This article provides information about using shared lines in the Sky phone system.
Table of Contents
Overview
Requirements
Adding Shared Lines
Limitations
Known Issue
Overview
The Shared Lines feature of the Sky phone system provides a way for users of two different phone numbers (in the same account) to share answering inbound calls, placing outbound calls, and viewing the status of each other's shared lines. This feature, also referred to as Shared Line Appearances, provides the following functionality:
- View the status of phone lines shared with other users from your own phone screen
- Place outbound calls using your own phone that appear to originate from another phone number
- Answer inbound calls to another phone number using your own phone
The use of Shared Lines allows a set of extensions or Direct Inward Dial (DID) numbers to appear on a phone in addition to the phone's primary number. When adding a Shared Line to a phone number, all lines other than the first two (primary) lines can be shared with any line number on another phone.
A practical application of Shared Lines is to enable assistants to use their own phone to place outbound calls from their manager's phone and/or answer inbound calls to their manager's phone. If a line on an assistant's phone is shared with a manager's phone, the assistant will see the manager's line and the assistant's own primary lines. The "Line Behavior" setting determines whether a shared line can answer and place calls via the "Open Line" setting or only answer calls via the "Pickup Only" setting.
The following list shows what happens during inbound and outbound calls when line 1 on a Manager's phone has been shared from line 3 on an Assistant's phone:
- When an inbound call rings line 1 on the Manager's phone, line 3 on the Assistant's phone also rings, and either the Assistant's phone or the Manager's phone can answer the call. The person making the call only knows that the call was made to the Manager's phone number.
- When line 3 on the Assistant's phone is used to place an outbound call, the call appears to the party being called to originate from line 1 on the Manager's phone. Additionally, line 1 on the Manager's phone shows the status of that call.
- When line 1 on the Manager's phone is used to place an outbound call, line 3 on the Assistant's phone shows the status of that call.
Note: Shared Line Appearances (SLA) are also known in other phone systems as Shared Call Appearances (SCA), Bridged Call Appearances (BCA), and Bridged Line Appearances (BLA).
Requirements
- To access shared lines, a managed profile is required for both of the phones that have lines being shared.
Adding Shared Lines
Authorized Contacts (Decision Makers and account-level Phone Managers) can add and manage shared lines for their users. For complete instructions, see the "Adding Shared Lines" section of the Line Button Management article.
Limitations
- When dialing outbound with a shared line, the phone being used follows its own Class of Service restrictions.
- When dialing outbound with a shared line, the Caller ID is of the shared line, not of the phone being used.
- If a shared line is in Do Not Disturb (DND) mode, calls to the shared line cannot be answered.
- Shared Lines on IP 400 series phones always play a "Normal" ringtone, even when the Ring Pattern is set to "Silent" or "Distinct."
- Lines cannot be shared between IP 400 series phones and Cisco 7900 series phones.
- Shared Lines do not work with Cisco 2 button phones (models 7940G, 7941G, 7942G, and 7945G).
- Shared Lines do not work with Polycom IP 6000 conference phones.
- Shared Lines are not supported with Sky for Salesforce.
- Shared Lines are not supported on Courtesy Profiles. If a Shared Line is needed on a Courtesy Profile, the profile will first need to be upgraded to a Full Managed Profile.
Known Issue
When an incoming call (from outside of a company's phone system) rings a phone that has a line shared with another phone, if the call is answered by the other phone, the caller ID of the incoming call is displayed only on the phone answering the call. The phone that was called displays the caller ID of the shared phone that answered the call instead of the incoming call. This issue is a known defect that will be resolved in a future release.
