Simultaneous Extensions Ringing for Hunt Groups

[mborochaner]

My understanding is that there is a limitation to the number simultaneous extensions that can ring as part of a hunt group. (16)

Every call that comes into that Hunt Group could cost us $300-$500 dollars so we want every Managers extension to ring to be able to pickup that call. We are talking about a group of 30+ managers.

Will ShoreTel open this up so that more simultaneous extensions can ring for a Hunt Group?

[Dr_Klahn]

If incoming calls = $$$, you should look into a Call Center application. Shoretel comes with a very basic call center in Workgroups that only requires Workgroup Licensing.

To answer your question about HG limitations, this is from Shoretel's KB:

Hunt groups place a significantly heavier burden on the ShoreGear voice switch. For example, if you have a hunt group with 16 members, a single call into the hunt group will generate 16 simultaneous calls (assuming the feature is configured to simultaneously ring each hunt group member). To extend this example, assume that the call stack size for this hunt group is set to 16, and 16 calls arrived at the same time, this would be equivalent to 256 calls (16 x 16) simultaneous calls. The number of hunt group members (as well as the call stack depth) is a multiplying factor for the signaling load that would be generated - thus, you should closely engineer hunt groups to ensure that the voice switch is not overburdened in order to ensure optimal performance.

[Miersk]

The limitation is on the hardware, and Dr Klann hit it right on. I do wonder if a BCA or extension Monitor might accomplish what you are looking for though.

[Palitto Consulting]

One potential solution would be to use a Workgroup instead of a Hunt Group, then add additional members by modifying the database. A workgroup can do simultaneous ring of 16 users by default, but additional users can be added directly to the database. This will, of course, be unsupported by ShoreTel.

[blanning]

It occurs to me that in a pool of 30+ managers there must be some kind of hirarchy whereby you could break the group up and ring some of them for the first two rings and then ring another group for the next two and so on.

The other solution is to invest in a call center if calls are worth that much to you. Why waste managers time when you could pay a couple of people specifically to answer calls. At the rate you described their overhead would be paid for in no time at all.