What is a Call Queue?

A call queue places callers on hold while waiting for their call to be answered by an available agent. Agents are the extensions added to the call queue for calls to be dispatched to. The type of call queue will determine the way a call is dispatched.
 

What are the types of Call Queues?

6 different types of call queues can be created on the CallHarbor phone system: Round Robin, Tiered Round-Robin, Ring All, Linear Hunt, Linear Cascade, and Call Park.

For call queue example photos:

Round Robin

Calls are dispatched based on which extension has the longest idle time. The order that agents receive calls cannot be set, as the longest idle agent will always receive the call, updating who is now the longest idle agent. An agent timeout is set to determine how long to ring an agent before moving to the next. All agents can have a chance to receive the call if queue timeout = agent timeout* number of agents. If the queue timeout < agent timeout * number of agents, then all agents will not have a chance to receive the call.

Tiered Round Robin

Calls are dispatched based on which extension has the longest idle time in their group. While the order that agents receive calls cannot be set, agents can be given a group number that determines when their extension is included for the round robin. An agent timeout is set to determine how long to ring an agent before moving to the next. All agents can have a chance to receive the call if queue timeout = agent timeout* number of agents. If the queue timeout < agent timeout * number of agents, then all agents will not have a chance to receive the call.

Ring All

Calls are dispatched to all available agents. When the call is answered, the other agents will stop ringing and become available for the next call.

Linear Hunt

Calls are dispatched to the first available agent in a group and will ring for a defined amount of time before moving to the next available agent in the first group. Once all agents in the first group have been rung, it will then move onto the first available agent in the second group, and so on, until the call is answered or it reaches the queue timeout. All agents can have a chance to receive the call if queue timeout = agent timeout* number of agents. If the queue timeout < agent timeout * number of agents, then all agents will not have a chance to receive the call.

Linear Cascade

Calls are dispatched to groups of agents. The linear cascade differs from the linear hunt because a call is sent to all agents in the first group, then after a defined amount of time, the second group receives the call as well, and so on through all groups until the call is answered or it reaches the queue timeout. All groups can have a chance to receive the call if queue timeout = agent timeout* number of groups. If the queue timeout < agent timeout * number of groups, then all groups will not have a chance to receive the call.

Call Park

Call Parks are the only call queue that does not dispatch the call to another extension. Instead, Call Parks can be thought of as parking lots for calls. A call park will have an extension number in the range 700-799 / 7000-7999 and can be dialed from any phone in the CallHarbor phone system. A caller is placed into a call park by dialing the extension or using a Park button. This allows for a caller to be placed on hold on a separate extension rather than being attached to the phone placing the hold. A call park is useful for call transfers that cannot be answered at that moment or when another phone needs to be used for the call, but you do not know which extension will be used.