Conference
Use the Conference feature, with the associated Conf button, to create a
conference without the assistance of an attendant.
Detailed description of Conference
This section provides a detailed description of the Conference feature.
Use the Conference feature, with the associated conf button, to create a
conference without the assistance of an attendant.
A user with a multiple appearance telephone with a conf button can create a
conference with as many as six participants.
A user with a single-line telephone can create a conference with as many as
three participants.
Each of these three participants can then add another participant. Thus, a user
who has a single-line telephone can create a conference call with as many as six
participants.
Conference and DCP, hybrid, IP, wireless, and ISDN-BRI telephones
A user with a Digital Communications Protocol (DCP), hybrid, IP, wireless, or
ISDN-BRI telephones can use the Conference feature for a call on hold when:
- Only one call is on hold
- No call appearances are active
- An available call appearance exists for the conference call
If more than one call is on hold, the user must make a call active to start a
conference. If the user presses the conf button when two or more calls are on
hold, the system ignores the conference request from the user.
If the user has an active call, and also has calls on hold, the system includes
the active call in the conference when the user presses the conf button.
Meet-me Conference
The Meet-me Conference feature allows users to set up a dial-in conference of up
to six parties. The Meet-me Conference feature uses Call Vectoring to process
the setup of the conference call. For more information, see the "Meet Me
Conference" feature.
The Conference feature supports the following capabilities:
- Conference/Transfer Toggle/Swap
- No Dial Tone Conferencing
- No Hold Conference
- Select Line Appearance Conferencing
- Selective Conference Party Display, Drop, and Mute
Conference/Transfer Toggle/Swap
A user who sets up a conference call can use the Conference/Transfer Toggle/Swap
capability to talk back and forth between two users before the user connects all
the participants to the conference call. The display also toggles between the
two parties. The Conference/Transfer Toggle/Swap capability is unavailable on
attendant consoles.
The user uses an administered feature button, togle-swap, for the
Conference/Transfer Toggle/Swap capability
No Dial Tone Conferencing
This capability eliminates the dial tone that the user usually hears while the
user adds the participants to the conference call. A user uses the No Dial Tone
Conferencing capability to add existing calls to a conference call. The user
does not need to select a line appearance if there is someone on hold, or if the
system is alerting a line appearance.
For example, a user places a call on hold, and talks to another party. When the
user presses the conf button and then presses the button of the call on hold,
the party on hold joins the conference without hearing a dial tone.
No Hold Conference
When a user who is active on a call creates a conference call, the user can use
the No Hold Conference capability to add another participant to a conference
call, while the user continues a conversation with the participant on the call
that is currently active. When the user calls the new participant, the new
participant automatically joins the conference when the new participant answers
the call.
For example, a user presses the administered no-hld-cnf feature button and
then dials an extension. The party that answers the call automatically joins the
conference.
If the called user does not answer the call within the time that you specify in
the No Hold Conference Timeout field on the Feature-Related System Parameters
screen, the system deactivates the No Hold Conference capability for the call.
Users with multiline digital telephones can use the No Hold Conference
capability.
Select Line Appearance Conferencing
If a user is at a call on line B, and another line is on hold or an incoming
call alerts at line A, the user can press the conf button to bridge the calls
together. If the user uses the select line appearance capability, the user can
press a line appearance button to complete a conference instead of pressing the
conf button a second time.
Selective Conference Party Display, Drop, and Mute
A user who has a digital telephone with a display, or an attendant with an
attendant console, can use the Selective Conference Party Display, Drop, and
Mute capability to identify the participants on a call.
The conference prompts that the system displays are based on the user Class of
Restriction (COR). The display prompts are based on the user COR, independent of
the select line appearance conferencing and the No Dial Tone Conferencing
capability. The display messages vary depending on the activation of the various
Conference capabilities. The user COR controls the display of any additional
information.
A user presses the administered conf-dsp feature button to scroll through the
telephone numbers and names of the participants on the call. The telephone
numbers of the participants are always available, although the names of the
participants are sometimes unavailable. When the system displays the telephone
number of a participant, the user can either press the administered fe-mute
feature button to place the participant on mute, or the user can press the
The ability to place a call participant on mute is useful when that participant
has a noisy trunk line because of a cell phone, music-on-hold, or background
noise. The Selective Conference Party Mute capability applies only to trunk
lines, and a user can mute only one trunk line on a conference call.
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Prerequisites for administering the Conference feature
You must complete the following actions before you can administer the Conference
feature:
Administer the Feature-Related System Parameters screen to support the
Conference feature on your system.
To administer the Feature-Related System Parameters screen:
1. Type change system-parameters features. Press Enter.
The system displays the Feature-Related System Parameters screen
2. Click Next until you see the Public Network Trunks on Conference Call field
3. In the Public Network Trunks on Conference Call field, type the maximum
number of participants with public network trunks that you want to participate
in a conference call. The valid entries for this field are 0 through 5.
Type 0 if you do not want any public network trunks to participant in a
conference call. If you type 0 in this field, the Conference Parties with Public
Network Trunks field does not appear on the Feature-Related System Parameters
screen.
4. In the Conference Parties without Public Network Trunks field, type the
maximum number of participants without public network trunks that you want to
participate in a conference call. The valid entries for this field are 3
through 5.
5. In the Conference Tone field, perform one of the following actions:
- If you want the participants in a conference call to hear the conference tone
if there are three or more participants on a conference call, type y.
- If you do not want conference participants to hear the conference tone if
there are three or more participants on a conference call, type n.
6. Click Next until you see the No Dial Tone Conferencing field
7. In the No Dial Tone Conferencing field, take one of the following actions:
- If you want a user who is on hold to hear dial tone while the conference owner
adds another conference participant, type n.
- If you do not want a user who is on hold to hear dial tone while the
conference owner adds another conference participant, type y.
8. In the Select Line Appearance Conferencing field, take one of the following
actions
- Type y to activate select line appearance conferencing.
- Type n to deactivate select line appearance conferencing.
9. In the Abort Conference on Hang-up field, perform one of the following
actions:
- If you want the user to stop a conference call if the user hangs up the teleph
one before the conference call is complete, type y.
- If you do not want the user to stop a conference call when the user hangs up
the telephone before the conference call is complete, type n.
10. In the No Hold Conference Timeout field, type the number of seconds that you
want the system to wait while a user uses the No Hold Conference capability to
add a participant to a conference call. Note that you must set the Answer
Supervision field on the Trunk Group screen to fewer seconds than the seconds in
the No Hold Conference Timeout field.
11. Press Enter to save your changes.
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Screen name Purpose Fields
Attendant Console Assign conf-dsp, fe-mute, and Any available button
togle-swap feature buttons to field in the Feature
an attendant console. Assignments area
Feature-Related Allow users of DCP, hybrid IP, Abort Conference Upon
System Parameters wireless, or ISDN-BRI Hang-Up
telephones to "abort the
conference operation when they
hang up."
Specify that the system Conference Tone
generate a conference tone.
Specify the maximum number of Conference Parties With
participants in a conference Public Network Trunks
call when any of the
participants uses a public
network trunk.
Specify the maximum number of Conference Parties
participants on a conference Without Public Network
call when none of the Trunks
participants uses a public
network trunk.
Specify the number of seconds No Hold Conference
before the system deactivates Timeout
the No Hold Conference
capability for a call.
Specify that a user who is on No DialTone Conferencing
hold hears dial tone while the
conference owner adds another
conference participant.
Specify that the user can use Select Line Appearance
the line appearance rather than Conferencing
the Conf button to include a
call in a conference.
Station Assign conf-dsp, Any available button
fe-mute, no-hld-cnf, and field in the Button
togle-swap feature buttons to Assignments area
a user telephone.
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Assign the togle-swap feature button
Prerequisites for other feature buttons
You must complete the following actions before you can assign the conf-dsp,
fe-mute, and no-hld-cnf feature buttons:
- On the Optional Features screen, verify that the Enhanced Conferencing? field
is set to y, if you want to use the Selective Conference Party Display, Drop,
and Mute capability and the No Hold Conference capability on your system. If the
Enhanced Conferencing? field is set to n, your system is not enabled for the
Selective Conference Party Display, Drop, and Mute capability. Contact your
Avaya representative for assistance before you continue with this procedure.
To view the Optional Features screen, type display system-parameters
customer-options. Press Enter.
- Assign a COR for the Selective Conference Party Display, Drop, and Mute
capability.
To Assign a COR for the Selective Conference Party Display, Drop, and Mute
capability:
1. Type change COR n, where n is the number of the COR to which you want to
assign the Selective Conference Party Display, Drop, and Mute capability. Press
Enter. The system displays the Class of Restriction screen.
2. Click Next until you see the Block Enhanced Conference/Transfer Displays?
field
3. In the Block Enhanced Conference/Transfer Displays? field, perform one of the
following actions:
- If you want the system to block all the enhanced conference/transfer display
messages except "Transfer Completed" for a user or an attendant, type y.
- If you do not want the system to block all the enhanced conference/transfer
display messages except "Transfer Completed" for a user or an attendant, type n.
To assign the conf-dsp, fe-mute, and no-hld-cnf feature buttons, you must
complete the following procedures:
- Assign the conf-dsp, fe-mute, and no-hld-cnf feature buttons to a user.
- Assign the conf-dsp and fe-mute feature buttons to an attendant.
To assign the conf-dsp, fe-mute, and no-hld-cnf feature buttons to a user
telephone:
1. Type change station n, where n is the telephone number of the extension to
which you want to assign the following capabilities:
- Conference Display
- Selective Conference Party Display, Drop, and Mute
- No-Hold Conference
2. Click Next until you see the Button Assignments area
3. In the Button Assignments area, perform the following actions:
- Type conf-dsp next to the button that you want the user to use for the
Conference Display capability.
- Type fe-mute next to the button that you want the user to use for the
Selective Conference Party Display, Drop, and Mute capability.
- Type no-hld-cnf next to the button that you want the user to use for the
No-Hold Conference capability.
4. Press Enter to save your changes.
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Displaying the participants on a conference call
Users of a digital telephone and attendants at an attendant console can use the
Selective Conference Party Display, Drop, and Mute capability to display
information about the participants on a call. When the system displays the
information about a participant on a call, a user can drop a participant from
the conference call or place a participant on mute.
To display the participants on a conference call:
1. Press the conference display feature button to place the station or the
console in the conference display mode.
2. Press the conference display feature button repeatedly to scroll through the
telephone numbers and names of each participant on the call. The telephone
number of a participant is always available. The name of a participant might be
unavailable.
3. To drop the participant that the system displays, press the Drop button.
This action is useful during a conference call when a user tries to add a
participant that does not answer and the call goes to voice mail.
4. To place the participant that the system displays on mute, press the fe-mute
button. The remaining participants on the conference call cannot hear the
participant who is on mute. A user or attendant can use the fe-mute button to
place only one participant on mute, and that participant must be on a trunk
call. This ability to place a conference participant on hold is useful during
conference calls when a participant puts the conference call on hold and the
system plays music-on-hold to the remaining participants on the conference call.
CAUTION: If a user quickly scrolls through the display information repeatedly,
the system might take the telephone out of service. If the system takes the
telephone out of service, the system resets the telephone, and drops the user
from the call.
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Considerations for Conference
This section provides information about how the Conference feature behaves in
certain circumstances. Use this information to ensure that you receive the
maximum benefits of Conference under all conditions. The following
considerations apply to Conference:
- Trunk-to-Trunk Connections
If you do not allow trunk-to-trunk connections on your system, the system drops
all conference participants when:
- A user hangs up.
- All the other participant connect to the conference through trunk lines.
- Loss Plan on Conference Calls
The end-to-end total loss for multiparty conference calls that is administered
on the Location Parameters screen is not always applied to a specific call. The
loss applied to a three-party conference call, for example, is calculated by
adding the fixed pairwise loss for each pair of ports to the value for two-party
loss shown on the Location Parameters screen. If this total is less than the
end-to-end total loss value configured for a three-party conference, calculate
the difference, and divide the difference by 2. Add 1 to this figure, and the
result is the amount of loss applied to the call.
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Interactions for Conference
This section provides information about how the Conference feature interacts
with other features on the system. Use this information to ensure that you
receive the maximum benefits of Conference in any feature configuration.
- Bridged Call Appearance
A user can use a bridged call appearance to make a conference call.
A bridged appearance can bridge onto a conference call if that action does not
cause the number of participants on the conference call to exceed six
participants.
- Call Vectoring
A call to a Vector Directory Number (VDN) can be included as a party in a
conference call only after vector processing terminates for that call, for
example, after a successful route-to command.
- Call Waiting
When a user on an analog single-line telephone activates the Call Wait feature,
and the user creates a conference call, the Call Wait feature does not function
while the user is on the conference call.
- Class of Restriction (COR)
If the Restriction Override field on the Class of Restriction screen is set to
all, the system compares the COR of the participant who controls the conference
call with the COR of a new conference participant. The system compares the COR
of the participant who controls the conference call with the COR of a new
conference participant before the system adds the participant to the conference
call. The system does not compare the COR of the new participant with the CORs
of the other conference participants.
If the COR of the user who controls the conference call allows the override of
inward call restrictions, the system compares the COR of the user who controls
the conference call with the COR of a new conference participant. The system
compares the COR of the user who controls the conference call with the COR of a
new conference participant before the system adds the new participant to the
conference call. The system does not compare the COR of the new participant with
the CORs of the other conference participants.
- Emergency Access to an Attendant
A user cannot make an Emergency-Access-to-an-Attendant call a participant in
conference call.
- Trunk-to-Trunk Transfer
The system does not recognize the Conference button or the Transfer button when
a user dials enough digits for the system to route a call, and the system can
route the call differently if the user dials more digits. The user must be a
user of a multifunction telephone, for example a BRI telephone, a digital
telephone, or a hybrid telephone.
If the user wants the system to route the call based on the digits that the user
has already dialed, the user must not dial any digits for three seconds, or the
user must dial a pound sign (#). The system then recognizes the Conference
button or the Transfer button and completes the call.
- VDN in a Coverage Path
Calls in an established conference do not cover to a vector directory number
(VDN). Once a call covers to a VDN, a conference cannot be established until the
call is delivered to an extension and vector processing ends.
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