Page History: Advanced Call Control
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Page Revision: Monday, 22 February 2010 09:58
Answering a call
A ringing call in the PhoneBOX system will show as a flashing line box and the answer next button in the top left will become active and look like the above. If the CLI data for the call is available, and any information about that CLI is stored in the PhoneBOX database, then that information will be shown as soon as the call starts ringing. Likely information to show will be Name, Location, and possibly Alert information relating to whether the caller is banned or has a warning associated with them.
A call with a warning associated with it will look like this:
A banned caller will look like this:
You can hover your mouse over the line box of a ringing or answered banned or warning call and a popup box will show you what ‘warning’ or ‘banned’ details is stored in PhoneBOX about that caller.
See Call Details later in this manual for more information about banned and warning information.
Answering a specific call
To answer a specific call, follow this procedure:
- Choose the device you wish to answer the call on
- Click on that device to make it the active device
- Click on the line box of the ringing call
- The call will be routed to the chosen device
Answering any ringing call (Answer Next)
You can choose to answer calls via a ‘longest ringing’ method. This is ideal for Call Screeners who may simply wish to answer any ringing call as simply as possible, whilst ensuring all callers are treated equally.
To answer the next call, follow this procedure:
- Click the device that device to answer the call on (this will make it the Active Device)
- Click on Answer Next on the telephony tool bar (or press F1)
- The call that started ringing first on the screen will be routed to the selected device
Note - By default PhoneBOX will answer the call to the currently active device. You can change this however and can set a specific device to which Answer Next calls are always answered. This is useful for operators that are also carrying out call routing functions as it means they can answer calls without needing to use an active device. To change the Answer Next device, click on the drop down arrow to the right of the answer next button.
See Call Dumping later in this manual for information about how to automatically dump the current call when you answer a new call.
Note: Certain handset types must be lifted off hook prior to answering a call.
Answer Random¶
You can also choose to answer a ringing call at random – in which case you may answer any of the currently ringing calls on your screen regardless of the order in which they arrived. The Answer Next button is utilised, but in this case it is switched into an Answer Random mode.
To answer a random ringing call:
- Click on the drop down arrow to the right of the Answer Next button on the telephony tool bar. Click on Answer Random to set random mode.
- Now, assuming you have calls ringing on screen, simply click on the now named Answer Random button the telephony tool bar or press F1. A random ringing call will be routed to your handset*
- See earlier asterisk – you can choose which device Answer Next and Answer Random calls are routed to.
Dialling a Call
Calls may be dialled in a number of different ways in PhoneBOX.
Dialling via the Call log
The Call log is the easiest way to dial a call to a number that you already have stored. For more information on the Call log and how it works see the separate ‘Call log’ section in the manual.
Dragging & dropping
Any Call log entry may simply be dragged from the Call log and dropped on a device (in which case the call will be dialled on the first available line), or dropped on a free line (in which case the call will be dialled on that line using the active device). This will initiate a call to the phone number stored as part of that Call log entry.
To initiate a drag and drop call:
- Click on the Call log icon on the info pane control bar
- Ensure the Call log is currently displaying calls, rather than messages
- Choose entry from the Call log
- Click and hold the left mouse button down
- Drag the entry to a device or a line
- Let go of the left mouse button
- The call will be dialled on the device or line chosen
See below:
Dragging and dropping one of the “John from London” entries onto a line or a device would initiate a call to phone number 01444 473999.
Dialling on a chosen line without using the Call log
To dial a call on a specific line follow this procedure:
- Choose the device on which you wish to dial
- Click on an empty line
- The number dialogue box appears
- Enter the number to dial, the button with a left arrow can be used to remove an incorrect digit.
- Click on the ‘Dial’ button. If the ‘W’ button is depressed then your own outbound Caller ID will be withheld. On some systems this will always be the case.
- The call will be dialled on the chosen line
Dialling from a handset¶
To dial a call using the keypad on a handset follow this procedure:
- Pick up the handset
- Dial the number required
- The call will be dialled using an automatically allocated free line
- The PhoneBOX screen will reflect the call you have dialled and which line it has been dialled on
Dialling from Call Details window
Calls may be dialled from Call Details window. Generally this would be when you double clicked an entry in the Call Log to view it. To dial a call in this way, follow this procedure:
- Ensure you have the correct details displayed in the Call Details window
- Click on the ‘Dial’ button in the top right hand corner of the Call Details window
- The call will be dialled on a free line*
See below:
Clicking on the Dial button in the above example would initiate a new call to phone number 01444 473999 on the highest numbered available line of the service indicated for default dialling in your PhoneBOX configuration, if you believe this isn’t set correctly you should let your PhoneBOX administrator or Broadcast Bionics know.
Note: As well as choosing which lines a PhoneBOX client uses by default, it is also possible to specify which set of lines should be used if a physical handset is picked up and a call is made using the handset without using the PhoneBOX client screen.
Dialling on any line
To dial a call on any available line, follow this procedure:
- Click on the ‘Dial’ icon on the telephony tool bar
- The phone number dialogue box will appear
- Enter the phone number you wish to dial
- Click on the ‘Dial’ button at the bottom of the phone number dialogue box
- The call will be initiated on the first available line
Where a call is not dialled on a specific line, it will be dialled on the highest available line number within the line group displayed on screen. For example, if 6 phone-in lines are shown, then a call dialled in this manner would default to Line 6. If line 6 was busy it would be dialled on Line 5 and so on. In contrast, inbound calls to PhoneBOX arrive at default on line 1 and build upwards.
Terminating a call
Calls may be terminated in three ways in PhoneBOX.
Manual termination
To terminate a call manually follow this procedure:
- Click on the Drop call icon
- The mouse pointer takes on the shape of the Drop call icon is highlighted
- Now click on the line box of the call, or device you wish to terminate
- The call is terminated and the line box goes grey and displays it’s original label
Quick termination
To terminate a number of calls quickly follow this procedure:
- Hold down CTRL on the keyboard
- Now click on the line boxes of the calls, or devices you wish to terminate
- Each call is terminated as you click on it and the line box goes grey
Automatic termination
You can terminate calls automatically when you answer another call, or when you queue the next call. See Call Dumping later in this manual for more information.
If the call is terminated by the caller then it will clear down automatically from the PhoneBOX screen. This will be almost instant for digital lines, but may take up to 30 seconds for analogue lines. Manual and Quick termination can be used on ringing calls as well as active calls. It is also possible to hangup all calls on one set of lines using the services option which will be looked at later in this manual.
Call Routing
Call routing refers to the way in which calls are taken from hold, onto a device, and back to hold. There are a number of ways to route calls in PhoneBOX.
Placing a call on hold
If a call is currently routed to a device, and you simply wish to return that call to hold mode, simple click on the line box of that call. It will be removed from the device, and will go green to indicate that it is on hold.
You can also choose to hold a call to a different hold audio feed which is useful in certain competition scenarios. The system must include PhoneBOX MOH box in order for this to be possible, see later in this manual for more information.Using the Active Device
Any routing carried out will by default take place on the active device. If for example you wish to take a call from hold and route it to a device, follow this procedure:
- Choose the device you wish to route to, and click on it
- The box on the left of the device will turn yellow
- Now, click on a held call that you wish to route
- That call will be instantly and silently routed to the device you made active
If for example you wish to route a different call to a second device, follow this procedure: - Choose the device you wish to route to, and click on it
- The box on the left of the device will turn yellow (note, the first device you made active is now no longer active)
- Now, click on the 2nd call that you wish to route
- That call will be instantly and silently routed to the second device you made active
Using drag and drop¶
Calls that are on hold, or on a device, can be dragged by their line number to another device. In this scenario always drag from the line on which the call is residing, not any device to which it may be presently routed.
You can also drag from one device to another. For example, to move a call from Hybrid 1 to Hybrid 2, simply drag from Hybrid 1 to Hybrid 2. This can be useful whether using a mouse of touchscreen as it reduces the time taken to drag and drop a call.
Line Locking
The line locking feature allows you to lock one or more lines so that those calls cannot be terminated accidentally. The facility is most useful for busy phone-in environments when high profile guests are holding, perhaps during a busy programme with lots of members of the public calling in on other lines. When a line is locked, even if the normal hung-up procedure is carried out, the call will not be terminated.
Locking a line
To lock a line:
- Click on the padlock icon on the telephony tool bar.
- The mouse pointer icon changes to resemble a padlock
- Click on the line you wish to lock
- The line number is replaced with an L symbol (shown in the example below)
To un-lock a line:
- Click on the padlock icon on the telephony tool bar.
- The mouse pointer icon changes to resemble a padlock
- Click on the line you wish to un-lock
- The L symbol is replaced with the line number again
Dump mode
Dump mode may be used in conjunction with answering, queuing, or routing calls. It is especially useful for competitions where a number of wrong answers must be gone through before a correct answer is arrived at. It can be used either by the Call Screener, or the Presenter.
If Dump mode is used when answering calls, the current call will be dumped (or terminated) when the next call is answered. If Dump mode is used when queuing calls, the current call will be dumped when the next call in the queue is used. If Dump mode is used when routing calls, the current call will be dumped when the next call is routed.
To enter Dump mode:
- Click on the Dump mode icon on the telephone tool bar
- The Dump mode icon will glow yellow
- Now, every time a call is routed to the active device (either via an Answer action, or a Queue Next action, or a Route action), the call currently on the active device will be terminated and will be replaced by the latest call.
Two calls are in the queue, dump mode is active.
After Mark has been spoken to on air, Queue Next has been pressed which has dropped the call with Mark and but John on air.
Talkback mode
Talkback mode allows a call to be temporarily and easily routed to a device for a brief period. This is intended for use by Call Screeners who need to advise holding callers who are waiting to go on air how much longer they are likely to have to wait and so on. It works like an audio talkback system using the ‘push to talk’ principle, where all the time the switch is held down, you can talk to the caller. This feature is especially useful if used in conjunction with a headset and touchscreen as a large numbers of callers can be spoken to in a very short space of time.
To talk to a caller using Talkback mode follow this procedure. It is assumed the caller in question is already on hold.
- Click on Talkback on the top control bar
- The Talkback icon is now highlighted in yellow
- Set active the device you wish to use to talk to the caller
- Now click and hold on the line you wish talk to
- The call will be routed to the device you set active
- When you have finished talking let go of the mouse button or release the touch screen.
- The call will go back on hold
In this mode any holding call you click and hold on will be routed to the active device for the duration you hold the mouse button down for.
To end Talkback mode, click on the Talkback icon on the top control bar. The yellow highlight will disappear.