Call Queues
A call queue lines callers up and hands each one to the next available agent. It's the heart of a contact centre — technically an ACD. Where a ring group just rings a few phones, a queue holds callers in order, plays hold music, and shares the load fairly.
Creating a queue
- Create a queue and add the agents (extensions) who answer it.
- Pick a distribution strategy — round-robin is the fair default (spread calls evenly).
- Set the hold experience: music-on-hold and periodic comfort messages ("you are caller number 3").
- Set overflow — where callers go if the wait is too long or no agents are logged in.
- Point an inbound route at the queue.
Agents logging in
Agents join and leave a queue with feature codes — dial *46 to log in and *47 to log out — or from the Agent Workspace in the browser. Only logged-in agents receive queue calls, so people can step away for breaks without calls piling onto an empty desk.
Queues respect business-hours rules, so out-of-hours callers get your closed greeting instead of waiting for agents who aren't there.
Watching it live
The live wallboard shows calls waiting, longest wait, and agent status in real time. For the
supervisor tools — listen/whisper/barge and reporting — see the
Call-Center Supervisor section. There's also a
/api/queue-status endpoint if you want to build your own display.
Recording & quality
Queues can auto-record calls for quality and training (with the retention period you set), and those recordings can be transcribed for review.