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8x8 Support

What is a Ring Group and what can I do with it?

Applies To

  • 8x8 Admin Console
  • Ring Group

Answer

A Ring Group is a feature that allows you to have multiple phones ring when one extension or number is dialed. It’s a great way for a business to share the distribution of incoming calls among employees. It is often used to efficiently distribute calls to specific departments such as Sales, Customer Support and Accounting.

Ring groups allow your employees to be more productive and help decrease customer hold time. If all of the users assigned to a ring group are unavailable, you have forwarding options such as routing the call to the ring group’s voicemail box or transferring the call to another extension.

The Ring Group feature is provided free of charge with your 8x8 Work service.

Some examples of how a business can use ring groups:

  • Small business with 4 employees – Set up a ring group to include all four employees. When a call comes in, you could have all four extensions ring simultaneously so whoever picks up first takes the call. Or set up the ring group so the phones ring in a specific order to better distribute the workload.
  • Larger business – Set up a Ring Group for your sales team. When a call comes into your sales number, you can set it up to ring the sales reps in a certain order so they each get a turn to answer incoming calls. Or set it up so all the phones in the group ring simultaneously so whoever answer the phone fastest gets the sale!
  • Multiple Departments – If you have multiple departments in your company, use ring groups to simplify transferring calls. Set up ring groups for Sales, Technical Support, Shipping, etc. Then you can either set up your Auto Attendant to route calls to these ring groups (e.g., "Press 1 for Sales," "Press 2 for Technical Support," etc.) or you can have the receptionist transfer live calls to the appropriate ring group instead of calling multiple extensions to find a live person to take the call.

Each Ring Group can have any type of number assigned to it. The number can be a virtual numbertoll-free number, the main company number, or any other number in your system. It can also be answered by the auto attendant or by another extension.

Enterprise-class services like Ring Groups can help take your business to the next level by improving employee efficiency and delivering better customer service.

Selecting the Right Ring Pattern

When a call comes into a ring group, you can choose how that call will be distributed. You can select from three-ring patterns to configure your Ring Group.

  • Round Robin (Cyclic): A Cyclic pattern allows an equal distribution of calls, making sure all extensions in the Ring Group assist in answering the calls. You can set the number of times the call cycles through the extensions before sending it to voicemail.
    • Example: For a 3-line Ring Group, the first call rings ext. 101 (no answer), then ext. 102 (answered). Second call rings ext. 103 (no answer), then ext. 101 (answered).
  • Sequential (Cyclic Repetitive): A Cyclic Repetitive pattern allows calls to be distributed among all extensions in the group in the order that the extensions are entered. You can set the number of times the call cycles through the extensions before sending it to voicemail.
    • Example: For a 3-line Ring Group, the first call rings ext. 101 (no answer), then ext. 102 (answered). Second call rings ext. 101 (answered). Third call rings ext. 101 (no answer), then ext. 102 (no answer), then ext. 103 (answered).
  • Simultaneous: The Simultaneous pattern rings all extensions at the same time when a call is received. The first extension to pick up the phone will answer the call. 
Note-Icon.png Note: Once the call is picked up, all other extensions in the Ring Group will display a missed call.