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Managing Faxes
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Faxing is only supported over an analog or PRI channel, otherwise incoming fax detection and fax quality will be compromised. We have worked hard to make Switchvox fully compatible with the T.38 fax protocol; however, some VOIP Providers and equipment vendors may not be compatible with the Switchvox T.38 implementation. So if you want to handle faxes using T.38 over a SIP provider, we recommend you work with your provider to test for compatibility and set up dedicated extensions for incoming and outgoing faxes. Handling faxes over G.711 is not supported.
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If you want to fax files from your computer, you need to set up a printer driver on your computer. Each Switchvox user can set up a printer driver for a dedicated outgoing fax extension, for their own extension, or both. For a dedicated extension, outgoing faxes are found in the dedicated extension’s Mailbox. For someone's own extension, outgoing faxes are found in the user’s Mailbox. For more information, see Faxing From Your Desktop
Managing Call Queues
Use Extension Groups as Queue members whenever you can.
Extension Groups help you manage many areas of Switchvox, and this is one of them. When you have a new employee, you can simply put him or her into the right extension group, then rest assured that they are now part of the right queues, receiving the appropriate group voicemails, etc.Be sure your caller experience and call routing settings are appropriate for your call volume.
You don't want your customers getting frustrated with you, so make sure your queues are doing everything they can to reassure callers and help them quickly reach a live person.Use Music on Hold for custom messaging.
You can record your own MoH for each queue, so you can make the queue fun, provide important information, or even provide calming influences!
To manage your queues, go to Setup > Extensions > Manage in the web suite. From this page, you can find all of your Call Queue extensions (View Only Call Queues), or you can create a Call Queue extension.
Managing IVRs
To create an IVR in Switchvox, first plan the entire IVR experience you want to offer your callers, starting from the end and working towards the beginning. For example, here is a suggested strategy:
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To create IVRs, go to Tools > PBX Features > IVR Editor in the web suite.
Basic IVR
The following is a basic IVR and the steps to create it.
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For a Switchvox IVR to function properly, it needs all of the items in the following sections:
Sounds
Our sample IVR uses the following sounds in the Sound Manager. A Best Practice is to create a new Sound Manager Folder for each particular IVR and put your custom sounds in that folder; however, you can use an existing IVR Folder if you prefer.
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Action: Play Sound ‘Greeting’ (Not Interruptible)
Action: Time Based Clause: within the time range Outside Business Hours, go to Play Business Hours at entry point IVR Menu Beginning
Action: Play Sound ‘Dial Extension’ (Interruptible)
Action: Play Sound ‘Use the Directory’ (Interruptible)
Action: Play Sound ‘To hear Service Announcement’ (Interruptible)
Action: Play Sound ‘For Customer Service’ (Interruptible)
Action: Play Sound ‘To hear Main Menu’ (Interruptible)
Option 1: Dial Directory at IVR Menu Beginning
Option 2: Service Announcement at IVR Menu Beginning
Option 3: Customer Service at IVR Menu Beginning
Option *: Start at Main at IVR Menu Beginning
Option Setting: Enable extension dialing: Extension Group that can be dialed
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Main IVR (800)
This should be an IVR extension.Customer Service (611)
This should be a Call Queue extension.CustomerService Customer Service Voicemail (610)
This should be a Virtual extension.Directory (411)
This should be a Directory extension.Employee phone extensions
These should be SIP extensions for your employees.
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Note: The CustomerService Voicemail extension can be set up to forward all of its voicemail to your customer service representatives. You can do that in the Extension Suite's (/main) Voicemail Options and the Forwarding tab. |
Testing
It’s important to test an IVR before you let your callers reach the IVR’s extension. Call the extension yourself, listen to the sounds that are played, and try to dial an extension. Call several times, choosing each of the different options. You can test Option 3 and the Time Based Clause by changing your Time Frame Outside Business Hours (for details, see Time Frames). Or, change the Time Based Clause in Main IVR to During Business Hours, check to make sure you get the correct behavior for outside of business hours, then change the Time Based Clause back to Outside Business Hours.
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To set up Switchvox so that Main IVR answers all of your calls, set your Callback Extension to 800 (the extension we gave Main IVR). That setting is available on the VOIP provider page, or in Channel Groups, depending on how your main phone number is handled.
IVR to Require Password for Outbound Dialing
IVRs can be used to prevent any and all phones from dialing outbound numbers unless they first dial a password, authorization code, or account code. There are two steps to accomplish this.
Step 1: Alter an extensions permissions to deny all outbound calls by default.
In the Web Admin, under Manage Extensions, modify the extension for the phone you would like to do this for. At the bottom of the page, under the Outgoing Call Rules section, check the Deny box next to all outbound rules (this should be every rule except "Internal"). Click the "Save Extension Settings" button.
Step 2: Create two IVRs to allow the user to call out if they have entered in a correct password.
IVR#1 prompts the user for a password and sends them to the IVR#2 if the password is valid. The second menu prompts the user for a number to dial then dials that number.
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After this is done, callers from the phones that you have configured in Step 1 can now dial 833, enter their password (1234 in this example) and enter the phone number they wish to call followed by the pound key.
Managing Time Frames
Switchvox is capable of much more than simple day and night modes. Using its custom Time Frames feature you can define special time periods. The system matches your custom definition of a Time Frame to the current day/date/time. If any characteristics of the definition match, the custom Time Frame is activated. For example, you can define Time Frames for business hours, weekends, lunch periods, holidays, special events, etc.
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Important: Days and Times are separate entities. If you specify start at 5:00PM and end at 9:00AM, it does not mean the end time is at 9:00AM the next day. This "recycles" to the start of the same day.
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Managing Notifications
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Troubleshooting Email Notifications
Most issues with email notification are related to one or more of the following:
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Go to Server > Networking > IP Configuration
Change the "External IP Address / Hostname" field to: localhost.localdomain
Reset the voicemail settings back to default
Go to Tools > Notifications > SMTP Settings
Clear out all values in the four fields ('Voicemail Notification Email From Address', 'Outbound SMTP Server', 'Outbound SMTP Username', and 'Outbound SMTP Password') and put the following in the 'Voicemail Notification Email From Address' field: PBX@localhost.localdomain
Save the settings
Leave a voicemail message on your extension
Check for an email from the address specified in your 'Voicemail Notification Email From Address' field. If you have one, then you don't need to go any further! If you don't receive an email, then continue on
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Go to Tools > Notifications > SMTP Settings
Change the 'Voicemail Notification Email From Address' to <valid>@<emailaddress<valid>@<emailaddress.com> com> where this is a valid email address that exists on your email server. Leave 'Outbound SMTP Server', 'Outbound SMTP Username', and 'Outbound SMTP Password' blank.
Save the settings
Leave a voicemail message on your extension
Check for an email from the address specified in your 'Voicemail Notification Email From Address' field. If you have one, then you don't need to go any further! If you don't receive an email, then continue on.
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After we verify that the email notification process is working on Switchvox, we can work out by adding the different variables one at a time; i.e., outbound SMTP server IP, STMP server credentials, hostname, etc. If at any point the emails stop working, then we know this is the cause. Another good resource is to use the logs availabe available on your SMTP server. Also, for advanced troubleshooting, you can leave a voicemail and check the logs on the Switchvox by pulling a TSR Report. For more information on this see the FAQ guide on reviewing TSR Reports.
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