Call queues
A queue holds callers when nobody is free, keeps them informed while they wait, and distributes them to agents by strategy — with callbacks as an escape hatch for callers who'd rather not hold.
Creating a queue
Admin → Call Distribution → Add Queue. Set the virtual extension (fixed once created), name, and on the Users tab add agents (who take calls) and supervisors (who receive the queue's email notifications and typically watch it on the operator panel).
Agents, login/logout and wrap-up
Queues only ring logged-in agents. Agents log in and out from the web client, by dial code from any phone (see dial codes), or via a provisioned Agent Login key on their desk phone. After each call, wrap-up time (default 2 seconds, up to 600) holds new queue calls off the agent so there's room to finish notes.
Every log-in is recorded whichever way it was made, and Admin → Reports → Agent Login History shows each spell on duty: who, when they logged in, when they logged out and how long that was. A session still running shows no logout time; one that ended because the phone system became unreachable says so, rather than counting the outage as time on duty.
Distribution strategies
The polling strategy decides who rings:
| Strategy | Behavior |
|---|---|
| Ring All (default) | Everyone free rings at once |
| Hunt | Fixed order, always starting from the top of the agent list |
| Hunt Random Start | A random agent each time |
| Next Agent | Round-robin — carries on from whoever was tried last |
| Longest Waiting | Whoever has been idle longest |
| Least Talk Time / Fewest Answered | Balance by load rather than idleness |
| Hunt by 3s | Rings the first agent, then adds the next every ten seconds until someone answers |
Ring time (default 30 seconds) bounds each attempt before the strategy moves on.
Ring time and wrap-up time belong to the agent, not the queue. The phone system keeps one value of each per agent, so someone who serves several queues gets the longest ring time and the longest wrap-up time among them. If two queues need genuinely different values, give them different agents.
What callers hear
The Options tab controls the caller experience: hold music, an intro prompt played in full before agents ring, and a periodic comfort prompt — pick the recording and how often it repeats. All the audio is replaceable per queue, drawn from the shared audio prompts and music on hold libraries.
Queue callbacks
Instead of holding, a caller can ask to be called back. They go into the queue as usual, and pressing 1 or 2 at any point while they wait books the callback, confirms it and ends the call. Offer the callback decides how they find out:
- When the caller presses 1 or 2 — nothing is announced, so say "press 2 to be called back" in your intro or comfort prompt.
- Announce it while they wait — your callback announcement plays over the music on the queue's announcement interval, starting after the first interval (after the caller's position, if that is announced too).
- Automatically when the wait runs out — a caller still waiting when Max queue wait runs out is booked for a callback instead of going to the no-answer destination.
The system then dials the caller back over your trunks (optionally with an outbound prefix) once an agent is free, and puts them through.
Give up after bounds how long a booked callback stays worth placing — a caller who asked at nine in the morning does not want the phone ringing at four in the afternoon. Set it to 0 to keep trying. The queue's supervisors and agents, plus any additional recipients you list, are emailed when a callback is placed or finally fails.
Each callback's real outcome is tracked — whether the customer actually answered (and how long it rang) or didn't answer, distinct from a callback that couldn't be placed at all. The Queue Callbacks and Queue Failed Callbacks reports (Admin → Reports) show this, so "we called them back" isn't mistaken for "we reached them".
Timeouts and overflow
Max queue wait (default 30 minutes) caps how long anyone holds; max callers caps how many people may be waiting at once (0 = unlimited; callers already talking to an agent don't count). A caller who arrives at the cap never enters the queue — no intro, no hold — and goes straight to the overflow destination. Tick Priority Queue and agents shared with other queues are offered this queue's callers first. When either limit trips — or outside office hours, which queues honor with their own closed/break/holiday overrides — the call goes to the no-answer/overflow destination: extension, voicemail, another queue, IVR or an external number.
Service level and supervision
Set an SLA time (answer-within-N-seconds) and the queue tracks it: reports and the wallboard show live SLA, waiting, answered/abandoned and agent states. Live supervision — listen, whisper, barge — happens from the operator panel, governed by group permissions. Recording is set per user, not per queue.
Queue changes take effect immediately — creating, editing or deleting a queue updates the running call-center engine; there is no restart to schedule.