Skip to main content

Where You Can Use a Queue: Routing Options

Use a queue as a number's primary routing, on an IVR extension, after hours, as a backup instead of voicemail when nobody answers, or as a transfer target.

Written by Alexa Roeper

A queue doesn't do anything until a phone number, extension or agent sends calls into it. There are five ways to use a queue, and you can mix them. The same queue can be the primary route for one number and the backup for another.

All of these options are configured by an Admin under Phone Settings → Numbers, by selecting a number and opening its Routing, Extensions or After Hours section. They require Phone & Inbox Pro and a number set to VoIP routing.

1️⃣ As a number's primary routing (the "Queue" strategy)

Every call to the number goes straight into the queue. Best for dedicated lines such as a maintenance hotline or a leasing line, where you want call-centre behaviour from the first ring.

  1. Select the number and open the Routing section.

  2. Under Inbound Call Handling choose Direct to Ring Group.

  3. Under Distribution, choose the Queue strategy. The description reads: "Callers wait on hold until the longest-idle available agent answers. Never sent to voicemail."

  4. Under Queue Selection, pick the queue from Select a queue.

  5. Click Save.

Notes: the "Who Rings" user and team pickers disappear, because the queue owns its member list. The If nobody answers section also disappears, because a queue never falls through to voicemail. The Ring duration field is hidden for the same reason.

2️⃣ As a backup instead of voicemail ("If nobody answers → Forward to a queue")

Keep your existing Simultaneous, Round Robin or Cascading ring group, and when nobody answers, move the caller into a queue where they'll keep waiting and be connected as soon as anyone frees up. This is the gentlest way to introduce queueing: nothing changes for the first ring, and voicemail only happens if the queue is empty.

  1. Select the number, open Routing, and keep your current strategy (Simultaneous, Round Robin or Cascading).

  2. Scroll to If nobody answers. The options are Send to voicemail (default), Forward to a queue, Forward to an AI Agent and Forward to a phone number. They're mutually exclusive.

  3. Choose Forward to a queue and pick the queue from the dropdown that appears.

  4. Click Save.

How it behaves: the ring group rings as normal for the number's Ring duration. If nobody answers, the caller stays on the line (they keep hearing the wait music with no interruption) and is now in the queue, offered to the queue's longest-idle agent. If the queue has no members at all, the fallback is skipped and the caller goes to voicemail. Once in the queue, callbacks work exactly as they would for a primary queue.

Tip: the fallback queue can contain the same people as the ring group. The difference is that after the first unanswered ring the caller is no longer at risk of voicemail. They'll be offered to those agents one at a time as each becomes free.

3️⃣ On an IVR extension ("Press 2 for Maintenance")

Use this when one number serves several departments. Each extension can route to a different queue, and an extension can also use a queue as its "if nobody answers" backup.

  1. Select the number, set Inbound Call Handling to IVR Menu, and open the Extensions section.

  2. Add or edit an extension. Set its Extension Key (e.g. 2) and Action to ring users.

  3. Under Distribution choose Queue and select the queue. Alternatively, keep another strategy and choose Forward to a queue under If nobody answers.

  4. Save the extension. In the extension list the strategy column will read Queue: <queue name>.

Remember to update the number's greeting so callers know which key to press.

4️⃣ After hours

With Phone hours enabled on a number, you can choose a different after-hours route: Voicemail, Ring Group or IVR Menu. Pick Ring Group and the Queue strategy to send after-hours callers to an on-call queue (for example an emergency maintenance queue staffed by whoever is on rotation).

  1. Select the number and open the After Hours section.

  2. Make sure Phone hours enabled is on and your hours are set (see Setting Up Phone Hours).

  3. Choose Ring Group, then the Queue strategy, then select the queue.

  4. Click Save.

Also note what happens at closing time: if a caller is still waiting in an in-hours queue when the number's phone hours end, they're moved to the after-hours handling automatically, unless they've already requested a callback, or the after-hours route is the same queue (in which case they simply keep waiting).

5️⃣ Transferring a live call into a queue

An agent on a call can hand the caller to a queue rather than to a specific teammate. This is useful when the front desk answers a maintenance question and wants "the next available maintenance coordinator" rather than a named person.

  1. During the call, click the Transfer icon in the active call window.

  2. In the Transfer Call dialog, scroll to the Queues section (or search by queue name). Only queues that currently have members are listed.

  3. Select the queue and click Transfer. You are disconnected immediately and the caller is placed in the queue, hearing that number's wait music until an agent answers.

Transfers to a queue are available on inbound calls. If the queue has nobody available, the caller waits in the queue just like any other queued caller.

🤔 Which option should I use?

You want…

Use

A dedicated line to behave like a call centre from the first ring

Primary routing → Queue strategy

To stop losing calls to voicemail without changing how the first ring works

If nobody answers → Forward to a queue

One main number serving several departments

IVR extensions, each pointing at a department queue

An on-call rotation for emergencies

After hours → Ring Group → Queue

Agents to hand a caller to "whoever is free next"

Transfer → Queues

📚 Related articles

Did this answer your question?