/dashboard/communications/ under the Ring Groups tab.
Strategies
- Sequential
- Simultaneous
- Round-robin
- Longest-idle
- Random
Rings extensions in order, one at a time. If extension 101 doesn’t answer in N seconds, ring 102. If 102 doesn’t answer, ring 103. Continue down the list until someone picks up or all extensions exhaust.Best for: tiered escalation (junior reps first, senior reps next), small teams where one person is the primary contact.
Create a ring group
1
Pick a name
“Sales”, “Support Tier 1”, “After Hours” — whatever maps to how you’ll think about it.
2
Add extensions
Add each user’s extension. Order matters for sequential and round-robin.
3
Pick a strategy
Sequential, simultaneous, round-robin, longest-idle, or random.
4
Set ring time
How long each extension rings before moving on (sequential) or before the whole group times out (simultaneous). Default is 20 seconds.
5
Configure failover
What happens if no one in the group answers — voicemail, queue, IVR, another ring group, or external forward.
Failover (no answer behavior)
When the ring group exhausts without an answer, the call falls through to a failover destination.Skip-on-busy and skip-offline
Two important toggles:- Skip on busy — If an extension is currently on a call, skip to the next one. Default
on. Turn off if you want call-waiting tone instead. - Skip offline — If an extension’s device isn’t registered, skip it. Default
on. Turn off only if you want the call to fail fast when nobody’s logged in.
Caller ID prepending
Optionally prepend a tag to the caller ID display so agents know which group the call came from. Useful when one person is in multiple groups.Music on transfer
When sequential ringing fails over to the next extension, you can play hold music to the caller during the transfer pause (typically 1-2 seconds). Reduces the perceived dead air and keeps the caller engaged. Disabled by default.Pickup groups
A pickup group is a related concept: any extension in the group can pick up a ringing call from any other extension in the group with a single shortcut (*8 by default). Useful in physical office settings where you can hear a coworker’s phone ringing and want to grab it without walking over.
Configure pickup groups in the Extensions tab — each extension can belong to one pickup group.
API
Common patterns
- Small team coverage
- Sales floor
- Tiered support
- After-hours
3 reps, simultaneous ring, 25-second timeout, fail to voicemail. Whoever picks up first takes the call.
Troubleshooting
Ring group calls aren't reaching anyone
Ring group calls aren't reaching anyone
Check that the extensions are registered (devices online) and skip-offline isn’t excluding them all. Live registration status is visible in the Extensions tab.
Round-robin keeps picking the same agent
Round-robin keeps picking the same agent
Round-robin honors skip-on-busy and skip-offline, so when others are on calls or offline, one person can take many in a row. Add more extensions or adjust strategies during peak hours.
Simultaneous ring is jarring with 8 phones
Simultaneous ring is jarring with 8 phones
Switch to round-robin or longest-idle for groups bigger than ~5 extensions. Simultaneous works best for tight teams.
Next steps
Queues
Hold music and callback when ring groups are exhausted.
IVR
Route to ring groups via a menu.