Page History: Call Control
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Page Revision: Wednesday, 23 March 2011 16:18
Line box layout
Controlling calls in PhoneBOX 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 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 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, a name may be entered manually.
Location
In a similar way to the Name information presentation, PhoneBOX will also display a Location for the caller if one is known. If one is not known but CLI is present, then PhoneBOX 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 system. This timer does not reset when the call changes state.
Dialling a Call
The simplest way to dial a call in PhoneBOX is as follows:
- Highlight the device on which you wish to dial from. The yellow block 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 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.
To answer a ringing call:
- 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.
Alternatively:
- Simply click on the ringing line and it will answer on the currently active device. If you already have a caller on this device it will automatically hang up (if in “Dump Mode”) or automatically place the first caller on hold.
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..
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 on the same device. Dump mode can be toggled on and off using the button on the Telephony Tool Bar.
Routing a Call
Routing describes the sending of a call that is on hold, and placing it on a device.
To route a call that is holding, simply click on a device to make it active, then click the Line Box for the line you wish to route. Both the Line Box and the active device will then display the same colour, that of the active device.