Usage
Page groups allow you to deliver voice announcements to multiple destinations at once. Members of the page group can be users on your phone system as well as external recipients.
If supported by their phones, paging calls will be answered automatically with the speakerphone enabled.
By default, paging is a one-directional communication with the caller speaking and the recipients only listening. But you can enable bi-directional communication for each group separately with the Allow destinations to talk option.
Additional Paging Methods
Besides the Admin Center group paging you can also connect with multiple users by dialing 333 to use the Group Intercom feature. Both methods work the same except that Group Intercom applies to all users connected to the system.
If you need to deliver a one-directional message to a single user you would use the regular intercom feature.
Additionally, the Yealink W73P/W76P/W78P and CP935W phones have a bi-directional group intercom feature to communicate with other DECT handsets/phones registered to the same base station.
Existing Page Groups
The Page Group screen is accessed at Admin Center Menu>Voice Features>Page Groups. It lists the existing groups by name and description. You can check one or several page groups and select to delete them.
Select on the top-right to download a CSV file of existing page groups showing a system ID for the page group, name, and description.
Select to search for a specific page group(s) by name, description, or the system ID from the CSV file.
Adding a New Page Group
Select ADD PAGE GROUP from the top of the Page Groups List screen or from the Voice Features Shortcut menu.
Provide a name for the group and select CREATE. You will be directed to the Page Group Settings screen (see next) to finish setting up the group.
Page Groups Settings and Recipients
Select any page group or create a new one to show its settings and recipient screen. On the top-right you can use the arrows to select the next or previous group without having to go back to the page group list.
General Settings
Name/Description: Self-explanatory. The description is optional.
Request telephones to auto-answer: When toggled on, and if supported on the receiving telephones, the paging call will be answered automatically with the speakerphone enabled. Otherwise, the recipient will get a regular call that they have to pick up.
If there is a mix of phones that support auto-answer and phones that don't, all phones will ring. The phones that support auto-answer will answer automatically, allowing the caller to start talking. The other phones will continue to ring until someone answers manually or the call goes to voicemail.
Play beep to caller: Toggle this on to have the caller who initiated the page call notified with a beep that one or more recipients have answered and he can start speaking.
Allow destinations to talk: Toggle this on to enable bi-directional communication and allow users to talk with the caller and with each other.
Allow destinations to forward calls: Toggle on to let call recipients forward the group call to other users. Routing conflicts can arise if users forward calls to other users in the group, so it is recommended to keep this disabled if possible.
Page Group Recipients
You can edit ( ) or delete () existing recipients in the group or select Add Recipients to add new ones.
When editing or adding a recipient you can select from two types of destinations – Voice features (internal users) or External destinations.
Voice Features
Phone: This allows you to add a phone system user to the page group by selecting an internal phone line.
External Destinations
Forward to number: Enter a regular ten-digit phone number here to add an external recipient to the page group.
Number at peer: In TeleCommunication, a peer is a communication point like a device, server, or a network that can make or receive calls. Peer-to-peer is direct communication between two such points without the assistance of a third server. This protocol allows you to dial internal phone lines on external phone systems even if they don't have a DID numbers.
To add a peer as a page group recipient you need to provide the Number at peer (phone line) and select a Peer (server or network) from the drop-down list.
SIP URI: URI stands for Uniform Resource Identifier (and is similar to the more commonly known URL acronym). It is a way for you to add an external recipient to the group based on his SIP IP and user name. The format to use is similar to an email address username@domain or username@ip address.
Calling Page Groups
While you can dial 333 to use the Group Intercom feature, there isn't a specific Telebroad dial code for page groups.
Instead, to call a page group you need to add it as a destination to an extension, an IVR menu intended for phone system users, or any other Admin Center routing feature.
Assigning a Page Group to an Extension
For an extension, select Page Group (found under Voice Features) in the Route to field under the Routing and Forwarding settings. Select the page group you want to assign to the extension in the Destination field and SAVE your changes.
To make an announcement to the page group any user on the phone system just needs to dial the extension.
Assigning a Page Group to an IVR Menu
For an IVR menu, select Page Group (found under Voice Features) in any of the available keys under the Key Press Options settings. Select the page group you want to assign to the extension in the Destination field and SAVE your changes.
To make an announcement to the page group any user on the phone system just needs to dial the IVR menu and press the key for the group.