Ring Groups

A ring group is a group of extensions that will ring when there is an incoming call to the ring group. You can select from several ring strategies (for example ring all extensions in the group, ring one extensions after another, etc.). You typically define one ring group for each department in your company or for each specific group of users.
Note that the number  of telephones that can be assigned to a particular ring group is limited by the total number of digits and delimiters that can fit within a 255 character string. For example, using a four digit extension dial plan with a "-" as a delimiter would result in a maximum number of 51 extensions for that ring group.

To access the ring group page, perform the following steps:

  1. Open the UCX Web-based Configuration Utility
  2. From the PBX tab, select PBX Configuration
  3. From the left side column, select Ring Groups

Field Description
Ring-Group Number Enter the number that users will dial to ring extensions in this ring group
Group Description Enter a description for this group
Ring Strategy Select the ring strategy from the drop-down list:
ringall Ring all available extensions until one answers. This is the default.
hunt Ring each available extension one after another.
memoryhunt Ring 1st extension in the list, then ring 1st and 2nd, then ring 1st, 2nd and 3rd and so on.
*-prm These modes act as described above. However if the primary extension (first in the list) is occupied, the other extensions will not ring.
If the primary extension is in DND state, the rest will not ring.
If the primary extension is in Unconditional CFW state, the others will ring.
firstavailable Ring only the first available extensions.
firstnotonphone Ring only the first extension not offhook.
Ring Time
(max 300sec)
Time (in seconds) that each extension will ring.
Extension List Enter all the extensions in the group, one per line.
External numbers can be included by added the '#' sign at the end, e.g. 5551234#
Extensions without the '#' sign will not ring the extension's Follow-Me list.
Extension Quick Pick Use the drop-down list box to add internal extensions to the list
Announcement If you want the caller to hear an announcement before the system starts dialing the list entries, select a system recording from the drop-down list box
Play Music On Hold? If you want the caller to hear music while the system is dialing the list entries, select a music on hold class.
The caller will hear ring-back tone if the default value Ring is selected.
CID Name Prefix (Optional) Enter a short text that is to be added in front of the Caller ID information.
Alert Info (Optional) Enter a distinctive ringing string recognized by the agents' phones.
(See Distinctive ring tones for details on the supported strings.)
Ignore CF Settings When checked, extensions that attempt to call forward will be ignored. Extensions entered with a '#' at the end to access the follow-me list may not honor this setting.
Skip Busy Agent When checked, extensions that are busy will be skipped, this includes extensions with Call Waiting or multiple lines.
Enable Call Pickup When checked, this allows calls to the ring group to be picked up with the directed call pickup feature using the group number.
Confirm Calls To enable confirmation that a destination accepted the call, check this box. This option is useful in cases when the list has external numbers that have voice mail configured and the call is answered by voice mail. To avoid this situation, this option forces the recipient to press to confirm that the call is answered by a person.
This feature only works with the ringall ring strategry.
Remote Announce When the Confirm Calls option is enabled, you can select an announcement to be played when the call is answered. 
Too-Late Announce When the Confirm Calls option is enabled, you can select an announcement to be played when the call has already been answered before the user press 1.

You can include local extensions as well as external destinations (for example a mobile phone number) in a ring group. For external You can also select an announcement for follow-me destinations when the call is answered by another device while waiting for user's confirmation. To do so, select a system recording in the Too-Late Announce drop-down list box., you must terminate the external phone number(s) with #.  External numbers also need to be compliant with the dial plan (e.g., if the user must dial 9 for an outside call, the prefix 9 must be included in the string of digits).

For example, to add a cell phone number (613) 555-1234 to the ring group when the dial plan requires the digit 9 as the access code for external calls, the number entered would be 96135551234#.

Change External CID Configuration

Field Description
Mode Select from the drop-down list the mode that controls the number sent as Caller ID.
Default Transmits the Callers ID if allowed by the trunk.
Fixed CID Value Always transmit the Fixed CID Value.
Outside Calls Fixed CID Value Transmit the Fixed CID Value on calls that come in from outside only. Internal extension to extension calls will continue to operate in default mode.
Force Dialed Number Transmit the number that was dialed as the Caller ID for calls coming from outside. Internal extension to extension calls will continue to operate in default mode. There must be a DID on the inbound route for this. This WILL be transmitted on trunks that block foreign CallerID.
Fixed CID Value Fixed value to replace the Caller ID, used in combination with the Mode value above.

Call Recording

Field Description
Record Calls Select the option to record calls:
Always record calls coming to this ring group.
On Demand to allow the extension to use On-demand call recording feature.
Never record calls, On-demand recording feature will be blocked.

Destination if no answer

Field Description
Destination if no answer Select the desired destination when calls are not being answered in the ring group.
DO NOT set the Destination if no answer to a path that will attempt to route the call back to this same ring group. Doing so will cause an infinite loop and impact system performance and call processing.

Video Tutorial

Self Assessment Quiz

  1. When configuring a Ring Group with hunt strategy, if one of the numbers in the list is an external number, which parameter would you consider enabling to ensure the ring strategy is not broken?
  2. How do you add an external number to the ring group extension list?
  3. If you configure an announcement for the ring group, when will the announcement be played to the caller?