Group Paging for BT Cloud Voice and how to use it

What is Group paging?

With Group Paging for Cloud Voice, you can make an announcement out loud on every phone in a group. Group Paging is useful as you can let everybody know something at the same time, rather than tell them individually. This differs to the ‘Push-to-Talk’ feature, which is just one-to-one messaging. Group paging is one-to-many.

• How to set up Group Paging for Cloud Voice

  1. Sign in to the BT Cloud Voice Business portal
  2. Select your Site from the dashboard.
     
  3. Select Features on the left.
     
  4. In the Group paging tile, click on the settings icon.
     
  5. Select Add paging group.
     
  6. Enter all the required details. When setting up the calling line ID, this is what will be displayed on the users device when they receive an incoming call.
  7. If you’re using a BT Cloud Voice device, to use this feature, you can select No number and use an extension. 
     If you’re not using a BT Cloud Voice device, you’ll  need to select a phone number.
  8. Click Continue.
     
  9. From the drop-down menu, select how long the delay should be before the first Target answers and the Originator is advised to start speaking.
     
  10. If you prefer to show the Originator’s caller ID, instead of the paging calling ID, tick the box. You can also set a caller ID prefix, so users will know this is an announcement rather than an incoming call.
      
  11. Click Save.
      

  
  You've set up the first part of Group Paging for Cloud Voice.

  
  You now need to add Originators who are the people who can make announcements to the group, and also Targets who are the people who receive the Group Paging announcements.
  
  

• How to Manage Originators for Group Paging:

  1. Sign in to the BT Cloud Voice Business portal
  2. Select your Site from the dashboard.
     
  3. Select Features on the left.
  4. In the Group paging tile, click on the settings icon.
  5. Select your paging group.
  6. Select Originators.
  7. Click Manage.
  8. From the drop-down menu you can select users to add them to the group.
  9. To remove users from the group, simply click the red symbol beside the user's name.
  10. Click Save.
      

   

• How to Manage Targets for Group Paging:

  1. Sign in to the BT Cloud Voice Business portal
  2. Select your Site from the dashboard.
     
  3. Select Features on the left.
  4. In the Group paging tile, click on the settings icon.
  5. Select your paging group.
  6. Select Targets.
  7. Click Manage.
  8. From the drop-down menu you can select users to add them to the group.
     
  9. To remove users from the group, simply click the red symbol beside the user's name.
  10. Select Save
      

   

• How to use Group Paging:

  1. The Originator dials the Group Paging’s extension or telephone number.
     

  2. The Group Paging attempts to deliver the call to all Targets. During this, ring back is played to the Originator.

  3. A paging announcement is played to the Targets. 
     Target devices that don’t have the ability to auto-answer, can be answered manually. 
     Calls to Targets that remain unanswered after the confirmation tone timeout expires, are cancelled.

  4. After all the Targets answer, or the configurable timeout expires, ring back stops and a ‘Paging System Ready’ announcement is played to the Originator.
     

  5. The Originator can then talk, while the Targets are muted.
     A Target can answer another call during the Originator announcement, they’ll simply get dropped from the announcement call.

  6. The announcement ends when the Originator terminates it. All Targets are then released or all Targets reject the announcement.   
     

A User can be both an Originator and a Target in the same paging group.  A User can also be an Originator in multiple paging groups.