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A ring group is a set of extensions that share inbound routing. When a DID is pointed at a ring group, an incoming call rings the extensions in the group according to the strategy you choose — all at once, one after another, in rotation, or to whoever’s been idle longest. Configure ring groups in /dashboard/communications/ under the Ring Groups tab.

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Strategies

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.

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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.

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Failover (no answer behavior)

When the ring group exhausts without an answer, the call falls through to a failover destination.
FailoverWhen to use
VoicemailDefault. Caller leaves a message that gets emailed to a recipient.
QueueCaller waits on hold with music until someone in the group is free.
IVRReplay menu, offer “press 1 to leave a message, 2 to be called back”.
Another ring groupEscalate to a senior team.
External numberForward to a cell, answering service, or backup line.

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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.
Round-robin with skip-on-busy is the gold-standard for sales floors — fair distribution, no double-rings, no call ever waits on someone busy.

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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. 
Inbound: +1 415-555-0100  →  Display: [Sales] +1 415-555-0100
Inbound: +1 415-555-0100  →  Display: [Support] +1 415-555-0100
The original caller ID is preserved on the call record; only the device display changes.

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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.

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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.

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API

# Create a ring group
curl -X POST https://api.hiveku.com/api/communications/ring-groups \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer hk_live_xxx" \
  -d '{
    "name": "Sales",
    "strategy": "round_robin",
    "ring_time_seconds": 20,
    "extensions": ["101", "102", "103"],
    "failover": "queue:sales-hold"
  }'

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Common patterns

3 reps, simultaneous ring, 25-second timeout, fail to voicemail. Whoever picks up first takes the call.

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Troubleshooting

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 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.
Switch to round-robin or longest-idle for groups bigger than ~5 extensions. Simultaneous works best for tight teams.

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Next steps

Queues

Hold music and callback when ring groups are exhausted.

IVR

Route to ring groups via a menu.