CloudPBX User | Tips for forwarding calls

Forwarding calls in CloudPBX is very simple!

However, there are a few things to keep in mind in order to make the best use of the available CloudPBX features, and make sure your forwarding is behaving as expected.

There are two ways to forward calls: using the phone itself, and using the web Portal.

1 - Using the phone itself.

• This method is the simplest - just dial *72 from your phone.  You should hear a prompt asking you to "enter the number to forward to, followed by the pound key". 
• Enter the number you'd like to forward to (enter either the 10-digit number, including area code - 6046383848 for example, or with the leading '1': 16046383848) and the pound (#) key.
  
• The system will confirm: "Saved. Calls are now forwarded to: 6 0 4 6 3 8 3 8 4 8". You can hang up as soon as you hear this prompt begin to play.
• To remove the forwarding, pick up the phone and dial *73.  You will hear "call forwarding is now disabled".

2 - Using the Web Portal.

If you use the Web Portal (https://portal.cloudpbx.ca), either as an administrator or via your own user account, you can make use of some extra CloudPBX features, described below.

• Log into the Portal, either with your user account or as an administrator.
• In your user settings, click on the 'Call Forward' tab (shown below)

• Check the 'enable call-forward' box to enable.
• Enter the forwarding number in the appropriate field.  Note that it prompts you to enter the entire number, including the +1 prefix.  This is not necessary, but helpful, as it may slightly improve call routing.
• "Bypass user's phones" will ensure that your phone will not ring (other phones included in your user account will not ring)
• "Require Key Press" is a useful feature!  This will play a prompt to you to press the '1' key before 'releasing the call' to the outside phone.  There are two benefits to using this feature: You will always be able to tell which calls arriving on your mobile are work-related before you answer them, and all work-related calls will be sent back to the system (for voicemail or to the next step in the call flow) if they are unanswered.
• "Keep Caller ID" will pass the incoming caller ID through to the target phone.  If this is not enabled, then the account caller ID will be sent, as though this call were made from the CloudPBX device.
• "Direct Calls Only" will not forward calls that are triggered as part of a Ring Group.
• To remove the call forwarding, just uncheck the 'Enabled' box.  Remember to uncheck the "Bypass user's phones" box as well!
• Below is an example of a functional forwarded configuration:

PLEASE ALSO NOTE:

Forwarded calls will continue to use the ring time specified in the call flow that triggers the call.  So, if the default ring time of 20 seconds is still in place, and the call is forwarded to a mobile number, this will most likely produce annoying results.  Latency in the mobile network often means that the first 10 seconds of the call is spent just starting to ring the phone - so that when the target finally has the chance to answer the call, they don't have enough time to 'press 1 to answer' before the call is hung up.

To remedy this, please take the following steps before any call is forwarded to a mobile phone:

• If you are not the account administrator, please contact them to have this done.
• Locate the call flow that triggers the user/device that is going to be forwarded.  Remember that unanswered calls will continue down the call flow path to the next step.

• Adjust the ring time (as seen in the image below) to at least 35 seconds.  There is no perfect length of time to set here - the appropriate time varies depending on mobile network being used, and even the proximity of the phone to the antenna being used.

• If the ring time is too short, the user will not have enough time to answer the phone.  If it is too long, they will likely receive voicemail messages from the system, prompting them to 'press 1 to accept this call'.

There you have it - we hope you enjoy these features CloudPBX offers!