Call Control

Table of Contents [Hide/Show]

Line box layout
   Call State
   Name
   Location
   Point
   Call Duration Timer
Dialling a Call
Answering a Call
Placing a Call on Hold
Terminating a Call
Dump mode
Routing a Call
Other Buttons
      Answer Call
      Make Call
      Dump mode
      Drop Call
      Lines
      Editor
      Tools

Line box layout¶

Controlling calls in Solo is both intuitive and straightforward. Essential information for each active call is shown in Solo's 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". It is not routed to a device and the caller would probably be waiting to go on air, whilst hearing the station output on their telephone. Other common states include Ringing (meaning that an inbound or outbound call is yet to be answered), and Connected (meaning that the call is on a device).

Name¶

Solo 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 Solo 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 the Solo system a name may be entered manually.

Location¶

In a similar way to the Name information presentation, Solo will also display a Location for the caller if one is known. If one is not known but CLI is present, then Solo 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 Solo 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
Solo will make the call on the line you have chosen

Answering a Call¶

A ringing call in Solo 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 Solo 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 hilight will move to the device you have clicked on.
Now, click on the LineBox 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 park the first caller.

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 LineBox will turn light green, 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.

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 LineBox for the line you wish to route. Both the LineBox and the active device will then display the same colour, that of the active device.

Other Buttons¶

Answer Call¶

This button will answer an incoming call. You can either click the button then click the call, or alternatively drag the button onto the call.

Make Call¶

This will bring up the dialer. From the dialler you can select from any available standard (aLaw, uLaw), use the "Last 5" button to call up the last 5 numbers dialled, and also simply dial a call.

Dump mode¶

As described earlier, when Dump Mode is on, 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.

Drop Call¶

This button behaves in a similar way to the Answer Call button, but will end a call instead.

Lines¶

This dropdown allows you to open or close all lines at once.

Editor¶

Clicking this button will drop down a list of possible recordings to edit. Selecting one of these will open it in the editor.

Tools¶

The tools button reveals a menu that allows you to control various parts of Solo's configuration, including marking known numbers as banned or assigning warnings, and performing audio tests, aa well as configuring Solo's core settings (via teh Admin menu - please note this will not be available to all users).