PBX can differentiate between DTMF pass through as a part of the ongoing call and requesting something from the PBX. For example if you are calling an external IVR system like your bank, and they require you to enter *77, you would not be able to do that if the PBX interprets and executes the star code. |
Contents |
Holding a call
Putting a call on hold is a important first step before making transfers or parking calls. Most phones have a “hold” key, all you need to do is push that hold key. Some phones have a “R” key that is used for holding a phone call (“Rückfrage”). Other phones use the hook flash to detect the request to hold the line.
Please note that in the common language, many people say “park the call” when they technically just want to hold the call. For example, for a call pickup, you don’t need to park the call; it is enough to hold the call and tell the other person to pick up the call.
Call pickup
Call pickup is used to pick up ringing calls, for example calls to an extension or to a hunt group. If you want to retrieve calls that were already connected and now are on hold or are parked, please use the retrieve code.
There are two ways or picking up calls. The directed call pickup is used to pick up a call from a specific account, while the undirected call pickup searches for a call that can be picked up.
The directed call pickup uses the call pickup code together with the account from which a call should be picked up. For example, *87123 will tell the PBX to pick a call up from account 123. Please note that the code must be dialed as one number. The call pickup can be done for the following account types:
- Hunt groups. If there is a call that goes to the specified hunt group, the PBX will stop the hunt group and send the call to the extension that dials the pickup code. If there are several calls that ring the hunt group, then the PBX will pick up the first call that went to that hunt group.
- Extensions. When the account number is an extension, the PBX will search for calls that go directly to the specified extension. These calls can come from an auto attendant or through direct extension dialing. Calls that ring the extension because it is part of a hunt group or an agent group will not be considered for call pickup.
- Agent groups. Like with the hunt group, the PBX will pick up a call from the specified agent group. If there are calls in the ringing state, it will pick the first call which in that state. Otherwise, it will pick the call that entered the queue first.
The undirected call pickup goes through the list of calls and searches for calls that can be picked up. It will use the following preference for this:
- It will first try to pick up calls from a hunt group.
- If no call has been found, it will try to pick up a call for an extension.
- If that also is not possible, it will try to pick up a call for an agent group.
For all pickup attempts, the extension that attempts the pickup must have the Dialog Permissions for seeing the state of the account. If this is not the case, then the PBX will not allow picking the particular call up.
Please note that the pickup mechanism changed in version 2.0.2. The pickup policy in previous versions was too difficult to understand and was causing many problems. The loose and strict pickup policy has been given up and was replaced with a single, loose policy. The Dialog Permissions concept can be used to limit the access to specific accounts.
Call park and retrieve
While in many cases you may dispose of a call by transferring it to a specific extension, in certain situations you will want to "park" a call so that it can be picked up by an unspecified extension.
Parking a call so that it may be picked up by any extension is a two-step process. First put the call on hold; then, dial *85 to park the call. You will hear an announcement that the call has been parked. At that point, the call can be picked up by any extension that dials *86.
Again, your telephone system administrator may have configured your PBX with a more strict pickup policy. In that case, you will specify a group to which you are parking the call (*85610 for example for group 610). Any member of that group can then pick up the parked call by dialing *86.
Attended and unattended transfer
If your telephone has a transfer button, the PBX will receive the transfer signal and switches the call to the provided destination. There are generally two types of transfer. The simplest transfer is called a "blind" transfer. The other type is often referred to as an "attended" or a "consultative" transfer. In an attended transfer, you speak with the party to whom the call will be transferred to ensure that the call is wanted. In a blind transfer, you simply transfer the call with no knowledge of whether the person called will be available to take the call.
To initiate a "blind" transfer, just press the transfer button on your phone and dial the extension to which you are transferring by pressing the extension number keys and the call start key.
To initiate an attended transfer, first put the caller on hold (using the hold button on the phone); then dial the number to which you will transfer the call. If the person on the receiving end of your call is prepared to take the call you can just press the transfer key and the call that is on hold will be transferred. You do not have to press the hold button to free the call. If the person is not available to take the call, you can press the hold key to reclaim the call and discuss the caller‘s options with him or her.
Transfer with *77
Many mobile devices do not have options to transfer calls. However they are able to put a call on hold. The PBX supports blind transfers for such devices in the following way:
- Put the call that should be transferred on hold;
- Then dial *77 followed by the destination number. This number must be dialled as one number. For example you would dial *771234, not *77 and then press 1234 by DTMF.
Then the PBX will put the call off hold and redirect it to the destination.
Please notice that a blind transfer does not check if the call will be connected. If the number is busy, does not exist or just does not pick up, the PBX will not send automatically the call back.
| | Transfer requires that you then dial the star code together with the transfer destination. That means you cannot first dial *77 and then the destination number. You must dial the transfer destination together with the star code, for example *771234. Please also see the Transfer Example to understand how to use transfer.
If you want to transfer a call to an external location, you must also have a dial plan for the extension that initiates the transfer. Either you must have a default domain dial plan or you must assign a dial plan directly to the extension. |
Also it should be noted that most SIP devices support the REFER method to initiate a transfer. This method does not need a star code.
Transferring or calling directly to voicemail
If your PBX System Administrator has enabled a prefix (normally "8") to enable you to call a voice mailbox directly, you can "blindly" transfer a call to someone‘s voice mail by pressing the transfer key, then that mailbox prefix key, followed by the extension number and the call start key. Of course you can also call any person’s voice mailbox directly by similarly pressing the mailbox prefix key followed by the extension number and the call start key.
Transfer between different registered devices
Let’s assume you picked up a call on your WiFi phone and you are getting back to your desk and you want to continue your conversation with your regular phone. Both phones are registred to the same extension number, so you cannot just simply transfer the call.
In order to achieve this, you must first park the call on your extension and then pick the call up from your desktop phone. In order to do this, put the call on hold on your mobile device, dial *85 (park) and wait until the PBX disconnects the call. Then go to your desktop phone and pick up the call with *86.
