This article describes Call Rules for Switchvox 6.6. See MAIN-FEATURES-CALL-RULES-6-0 for previous version article.

Call Rules

Your personal Call Rules control what happens to your incoming calls. By default, regardless of date and time, if your Status is Do Not Disturb, queue calls are declined and direct calls go immediately to voicemail; otherwise, all calls go to voicemail after 5 rings.

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• Call Cascade. This action rings another extension or an external phone number (i.e., your mobile phone). If the call isn’t answered, then it is passed on to the next action. If you cascade to a Switchvox extension (local or peered), that extension's call rules are ignored. This action depends on your Outgoing Call Provider: if your provider supports it, you can stack several rules to try and reach you at several phone numbers.

  • Type of Call.  Specify whether the rule applies to direct calls, queue calls, or all calls.

  • Number to forward to. A Switchvox extension, or an external number. If this is an external phone number, be sure to add a ‘9’ or other necessary digits that you normally use to dial out.

  • Number of times to ring previous rule before cascading.  Specify the Number of Times to Ring, which is the number of times to ring your phone before initiating this action.

  • Attempt to preserve Caller ID. YES indicates that Switchvox should try to send the originating caller ID when it rings the number. This is not always possible, depending on the provider, but it will be attempted.

  • Acknowledge call. YES indicates that you want to acknowledge (accept) the call before Switchvox completes the call. Switchvox does not complete the call until you have answered it and acknowledged it by pressing ONE on your keypad. So, if the action rings this number and it is answered but not acknowledged, Switchvox continues to follow your Call Rules. This protects calls from being answered by unauthorized individuals (like kids, or very smart dogs!). Acknowledge Call is useful if you might not be the person answering the phone number. It can also ensure that your calls end up in your Switchvox voicemail (as opposed to your voicemail at home, or on your mobile).

  • Click Save Action.

• Secret Code. This action prompts the caller to enter a secret code, then passes the caller to the next action. If the caller cannot enter the correct secret code after the specified number of tries, then you can specify what to do with the call.

  • Type of Call. Specify whether the rule applies to direct calls, queue calls, or all calls.

  • Secret Code to prompt for.  One to 7 characters (0-9, *, or #).

  • Number of times to ring previous rule before code prompt. Specify the Number of Times to Ring, which is the number of times to ring your phone before initiating this action.

  • Number of tries to allow. The number of times the caller can try to enter your secret code. After this number of tries, the following action happens:

  • If code is incorrect, then (select the action)

Play Busy Signal
Play Congestion
Hang Up​
Send to Voicemail

• Click Save Action.

• Ring All. This action simultaneously rings up to 3 extensions or external phone numbers. If you ring a Switchvox extension (local or peered), that extension's call rules are ignored.

If you need to ring more than 3 phones, you may set up subsequent Ring All actions that ring those additional phones. In this case, the first set of phones ring, and then the second set of phones ring.

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