*72 Call Forwarding Not Working

show the CLI output when you dial *72 so we can see if the database key is written or not.

I am getting a bunch of cannot connect to mysql database errors. I have actually been getting these for some time.

I actually just realized something. It works on a regular VoIP phone but earlier I was using an analog phone connected to a linksys ATA.

With the linksys ATA, # (pound) is used for the send button. But now that I think about it, after I went through the prompt, it said that the call forwarding was enabled but for some reason when I checked it, it said that it was not and the call forwarding did not take effect.

ok, well on an ATA keep in mind that some of those VSC's arent managed by the PBX. Instead the ATA keeps track of its own settings (similar to a real voip phone with a forward button). This is different than the forward at the extension level.

My advice is to either

a) use the user portal
b) let the ATA manage forwarding and not worry about any of the user portal
c) turn off all the VSC services on the ATA and let the PBX manage them with the VSC's you defined in feature codes

b and c are difficult to try and co-exist

OK. I switched them over to a snom m3 voip phone. I am using the *72 on thirdlane and this time, everything seems to be working. I do a *89 and it says that it is set to forward extension 109 to the phone number I need it to forward to.

The problem is, when I test it, its not forwarding. 109 still rings and the phone number it should forward to does not.

Whats the deal??

I just tested it and if I dial the extension directly, it works but if I call the main number, it does not work even though that extension is rang through the huntlist

huntlists do not pay attention to call forwarding.. thats an illegal operation.. a forward message cancels every other device including all the other phones in the hunt list... this of course resulted in VERY angry people complaining that their ring groups were being hijacked to someone's cell phone and that it was our fault.

theres no reason why a huntlist needs to observe call forwarding.. if the guy isnt at his desk, thats the point of the other people in that hunt list :-). Its already bad enough when a cell phone is put in that 'other numbers to dial' and the VM answers on that cell (because theyre already on 2 calls). Suddenly the other available people in that ring group are helpless to do anything while the caller is redirected to some poor schmucks personal voicemail.

Right. I do not expect the huntlist to observe it. What I want it to do is forward the one extension, exactly like it would if you went into the user portal and entered a number to forward to.

Effectively, it does NOTHING. If I call the extension from another phone in the group, it will forward, otherwise it will not.

How can I do any type of call forwarding that does not involve going into the admin panel/user portal??

Most customers do not have the technological knowhow to mess with the user portal. they want a simple solution like the phone companies have i.e. *72

you can't .. a hunt list will not look for call forwarding database keys. If you call the extension directly (ie invoke tl-userexten-base) then call forwarding works. If you call a phone from a ring group or a queue then all the extension features (forwarding, voicemail, etc) are disabled.

if you are trying to forward calls from ring groups... you're simply not understanding their purpose.

Dial(Phone 1 & Phone 2 & Phone 3) .. this is a ring group

if Phone 1 were to be allowed to forward their phone.. you seem to thinl phone 2 and 3 will still ring.

WRONG.. so sorry... we have some lovely parting gifts for you.

What happens is device 2 and 3 stop ringing immediately and only the forward-to device rings. This creates a MASSIVE backlash of angry customers who insist that their ITSP is screwed up and that their phone numbers are not working. Fortunately this nightmare ended in asterisk 1.4 by the invention of the 'i' option to the Dial application so that it will ignore forwarding information from the phones.

At the same time Queue() also got the benefit of the new 'i' option to stop these ring-group/queue hijacks. Nothing pisses a customer off more than to wait in a queue only to be yanked out and forward to some idiots cell phone who then tells him that he cant help them, he's out of the office and that they need to call back into the companies main number. Actually one thing does piss them off more... it happening THREE times in a row and the 'tard that forwarded their phone not having a clue why it was happening =)

you should instead investigate those follow-me huntlists that populate followme.conf

I see. Thanks for the information. This explains why I've had problems creating a system that will ring my regular phones and my cell at the same time. I know that you can use the Also Dial this # function in the huntlist but that does not forward caller ID.

I digress but my main thing is we have a customer that operates on a 24/7 basis. For them to even be able to travel, they need to forward all of the calls to their cellphones. Sometimes the number they want to forward the call for is different so it was very useful for them to be able to use *72 when they needed to forward calls. They are not very computer literate so getting them to login to user portal and make changes in order to get calls forwarded is out of the question.

It's a shame there is not a feature code that can forward all calls to the incoming DID. I really dont see the point of call forwarding an extension because it seems to me that unless there is one extension per DID, it gets ignored. I wonder if a workaround would be to setup an extension that is set to call forward always (via the user portal) and just forward to that extension.

Is it possible to get rid of the -i option?? because I see how it can be annoying if just one person forwards their extension and now all calls route to them but in this circumstance, when they setup call forwarding for one extension, they do not need any other phones to ring..they just need all the calls to forward to a certain number.

If there is any workaround, I would love to know it because I'm sure this customer is not the only one that would like to be able to forward calls on-the-go, without going into user portal AND without having to set it up in PBX Manager ahead of time.

is it just the did you're concerned with?

perhaps you'd be best served using operator managed routes.. then you can use star-codes to turn on night mode. Your night script could be something customized like go to a user exten instead of calling the ring group.

operator managed routes has 3 modes

day
night
temp

you can define any behavior you want when the pbx is set to this mode. so for night mode you could use a goto user exten that already has forwarding instead of directing it to a huntlist

there is one more 'mode' called any.. its not really a mode.. its a catch-all that can be placed at the bottom of the inbound routes. It saying.. if you get this far.. execute this without condition.

Thats a good idea. Where do you define what conditions validate it being Day Night, Any or Temp???

Obviously its not based on time or it would be Schedule based but where do these operating times get defined??

theres a macro.. so you can set a feature code to set day/night script and then call that feature code to change the setting. Its like a mini-ivr.