Call Control

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Line box layout
   Call State
   Name
   Location
   Point
   Call Duration Timer
Dialling a Call
Answering a Call
Placing a Call on Hold
Taking a Call off Hold
Terminating a Call
Dump mode

Line box layout¶

Controlling calls in PhoneBOX NX is both intuitive and straightforward. Essential information for each active call is shown in the linebox. A typical example is shown below, along with an indication of which information is being shown where.

Call State¶

The Call State information tells us what state the call is currently in. In the example above, the call is Held which means that it is not routed to a device and the caller would probably be waiting to go on air. They would be hearing the POH (program on hold) source. Other common states are Ringing (meaning that an inbound or outbound call is yet to be answered), and Connected (meaning that the call is on a device).

Name¶

PhoneBOX NX has comprehensive databases built into the system. This means that when a call arrives in the system, if it is from a known phone number (using Caller ID) then PhoneBOX NX will present on screen the caller name associated with that number if one is known. If not, the system will display the phone number of the calling entity. If no CLI information is given by the caller then „WITHHELD‟ will be displayed instead. In cases where the caller is not known to PhoneBOX NX, a name may be entered manually.

Location¶

In a similar way to the Name information presentation, PhoneBOX NX will also display a Location for the caller if one is known. If one is not known but CLI is present, then PhoneBOX NX will use its look-up database of area codes and will display the nearest locality it can match to the telephone number. Again, Location information can be entered manually.

Point¶

The Point field is used to provide a brief description of what the caller wants to say so that producers and presenters are aware of each caller‟s angle before they take the call.

Call Duration Timer¶

The Call Duration Timer is the total time that the call has been present in the PhoneBOX NX system. This timer does not reset when the call changes state.

Dialling a Call¶

The simplest way to dial a call in PhoneBOX NX is as follows:

Highlight the device you wish to dial from. The yellow highlight will confirm you have made it the active device.
Click on the empty line that you wish to dial on
The Dial dialogue box appears (as shown below). Enter the number you wish to dial
Click the 'Dial' button at the bottom of the Dial dialogue box
PhoneBOX will make the call on the line you have chosen

Answering a Call¶

A ringing call in PhoneBOX NX will flash blue and yellow on screen as shown below.

In situations where the caller is sending CLI information, the caller's phone number will be displayed. If the caller is already known to the PhoneBOX database then the caller's name will be shown in place of the phone number, as shown above.

There are several ways to answer a ringing call in PhoneBOX NX:

Method 1

Choose the device on which you wish to answer the call by clicking the appropriate device.
The yellow hi-light block will move to the device you have clicked on.
Now, click on the Line Box of the ringing line
That call will now be routed to your chosen device and you can answer the call.

Method 2

Simply click on the ringing line and it will answer on the currently active device. If you already have a caller on this device, PhoneBOX NX will either place it on hold, or hang it up if Dump Mode is active (see below).

Method 3

Click the Answer button on the Telephony Toolbar (or press the Keyboard Shortcut F1). This will answer the line that has been ringing the longest onto the currently selected device. If you already have a caller on this device, PhoneBOX NX will either place it on hold, or hang it up if Dump Mode is active (see below).

Placing a Call on Hold¶

To take a call that is already on a device, and place that call on hold, simply click on the LineBox of the line in question. The Line Box will turn light green and the status will become Held, as shown below.

Taking a Call off Hold¶

To take a call off hold and route it to a device, first click the device to make it active (if it is not already), then click the Line Box showing the call that is on hold. The call will be taken off hold and will be places on the device. PhoneBOX shows this by using the device's unique colour to display the call on both the Line Box and the device.

Terminating a Call¶

Should a caller hangup at the remote end then the call will automatically disappear from the Solo screen (you may experience a slight delay if using analogue lines).

If you wish to terminate a call from Solo, do the following:

Click on the Drop Call button on the Telephony tool bar
This will turn your mouse pointer into an icon similar to the Drop Call button itself
Move the mouse to the LineBox of the line you wish to drop the call from
Click that line. The call will drop.

Dump mode¶

When Dump Mode is active, active calls will automatically be dropped when a new call is taken onto the same device. Dump mode can be toggled on and off using the button on the Telephony Tool Bar.