FreePBX ring groups

Choose a group only for a bounded shared-answer job

A ring group sends one call to a fixed list of extensions or dialable destinations. It fits a small team that shares an answering duty without agent login, caller waiting treatment or queue reporting. Use a queue when those controls are required. Name the group owner, member source, calling window and no-answer owner before selecting a strategy.

Sangoma's detailed field guide explicitly says it was updated for PBX GUI version 13. Its strategy and call-treatment semantics are useful evidence, but its screenshots, field order and exact labels are not presented here as a FreePBX 17 interface map. Confirm the installed Ring Groups module version and loaded behavior on the target system.

Map strategy and time before adding members

The documented strategies do materially different work. ringall presents available channels together. hunt advances one member at a time. memoryhunt adds members cumulatively. A -prim variant gives the first listed extension special control: an occupied or DND primary can send the caller directly to the no-answer destination, while unconditional forwarding has different behavior. firstunavailable, firstnotonphone and random solve narrower selection jobs.

Ring Time is not necessarily the caller's total elapsed ringing. Sangoma documents it as the time for each iteration of hunt-style strategies, so several iterations can multiply the caller's wait. Record the expected iteration count, announcement duration, ring or music-on-hold treatment and final-destination handoff; test the resulting end-to-end timer rather than reading one field as a total-call limit.

Preserve the meaning of each member entry

A plain extension and an entry suffixed with # are different dial paths. Sangoma documents # for remote extensions, external numbers, Follow Me, queues and other non-extension destinations. A plain extension does not invoke the user's Follow Me. Do not add or remove the suffix merely to make a member ring: it can introduce outbound-route use, caller-ID policy, mobile voicemail and a different failure domain.

Keep member order, exact entry, expected dialplan destination and authorization owner in the change record. Submit and Apply Config are configuration stages, not proof that the generated branch loaded or that a call reached it. When one member is missing, use the ring-group member investigation before changing every member or strategy.

Separate busy, forwarding and pickup policy

Ignore CF Settings, Skip Busy Agent and the selected strategy do not express one generic availability rule. Ignoring call forwarding is documented for CF, CFU and CFB on ordinary extension entries, while a # destination may not honor it. Skip Busy Agent prevents an occupied device from receiving the group call, including a call-waiting or multiline phone that could otherwise accept it. Directed pickup through the group number is a separate control.

Test an idle member, an occupied member with and without call waiting, DND, unconditional forwarding, unavailable forwarding and a # destination. Preserve the received branch, device or contact state and final caller outcome. A skipped channel, busy response, absent contact, forwarded attempt and cancelled fork after another answer are different results.

Protect external answers and caller treatment

An external mobile or remote destination can answer through voicemail before a person does. Sangoma documents Confirm Calls as a ringall-only control that requires the remote party to press 1 before the call is connected. Remote Announce and Too-Late Announce depend on that confirmation flow. Confirmation is therefore not a universal mobile-member control and must be tested with the exact strategy, outbound route, DTMF path and destination.

Caller announcement, music on hold, CID name prefix, Alert-Info, supported-device volume override, SIP 183 progress, Mark Answered Elsewhere and external caller-ID modes are separate caller or device treatments. A provisional response is not answer, accepted confirmation is not usable audio, and Answered Elsewhere depends on device support. Confirm recording policy and legal notice separately from the group's ability to connect a call.

Prove every terminal path and retain rollback

Call from an external test number with members idle, busy, in DND, unreachable and unanswered. Confirm which strategy branch ran, which members received signaling, what the caller heard, whether external confirmation worked, which identity was presented and where the no-answer destination landed. The documented final destination also receives calls when a -prim rule prevents the group from ringing; test that path explicitly.

Keep the previous member list, order, strategy, timer, forwarding policy, caller treatment, recording choice and no-answer destination. A saved form, successful Apply Config, generated dialplan, loaded runtime and completed caller path are separate acceptance stages. No PBX, module, dialplan, extension, external destination, DTMF sequence, caller-ID path, recording or live call was tested for this guide.

Choose extension-owned Follow Me or group-owned membership

Use Follow Me when one extension owns the primary ring, ordered alternatives and final destination. Keep Ring Groups for shared membership; copying an external number or confirmation setting between them does not preserve the same timers, forwarding semantics or owner.

Keep ring-group caller treatment separate from member alerting

A ring group's music-on-hold category controls caller treatment while members are offered according to the group policy. It does not prove that a member rang, answered or returned the caller from hold.

Prevent remote voicemail from winning the group

When an external member or Follow Me path answers before a person, use the voicemail-or-wrong-member diagnostic. It separates remote answer supervision, ringall-only call confirmation, DTMF acceptance, branch cancellation and the final bridge.