Users in multiple call queues - simultaneous ringing, not very practical?

[DanNewton]

Hi All,

We have discovered in the scenario of adding users to multiple call queues that if those queues have calls waiting, the users will receive simultaneous calls from each queue once they become "available" (using presence based routing with round robin and/or longest idle).

From the users perspective this seems impractical - especially if they are attached to several busy call queues and therefore are being offered simultaneous calls repeatedly upon entering "available" status. The simultaneous calls also continue to ring briefly after the user has answered a call and therefore create some difficulty hearing the call they answered.

I haven't encountered another telephony solution that behaves in this way by default (or at least without an option to customise this) and can't imagine this would be desirable for most use cases. Typically a user would only ever be presented with a single call at any given time.

Is anyone aware of a solution or way to mitigate this? We have tried busy on busy etc but this only works after the call has been answered, not before. I also have a ticket open with Microsoft Support to discuss although they are indicating this is "expected behavior".

[#2]

@DanNewton Hi! Just wondering if you found a solution or workaround for this? I am having a similar issue. I'm trying to manage several call queues for the same agents

We manage calls for multiple companies so need to see the incoming call route in order to answer it correctly, and dedicated call queues seems to be the only way to do this via Direct Routing

Thanks

Andy

[#3]

@Andy_J_R 

Andy,

Your scenario and reason for using CQ's sounds identical to ours, I'm afraid the below was the final update from Microsoft on this:

Thank you for the feedback. I've with our our Subject matter expert that the it is a normal behavior for the call queue, The options that you can see from the Teams Admin Center are the only once we can use and those settings are set in each call queue and behaves independently which there is a tendency that he process flow runs simultaneously.

Teams is not yet built with complex call routing features we can find in a PABX, and other VOIP telephony system.

---

This is disappointing because I don't feel like this is a particularly groundbreaking request or even "complex call routing" - most solutions out of the box won't offer an agent multiple calls at the same time.

I ended up raising a user voice request at https://microsoftteams.uservoice.com/forums/555103-public/suggestions/42728477-synchronised-routing-... which I'm afraid dosen't have much traction.

[#4]

Hi Dan

Thanks for the update and Ms' response. I agree in that it doesn't seem to be a very novel idea or complex call routing requirement! Presenting one call at a time seems basic...

[#5]

@Andy_J_R Hi Andy, its only been a short space of time but I was wondering if you managed to find a solution or workaround?

We are picking up the conversation around this again but the multiple calls ringing at the same time scenario is coming up as a hurdle as there's a solid requirement to have agents in multiple busy call queues - I am curious how others are dealing with this.

[#6]

@DanNewton Hi Dan

I spent weeks escalating this through Microsoft Support but ultimately reached the answer that it's normal behaviour for Teams NOT to send a 486 code (Busy Here) response when the user's status is set to Busy under a Direct Routing configuration.

I had read some forums that suggested it was simply a translation issue (a "busy" code was being sent back to the SBC, but the SBC was expecting it in a different format so a it needed to be translated for the SBC to handle it properly), however going from the testing scenarios that I ran and the logs, this doesn't seem to be the case. This was confirmed by the telecoms company on the SBC side also.

In terms of a workaround... I am now unrolling Ms Teams Voice and moving over to another platform (either 3CX or Horizon) which comes in at a roughly similar per-user cost with far better features and resiliance.

Probably not the answer you were hoping for!

Andy

[#7]

@Andy_J_R  Thanks definitely not the answer I hoped for! - oddly we are using MS calling plans for our testing (without direct routing) and still experience this issue. Microsoft told us it was because each call queue acts independently from the other which I imagine means when a user attached to multiple queues goes "available" each call queue is seeing a green light to send a call through hence the multiple ringing scenario.

Back to the drawing board!

[#8]

@DanNewton Did you ever come up with a solution for this issue?  We just moved our queues and are experiencing this issue now as well.

[#9]

@Kristin_BelangerI'm afraid not, we ultimately invested in a Teams certified contact centre solution to handle call routing properly with users in multiple queues.

It's a real shame the native functionality can't handle this very basic scenario.