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We've found that many times the terms associated with PBX-type phone systems are confusing. We've compiled descriptions here of the major features found in TalkSwitch. Auto Attendants are the voice menus used to allow your callers to select where their calls are routed. TalkSwitch has a total of 9 Auto Attendants. You can record the Auto Attendants through any extension or you may upload a professionally-produced message right from your computer. If you've networked the TalkSwitch CA or CVA models, the Auto Attendants are copied between all the TalkSwitch units and shared systemwide. Voicemail is one of the key features businesses are looking for in a phone system. TalkSwitch comes with one voicemail box for each local extension, one for each remote extension and 10 general mailboxes not specifically assigned to any extension. Each of the mailboxes can be configured to call another telephone number or pager to alert you to new voicemail in your mailbox. Ring Groups are certain local extensions you can group together to ring as one. You can create these groups by function, such as sales or accounting, or locations in your facility; e.g., loading dock or office area. You can, for example, record an Auto Attendant that directs your caller to "Press 1 for Sales, 2 for Accounting ...". If your caller should select option 2, all phones in the accounting department that are part of the accounting Ring Group will ring as one. Anyone in the Ring Group can answer the call by picking up the receiver. Those not in the Ring Group can also answer the call using the call pickup feature of TalkSwitch. Call Cascade directs TalkSwitch how to handle a call to an extension under four scenarios:
From these scenarios, you have many options to handle the call. The call can automatically be transferred to another extension or Ring Group, to voicemail, to another Auto Attendant, hang up and several other options. Remote extensions are simply phones not directly connected to the TalkSwitch system. They can be phones at another office, your home or your cell phone. Remote extensions can be treated just like a local extension in TalkSwitch. You can have voicemail assigned to the Remote Extension and can also set up Call Cascade actions for the remote extension. Call Parking allows you to place a caller on hold and retrieve the call at any local extension. A "parked" caller will hear Music-on-Hold. Call Parking in TalkSwitch behaves in the similar way to what you may have called "Hold" in a traditional PBX phone system. The advantage to Call Parking is that there is no need for immediate answer at the receiving extensions as there is in call transfer. Using Call Transfer, the connection follows the Call Cascade sequence and could result in the call going to voicemail or being lost. With Call Park you can keep a caller on hold until you've finished your business and retrieve it at any extension. TalkSwitch has built-in automatic Fax detection. If your facsimile needs are not heavy, you no longer have to dedicate an expensive telephone line strictly to send and receive faxes. Simply dedicate an extension for your fax machine and TalkSwitch can route any detected fax calls to that extension. Line Hunt Groups are used by local extensions to select which telephone lines are used for an outgoing call. TalkSwitch checks each line in the order they are listed in the group and uses that line for the outgoing call. By default, Hunt Group 9 selects any available line starting with line 1. Group 81 only uses line 1, Group 82 uses line 2. For the 4-line TalkSwitch units (CA & CVA), Groups 3 and 4 follow the same logic. Any Hunt Group can be reconfigured by the user. Using Line Hunt Groups, you can limit which telephone lines are tied up with outgoing calls. Call Queue provides the functionality of putting multiple callers on hold at a single extension. For this functionality to work, the extension's Call Cascade must be enabled and set up to queue the calls. Mode Switching is the ability of the TalkSwitch to react to incoming calls according to the time of day and day of week. TalkSwitch includes two modes that can be programmed for each day of the week independently of the other days. Often, the modes are named Business Hours and Closed and the TalkSwitch is configured to transfer to voicemail after hours. Call Back allows you to initiate TalkSwitch to call you at a specified telephone number. This allows you access to the any of the following functionality:
Call Bridge allows you to make outgoing calls through the TalkSwitch using the local telephone lines when you are not in the office. Typical scenarios encompass having the Call Back feature call you at your remote location, such as an out-of-town hotel, and then using the Call Bridge feature to make outgoing long-distance calls. This avoids the inflated toll charges for long distance and allows you to take advantage of your home office rates. TalkSwitch supports Caller ID functionality. If you have Caller ID service on your phone lines, the caller's information will be passed through the TalkSwitch system to the receiving extension. Should you have a phone that supports it, the caller's information will be shown locally. In addition, TalkSwitch can update it's internal clock from the Caller ID service. If you are not using Caller ID, TalkSwitch can still provide caller information for intraoffice phone calls and provide date & time updating of internal phone displays. TalkSwitch supports Music on Hold when users are on Hold, Parked or Queued. Any audio source that provides line-level audio output may be used including CD players or radios.
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Features of the TalkSwitch Phone System