Summary: The Sample Extension Web-Management Page Gives a Quick Overview of a Typical Virtual PBX® Extension and How It Works
All settings are only changed after the Submit button at the bottom has been clicked.
PASSWORDS: Once inside the Extension Web-Management Page the passwords may be changed.
EXTENSION OPTIONS may be checked ON or OFF: "Screen calls" requires the caller to speak his name. "Follow-me calling" automatically tries the stored numbers one after another. "Unavailable" means that all calls go directly to Voice Mail.
DTMF DIRECTORY LISTING: The numbers correspond to the letters of the extension owner's name on a telephone keyboard. They may be changed by simply typing in new numbers.
AUTOMATIC CALL DISTRIBUTION (ACD) QUEUES (Sales, Tech Support, etc.) may be checked LOGGED IN or LOGGED OUT: The web interface allows employees to log in or out of a Sales, Tech Support, etc. queue by checking the corresponding boxes. Any number of employees can log into a queue and take calls on a round-robin basis.
The contact phone numbers are the numbers that the Virtual PBX® calls to reach the extension owner. The DEFAULT number is called first. The other numbers are then tried in the order listed. If there is no answer at any number, the caller is sent to Voice Mail.
Phone numbers can be changed by simply typing a new number into the web interface.
The stored numbers are those of up to two fax machines. The Virtual PBX® automatically listens for fax tones when a call is received. Thus the company main number and the fax number can be the same. A fax may be sent to an extension if desired (Fax Mail). If a fax is simply sent to the main number (i.e. the sender places the fax in the machine, dials the main number, and presses Start), the fax goes to the operator extension. Whoever is the operator may direct the fax to his new-message Fax-Mail folder (Direct Connect Disabled button), transmit it to the DEFAULT fax machine and store it in the new-Fax-Mail folder, or transmit it to the DEFAULT fax machine and store it in the deleted folder. Since faxes in the deleted folder remain there for one week, it will not be lost. Thus the last option is the easiest way to handle faxes. Each fax has a unique ID so that the operator can view a fax and then retransmit it to another extension if desired.
An extension owner can be notified of new Virtual PBX® Voice or Fax Mail via a pager or via email (see below). The pager can be a standard pager, any telephone, or a digital cell phone which has been set to page without ringing. The "Play descriptive message" box would be checked if an ordinary telephone without paging is used as a substitute pager.
The example shows how a digital cell phone may be set up to be paged without ringing the phone, i.e. it may act just like a standard pager (numeric messaging). The example is for the service provider Verizon, but most other service providers have this feature (notable exceptions: Sprint PCS and Cingular (Pac Bell) GSM, but both of these send email to the cell phone).
For those who do not wish to try this on their own, VirtualPBX.com's technical support staff is always ready to help you setup your digital cell phone voice mail to also double as a pager.
In the example the first number, 14155156300, is Verizon's San-Francisco Voice-Mail number. It is the "back door" into their system (i.e. Voice Mail is contacted directly rather than by calling a cell phone which does not answer and then landing in Verizon's Voice Mail). For customers in other areas, it is necessary to call the cell-phone service provider and ask for the back-door number to the Voice Mail.
"x" is a special Virtual PBX® feature called "Wait For Answer", i.e. no more digits in the stored string are sent until Verizon's Voice Mail has answered.
4157678349 is the number of the cell phone. (Verizon must know where to send the page.) The five commas are one-second pauses each which give the Verizon system "breathing room" and may or may not be needed for other service provicers. The "5" is a menu item from Verizon that tells them that a numeric page is coming. The "z" is a special Virtual PBX® character called "After Paging". It tells the Virtual PBX® that more digits are coming after the page. It is necessary because Verizon requires #,,1 after a numberic message to send it. Verizon is in the process of chaging its Voice Mail. In parts of the country where this change is not yet in effect, the old scheme is "14155156300x4157678349,,1z#,,#".
If the "EP" box has been checked, the extension owner is notified of new Voice or Fax Mail via his email. The email can either be sent to a computer on an employee's desk to his digital or PCS cell phone. Email to a cell phone is rapidly becoming the most popular notification choice. It requires that an email account be set up with the cell phone service provider; but once this is done, one needs only to enter the cell phone's email address, check EP, and click Submit. The example shows email to a Verizon digital cell phone.
Verizon customers have two choices for the cell phone's email address: [account_name]@myvzw.com or [cell_phone_number]@myvzw.com. Both of these have the same effect. It is not the email itself which is sent to the phone, but rather an Alert that a new email has arrived at the cell-phone owner's personal myvzw.com web page. The Alert also contains the subject line. Since the type of message (Voice or Fax) is contained in the subject, there is no need to go to the web page to read the message, unless it is desired to have the caller's phone number. The caller's number is also on the list which can be reached from the Extension Web-Management page by clicking on the number in the message boxes at the bottom. (Try this when you return to the Sample Extension Web-Management page.) VirtualPBX.com has no interest in Verizon. It is only used as an example because I have a Verizon CDMA 850 MHz digital cell phone, and I can be sure that this information is correct.
If desired, messages may be automatically forwarded depending on which box is checked.
Clicking on the Message-Summary numbers will automatically open a page showing a list of the messages and their envelope information.
The "Submit" button must be clicked to send any desired changes to the Virtual PBX® system.
