As an alternative to using an in-house paging system, you can broadcast a message to a group of phones in your MiCloud phone system using the paging groups feature. This feature allows you to designate a group of extensions that can be paged by dialing a single system extension and recording a message. This feature can be a cost-effective alternative for environments that do not already have an overhead paging system installed.
If you do not have an overhead paging system, you can instead set up a paging group using your desk phones. Paging groups can be used to target your message to a select group of individuals within the organization while not exposing the message to everyone in an area (ATAs cannot be included in a paging group).
NOTE: In order for a user to have access to paging functionality, the user must be assigned to a user group with the Allow Paging telephony setting enabled. For more information about enabling Allow Paging for a user group, see Managing User Groups.
Users are added to a paging group using an extension list. Users are added to the extension list and then the extension list is associated with a paging group. For information about creating extension lists, see Configuring Extension Lists.
NOTE: It is recommended that paging groups contain no more than 12 members due to the large amount of bandwidth required. It is possible to extend the number of paging group members to 25; paging groups containing more than 25 members are not supported. This limit is not currently enforced in MiCloud, however, the limit will be enforced in the future.
To configure a paging group:
- Log in to the Account Portal.
- On the Phone System menu, click Visual Call Flow Editor.
- Do one of the following:
- To edit an existing paging group, click the name of the paging group in the list, and then click Edit on the toolbar.
- To create a copy of an existing paging group, click the name of the paging group in the list, and then click Copy on the toolbar.
- To create a new paging group, click Add on the toolbar, and then click Paging Group.
The parameters for the new or existing paging group are displayed in the Editor Panel.
- Specify the values as appropriate. (For more information about the paging group parameters, see the Paging Groups Parameters table.)
- Click Finish (located below the interactive diagram).
Paging Groups Parameters| Column Name | Description |
| Name | Specifies the name of the paging group. |
| Extension | Specifies the extension number for the paging group; this field populates automatically with the next available extension on your account.
NOTE: When the paging group configuration is saved, a programming profile is created automatically using the entered extension. |
| Make extension private | Select this check box to remove this extension from the system directory. |
| Location | Specifies the location that the programming profile for the paging group is assigned to. |
| Include in System Dial by Name directory | Select this check box if you want the paging group to be included in the auto attendant’s dial-by-name directory.
NOTE: No name is recorded for a paging group. When a paging group is chosen, the extension is announced by a generic message. |
| Enable priority paging | Select this check box to enable priority group paging.
For more information about priority group paging, see Priority Paging. |
| Deliver group page via | Select one of the following options to specify the phone output to use to play the paging message.
- Speakerphone plays the paging message on the phone’s speaker.
- Active audio path plays the paging message on the active media source, such as a headset or handset.
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| Extension list | In the drop-down list, select the extension list to associate with this paging group. All extensions in this extension list will receive pages sent to this paging group.
For information about configuring extension lists, see Configuring Extension Lists. |
| No answer number of rings | Specifies the number of times to ring an extension before ending the call. |
| Group paging synchronization delay | Specifies the amount of time the server waits to connect to all extensions in the paging group prior to sending the paging message to the phones.
A synchronization delay reduces the perception of audio echo when paging large groups of phones. |
Priority Paging
Many organizations rely on paging for critical communications with their employees. However, paging messages that are sent to an IP phone typically appear as normal or non-urgent calls when the phone is in use. In these instances, the individual using the phone has no indication of the priority of the page. Because of this, there is no guarantee that the individual will suspend the current call to listen to the message being delivered.
NOTE: When priority paging is enabled, recipients of a paging message hear the audio of the page whether or not they are on a call. If the intended recipient is on an active call, that call is automatically placed on hold before the page is played. When the page completes, the call automatically resumes.
Normally, a user can press Hold/Transfer/Conference to end a page call. When priority paging is enabled for a paging group, the system does not allow a user to end a page call in this way and the operation is ignored.
