The Vodia PBX offers enterprises and SMBs the most complete suite of business telephony features for on-prem and cloud telephony systems and services. Vodia gives enterprises more features than any other phone system, including audio conference rooms, auto attendants, voicemails, overhead paging, call forwarding and ring groups.  

What Is a Ring Group?

A ring group, also known as a hunt group, is a feature in business phone systems that directs incoming calls to a pre-defined group of extensions based on a chosen call strategy. Ring strategies can vary: all phones in the group may ring simultaneously, or the system can ring each phone in a specific order (sequential, also known as Round Robin) until it reaches the next person available. This ensures calls are answered quickly and efficiently by an available team member, making it ideal for support teams or departments handling lower call volumes.

How does a Ring Group Differ from a Call Queue?

In a ring group, callers are immediately routed, rather than lined up, making it an ideal setup for managing low-volume call groups, as it ensures minimal wait times while improving accessibility and flexibility for handling inbound calls efficiently.

Ring Group Stages

With a ring group, calls are distributed in stages, with each stage usually comprising a number of extensions. The first stage is when the call enters the system (when the bell tolls). In the next stage, the PBX ceases calling extensions that aren’t present and adds new extensions - this escalates the call to reach more ring group members until the call is answered. If the call remains unanswered, the final stage is either auto attendant or a mailbox or, if so desired, an internal or external phone number.

Ring group extension numbers are arranged in the aforementioned stages, with each stage configured to signal for a set period of time before escalating to the next stage. You can set the number of seconds for which each stage will ring. Many companies use a ring group as the main office number, with receptionists and admin assistants, etc., at different stages. Every Vodia ring group supports a total of four stages, three escalating stages and the final stage.

Enhancing Voice Communication with VoIP Ring Groups

How else can Vodia ring groups improve your organization’s telephone communication?

• Call waiting on extensions: The ring group can skip members of the ring groups that are already in a call.
• CRM account: With CRM integration, the system associates a call to a ring group with an account on the company’s CRM - no agent takes the call (for example, in the case of a missed call).
• Daily CDR report: Our PBX provides you with daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly email reports - whichever you prefer - about the activity of a particular ring group. More information about these reports is available in our call reports documentation.
• Missed call emails: The Vodia PBX sends emails to specified email addresses when calls are missed.
• Music on hold: You can select hold music for each ring group.
• Page incoming calls: The Vodia PBX can announce the call on a paging group when the call enters the ring group.
• Record incoming calls to ring groups: Once enabled, the Vodia phone system will record all of the calls entering the ring group.
• Ring melody: You can configure each ring group with a different melody (interoperability of the phones permitting), which helps your team determine which ring group is calling. To use custom ringtones, please review our custom ringtones documentation.
• Ringback source: The system will by default use the ringback file to indicate the group is attempting to reach an agent.  

This is just a short list of some of what the Vodia phone system ring group feature can contribute to your voice communications. If you’re a Vodia user, and you want to add and configure ring groups, check out our comprehensive documentation. If you’re not a Vodia user, you should be - get in touch with us and we’ll explain why, sales@vodia.com, +1 (617) 861-3490.

About Vodia

Vodia Networks, Inc. is a pioneering provider of B2B Cloud Communications Solutions catering to enterprises, contact centers and service providers. Vodia's PBX software boasts an extensive suite of business telephony features for on-premise and cloud-based systems and operates seamlessly across Windows, Linux or Mac platforms. Fully compliant with SIP industry standards, the Vodia phone system integrates effortlessly with a wide range of SIP-based devices and trunking providers, granting ultimate freedom in telephony. Vodia’s multi-tenancy platforms are compatible with an unprecedented number of technologies, including desk phones, softphones and APIs, for myriad third-party software and CRM systems. Our mission is to empower our partners and end-users with the world's best cloud PBX and personalized support to ensure their success at every turn. Our US headquarters are in Boston and our European headquarters are in Berlin; we also maintain offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, Nicosia (Cyprus) and Sydney, Australia. Visit Vodia on LinkedIn, X and YouTube.