Ring Office/Cell Simultaneously

[dpistole]

Good afternoon!

I am trying to come up with a configuration that will allow me to have both my Shoretel Office phone, and my cell phone, ring simultaneously when a call is made to my office extension. I also want to be able to disable/enable the cell phone ringing easily(during meetings/vacation/etc.). I also want to be able to easily transfer the calls from my cell phone to my office, and from my office to my cell phone(in case I am walking into, or out of my office when I recieve a call)


The best I could come up with so far...

Any thoughts/suggestions/comments/burns/opinions/input greatly appreciated...





=RING BOTH OFFICE AND CELL=
I have created a new extension, which is externally assigned with my cell phone number. I have assigned my DID to a workgroup that includes both my office extension and my cell phone extension, and it set to ring simultaneusly. When there is no answer, the call is sent to an auto attendant that immediatly times out and "takes a message" for my office line. One problem I have found with this: when I am on my cell phone all incomming calls are immediatly sent to my Sprint voicemailbox. I believe I can adjust my phone settings to ring in a call waiting fashion, and that should resolve it, but any other suggestions are

=EASILY TURN CELL PHONE RINGING OFF/ON=
When the workgroup is "Off Hours" it always forwards all calls to my office extension. This way I can call in to our auto attendant, access the voicemail system, and place the workgroup into off hours when I do not want my cell phone to ring. When I want it to ring again, I call in and change it back to "On Hours".

I have successfully set up(using speed dial, and pauses) a contact on my cell phone that will call in to our main AA, access the voicemail system, put in the workgroup extension, and change the active schedule on the workgroup. I have not found a way to set up a call manager speed dial, or an IP phone button, that will do the same from the office.


=TRANSFER CALLS TO/FROM OFFICE/CELL=
I have created two new IP phone buttons on my Shoretel IP530. The first is called "to cell", and executes a blind transfer to my cell phone extension. The second is called "to office", and executes a "barge in" on my cell phone extension. (this allows me to barge in, and then disconnect my cell phone call, leaving only my office extension and the caller on the line)

[BIGDOG3c]

ShoreTel is ahead of you on this. They have a white paper out on setting this up. It is application note # ST-0134 Simultaneous Ringing of Internal Extension and External Mobile Number. The only draw back is you use up a station license and a hunt group. I have set this up for several of my sales people and customers. They like it. You control it by busying out the hunt group.

[dpistole]

Thanks for the feeback!

Do you know if you can you busy a hunt group from out of the office?

[BIGDOG3c]

I have not found a way to do that yet.

[bjr_flip]

Have you ever been asked the following?

"I want my DID to ring my ShoreTel phone and my Cell phone and be able to switch back and forth between them"

Here's how to "twin" you inbound DID calls to both an internal ShoreTel IP phone and an external Cell phone and swap between them:


1) Create a ShoreTel user for "Bob" and assign him to an IP phone with an available programmable button

2) Create another user for Bob called "Bob's Cell"
- Configure this user as an Ext. only user (no MB needed, but you may need to add a MB to support the configuration)
- Configure this user as a "SoftSwitch" virtual user
- Edit the user's "External Call Destination" to the following:
- Check the "Use External Reassignment"
- Enter Bob's cell phone number
- "Activation" = Wait for DTMF

3) Create a Hunt Group called "Bob's DID"
- Assign Bob's DID number to the hunt group
- Set "Distribution Pattern" to Simultaneous
- Add both "Bob" and "Bob's Cell" as members
- Change "No Answer" Destination to the user "Bob"
- Change "No Answer Number of Rings" to 3

4) Customize Bob's IP Phone button
- Program a button on his phone as follows:
- Function = "Barge In"
- Extension = "Bob's Cell"


Now, when a call comes in for Bob's DID it will simultaneously ring both his internal ShoreTel IP Phone and his Cell phone. If he doesn't answer the call, it will roll to his Voice Mail (via Call Handling Mode settings for the user Bob).

If he answers the call on his cell phone (pressing "1" to answer the call) he can then walk into his office and say "just a moment and I'll pick you up on my land line". He presses the "Barge" button on his phone and it will create a 3-way conference call between his IP phone, his cell phone and the third party. Then he simply hangs up the cell phone and continues the conversation with zero interruption or delay.

To swap back to the Cell phone simply transfer the caller to the user "Bob's cell" extension.

[gberkemeyer]

Great post, bjr!

Just to add to it. If you setup "Bob's Cell" extension with a mailbox (but never forward to VM), then Bob can call in to that mailbox remotely and turn the External Assignment on or off whenever he wants.