Chap. 20h: Maintain/Switch

The Switch command brings up the Switch Information window, in which you set system passwords and also specify the initial box that will be activated for each telephone line coming into your system.

 

Technical Info (submenu)

Click on the Technical Info button to open the Global Technical Information window, which controls critical call timing operations and the PBX integration options. Contact Technical Support if you think you need to make changes to the default settings in this window.

Hook-flash length (milliseconds):

This sets the length of the hook flash to be performed on your system when attempting a transfer or 3 way call. If you have 'call waiting' you have experienced using a hook flash. When you get the beep, you depress the switch hook on your phone to access the other call. The hook flash length setting determines the length of time the switch hook is depressed. When the system is trying to perform a transfer or a 3 way call, it needs to, in effect, depress the switch hook. The default setting of 500 should be sufficient for most cases. However, there are some areas of the country that require a longer depression time, perhaps as long as 1000 (1 second). There are some countries that require it to be as short as 100. The general rule is:

If you hear dialing when the system tries to perform the flashhook, the length needs to be increased. If you are disconnected when it tries, it needs to be decreased.

Pause length "," (milliseconds) - this determines the length of the pause the system will make when it sees a comma in the dial string. When setting up the system to perform transfers or 3 way calls (under transfer information on each line), you may need to tell the system to pause after the flashhook before dialing the number. Some telephone companies and some some phone systems do not allow for the immediate dialing after the flashhook.

Minimum Ring On Interval (milliseconds) - This determines the minimum length of a ring for the system to detect it as an incoming ring. The default setting of 300 should be sufficient for most system. If you have the voice program installed behind a phone system or pbx and the voice program is not answering, listen on the SoundSet to see if the ring sounds shorter than most. If you plug the line into a phone and hear a short ring - perhaps 2 short rings, you may need to lower this default. Try lowering it to 100. You need to close the program and re-open after that change.

Off-hook delay (milliseconds) - When the voice board answers an incoming phone call, by default, it takes 500 milliseconds before it pays attention to anything happening on the line. For most scenarios this is sufficient. However, if you are using a pbx or phone system that is sending us touchtones for inband signally, it may send it sooner than that. You can lower this to 100.

Note: If you are connecting to a PBX system that utilizes inband signaling, select the Use PBX Integration option and select your system type. This window access the pbx.txt file in your \stplus directory. You will need to set that file up according to the needs of your system.  Appendix F will give you detailed information regarding PBX integration and setting up that file. The PBX integration ONLY applies if you are using inband signaling and require translations of the DTMF being sent.

Line Information (submenu)

The Line Information window is independently accessed for each line by double-clicking on a line in the Switch Information window. If you have the CallerID/DNIS add-on module, see that section of the manual for information setting up those options. 

Line Description

In this field type a descriptive name to identify the line. By default the lines will be named Line 1, Line 2, etc.

Privilege

In the privilege field select a Privilege setting from the drop-down list that will be in effect for the line. You must select a Privilege setting for each line, and for this reason there is always a Privilege in effect (except when one expires during a call - then there is NO privilege in force and everything is available to the caller - be sure to send the expired privilege to a 'hang-up box' - see access box).

*Remember, whatever Privilege is chosen here will be in effect on a call when no mailbox number and password have been entered. There is ALWAYS a Privilege in effect (except when the privilege expires during a call - then NO privilege is in force and everything is available to the caller - be sure to send expired privileges to a hang-up box - see access box.).

Business Hours

In the Business Hours section you will see a From field and a To field. These two fields determine the time range when the line will be sent to the Destination indicated in the Business Hours Destination field. Enter times in the 24-hour format (Example: 2:00pm = 14:00).

Note: The Business Hours, Lunch Hours, and After Hours sections provide you with control over three distinct time periods during each 24-hour day. You may use these three time periods as you wish. For example, you could set the Business Hours to go into effect from "8:00 to 17:00", the After Hours to go into effect from "17:00 to 22:00", and then use the Lunch Hours as a night phone by setting it to go into effect from "22:00 to 8:00".

Rings to Answer

The number of rings the line will wait for before answering when the Business Hours time settings are in effect.

Destination

The box callers will be sent to when they dial in on this line and the Business Hours time settings are in effect.

Note: The only time the caller will hear a different initial greeting is if you have a different box entered under Maintain, Holidays for either a Holiday or Saturday or Sunday. The program gets the date, time, etc. information from your computer BIOS. If the date or time is incorrect, you will need to adjust it under My Computer, Control Panel, Date/Time.

Lunch Hours

In the Lunch Hours section you will see a From field and a To field. These two fields determine the time range when the line will be sent to the Destination indicated in the Lunch Hours Destination field. Enter times in the 24-hour format (Example: 2:00pm = 14:00). (See "Business Hours" in this chapter for more information.)

Destination

The box callers will be sent to when they dial in on this line and the Lunch Hours time settings are in effect.

Rings to Answer

The number of rings the line will wait for before answering when the Lunch Hours time settings are in effect.

After Hours

The After Hours section goes into effect for any time not covered by the Business Hours and Lunch Hours settings. For this reason there aren't any fields in which to enter a time range in the After Hours section. (See "Business Hours" in this chapter for more information.)

Rings To Answer

The number of rings the line will wait for before answering when the After Hours settings are in effect.

Destination

The box callers will be sent to when they dial in on this line and the After Hours time settings are in effect.

Language (submenu)

The Language button will bring up the Languages window in which you can select a default language for the line.

Line Name

The Line Name button allows you to record a name for the line. This name will be used for remote access operations, and to identify the line callers are calling in from when entering a Conference Box.

Technical Info (submenu)

The Technical Info button brings up the Per Line Technical Information window. This window contains technical settings which affect the behavior of each line. Remember that the settings in this submenu are independent for each line.

 

Call Progress for Notification

When this option is checked the system will make itself aware of dialtones, rings, and busy signals when making outbound message notification calls. This would not be used if notification calls are being placed internally and the typical call progress signals are not available for the system to use. For most situations this option should be checked.

Call Progress for Paging

This option should be checked if you want the system to be aware of dialtones, rings, and busy signals when making outbound paging calls. If you deal with paging services that do not provide rings before answering you might need to remove this check mark.

Detect Dial-Tone

In most situations this option should be left on. When this option is checked the system will check for a dialtone before attempting a message notification, paging, or outbound call. You will need to turn this option off if you have your voicemail system behind another phone system that does not provide a standard dialtone.

Use Initial Pause (secs)

This option primarily used when you are using DID to give the system time to react. Also, some PBX integration systems may require you to use an initial pause. When setting up DID lines, the Initial Pause setting is used in conjunction with the Off-Hook Delay parameter, which is in the Technical submenu of the Switch command. The Off-Hook Delay setting determines the beginning of the time window, and the Initial Pause setting determines the end of the window. If you need a delay, set Off-Hook Delay to 100 (milliseconds) and Initial Pause to 2 (seconds). Once you have established that these settings work correctly you can begin to reduce the time window by reducing the Initial Pause value until you determine a workable value for your particular situation.

Use Disconnect Digit

This option is typically only used with PBX integration. If your voicemail system is behind a PBX system you may need to add a disconnect digit to allow your voice board to properly disconnect calls. The disconnect digit generated by your PBX system cannot be used at any other point in the system. To avoid conflicts with your voicemail software you should use A, B, C, or D tones if possible. These are tones that are recognized by your voice board, but they cannot be generated by a standard touch-tone phone.

Maximum Non-Silence (secs)

This is the length of time your voice board will wait before disconnecting a call when the board detects any consistent sound with no break. This is considered to be an error condition and you normally would want the system to hang up to clear the line. If you are having difficulty recording long selections of music you may need to increase the Maximum Non-Silence value to keep your voice board from prematurely ending the recording process.

Maximum Interdigit Delay (secs)

This is the length of time, in seconds, you would like the system to wait before assuming that no more digits will be entered. This setting applies to any time digits are entered, which is most typically in an Access Box. It is unusual to have to increase this setting from its default of 2 seconds.

Prefix Digits

This setting is typically used when your voicemail system will be making outbound calls through a PBX or other phone system which requires digits to be dialed to obtain an outbound line. To have the system always dial prefix digits when dialing out on this line, check this option and enter the prefix digits to be dialed in the Prefix Digits field.

Use Maximum Time for a Call (Mins)

This is a global line setting which sets a maximum length for calls on each line.

If Maximum Time, Goto

This field works in conjunction with the Use Maximum Time for a Call option. If you have established a maximum length for calls on the line, enter in this field the number of the box to which callers will be sent when they exceed the maximum time for a call.

Note: When the amount of time has lapsed on a call, the caller will be sent to the box number you enter here - they will not be disconnected, unless the box you send them to defaults to hang-up.

Transfer Info (submenu)

The Transfer Info button brings up the Per Line Transfer Information window, which is where you define the way that each line will behave when performing transfers. (See Chapter 13 - The Mail Box for more information about setting up transfers.)

On the left-hand side of this window you will see the various types of transfer operations the system can perform. To the right of these transfer operations you will see two columns titled "Internal Transfer" and "External Transfer". For each transfer operation there is an Internal Transfer field and an External Transfer Field. In these fields to the right of each operation you will enter or modify the transfer commands so that transfers can be made successfully from your voicemail system. The characters that can be used in these fields include the following:

! - Flash-Hook (you will need to change this to an ampersand (&) if using   a  2 port voice board)

, - Pause

L - Long Pause

H - Hang Up

To better understand what commands your phone system expects to receive, bypass your voicemail system and hook your phone directly to your phone line. Be aware of the commands you are entering while performing the various transfer commands. In most situations the default settings will work fine, but you may need to make slight modifications depending upon the requirements of your existing phone system.

Use Transfer Bypass Digit

This option allows a caller to your system to bypass the transfer feature and be taken directly to the Mail Box.

Transfer Bypass Digit

If you have checked the Use Transfer Bypass Digit option, you can enter the key that you would like callers to use if they wish to bypass the transfer feature. To use the transfer bypass digit, a caller needs to enter this digit while the system is announcing that a transfer is about to take place.

Note: If you have the digit * used here, you cannot use the * as a key entry in an access box to send a caller to a box.

Call-Progress for Transfer

This option works in conjunction with the Wait for Answer and Wait for Ring transfer options, which are found in the Transfer Information window, which is a submenu of each Mail Box greeting. For you to be able to use the Wait for Answer and Wait for Ring transfer options the Call-Progress for Transfer option must be checked, and your current phone system must be capable of providing standard call progress signals, such as a dialtone, rings, busy signals, etc. If your voicemail system is behind a phone system which cannot provide standard call progress signals you will not be able to use the Wait for Answer and Wait for Ring transfer types.

Check Time for 3-Way Call (mins)

The Check Time for 3-Way Call field allows you to set the amount of time the system will wait before it comes online to ask for touch-tone input for the call to continue. If there is no response the system will end the 3-way call. With this feature you can be sure that the system will not tie up lines unnecessarily for 3-way calls that have ended.

DNIS Auto Transfer Bypass

This section is only applicable if you are using T-1 with DNIS (requires T-1 and CallerID/DNIS module.

 

No Transfer Bypass - This is the default setting which will take the incom