Call Parking Overview

Call parking gives you a flexible way to put a call on hold. Instead of tying the call to one phone, Cloud Voice holds it on a shared number that any extension can dial to take over the conversation. This page explains the concepts behind call parking: the parking number, the available parking types, what happens when a parked call times out, and the feature codes users dial to park a call.

How call parking works

With a standard hold, the call stays on the phone that put it there, so only that phone can resume it. Call parking removes that limitation. The call is placed on a parking number, and anyone can retrieve it simply by dialing that number from any phone on the system.

Note

This is what makes parking useful day to day. If a caller needs someone who is at a different desk (or in another room), you can park the call, announce the parking number over the office, and let your colleague pick it up from whichever phone is nearest.

Parking number

A parking number (sometimes called a slot or orbit) is a virtual extension that Cloud Voice assigns to a parked call. A virtual extension is a number the system uses internally to hold the call: it does not belong to a physical desk phone. Each parked call takes up one parking number for as long as it stays parked.

Note

Because each parked call uses one parking number, the system draws from a limited pool of numbers. If several calls are parked at once and never retrieved, the free numbers can run low, so encourage users to retrieve parked calls promptly.

Parking types

Cloud Voice offers two ways to park a call:

• Call parking: The system parks the call on the first parking number that is free.
• Directed call parking: The user chooses the exact parking number the call is placed on.

Tip

Use directed call parking when you already know which parking number you want, for example a number your team has agreed to use for a specific person or department. It lets you (and the colleague retrieving the call) skip the guesswork of which number the system picked.

Parking timeout destination

A parked call only waits on its parking number for a set amount of time (60 seconds by default). If nobody retrieves it before that window closes, Cloud Voice forwards the call to a destination you designate. By default, the call returns to the person who parked it (the initiator). This automatic return is sometimes called parking recall.

Caution

The timeout destination decides what happens to a caller nobody picked up. Confirm it points somewhere a person or a fallback (such as a ring group or voicemail) will handle the call. If it is set to an unattended destination, a parked call could be left ringing or sent nowhere useful once the timeout expires.

Parking feature codes

A feature code is a short dial pattern (usually starting with *) that triggers a system function instead of calling another extension. Users park calls by dialing the parking feature code. The defaults are:

• Call Parking: *5
• Directed Call Parking: *05

Tip

You can change these codes, or turn them on and off, in the Cloud Voice portal under Call Features > Feature Code > Call Parking.