Call Queues

What a queue is

A call queue is a waiting room for incoming calls. Callers hear hold music (or your branded audio), get optional position announcements, and connect to the next available agent.

Queues are how serious call centers handle inbound — you get visibility into wait times, abandonment, agent occupancy, and per-agent productivity.

Where queues live

Top nav → Call Queues. Columns: name, strategy, member count, current calls (live), actions.

Creating a queue

Click New Queue. Form fields:

Basic

• Name — display name (Sales, Support, Tier 1, etc.)
• Strategy — how the next agent is picked (see below)
• Timeout — how long an agent's phone rings before bouncing to the next
• Max Wait Time — hard cap on caller hold time
• Wrapup Time — seconds an agent gets before they're offered the next call (cooldown)

Announcements

• Announce Position — "You are caller X in line"
• Announce Hold Time — "Your estimated wait is Y minutes"
• Frequency — how often these announcements repeat
• Welcome Audio — what plays first
• Hold Music — what plays between announcements

Members

• Add agents — pick extensions
• Penalty — load-balancing weight per agent (lower number = higher priority)

Click Save.

Strategies

Strategy	Logic
RingAll	Every agent's phone rings simultaneously. First to pick up gets the call.
LeastRecent	Picks the agent who hasn't taken a call in the longest time. Fairest.
FewestCalls	Picks the agent who's taken the fewest calls today. Volume-balancing.
Random	Random pick from available agents.
RRMemory	Round-robin with memory: cycles through agents in order, remembering who got the last call.

For most support teams: LeastRecent. For sales: RRMemory (if you want everyone to get equal opportunity) or FewestCalls (if you want to keep workload even).

Avoid RingAll for queues larger than 4-5 people — every call interrupts everyone, which kills productivity.

Penalty

Lower-numbered agents are "preferred" — the platform tries them first. Use to model:

• Tier 1 / Tier 2 — Tier 1 agents penalty 1, Tier 2 penalty 2. Calls only escalate to Tier 2 when Tier 1 is full.
• Senior / Junior — senior reps penalty 1, junior reps penalty 2. Senior gets first crack, junior catches overflow.
• Backup-only — give an agent a high penalty (e.g., 10) so they only get calls during major surges.

Adding members

In the queue's edit page, find the Members section. Add extensions one at a time or bulk-add.

For each member you can:

• Pause — temporarily exclude from receiving calls (e.g., on lunch break)
• Set Penalty — adjust their priority

Members can pause/unpause themselves from their phone using a feature code (typically *45).

Routing a phone number to a queue

Two ways:

1. Phone Numbers page → Edit → Routing → Queue → pick the queue. Save.
2. From a Call Flow, drag a Queue node, pick the queue.

Most queues are reached via call flows (flow → menu → queue) so the caller hears a custom greeting before being placed in the queue.

The analytics page

Click any queue's name to open its detail. Click Analytics.

Real-time

• Current calls in queue — how many people are waiting right now
• Longest current wait — the worst-case wait time right now
• Members online / paused — how many agents are available

Historical (7d / 30d / 90d periods)

• Total calls — calls that hit the queue
• Answered — calls connected to an agent
• Abandoned — calls that hung up before being answered
• Average wait time — average time callers wait before being answered
• Average handle time — how long calls last with an agent
• Occupancy — % of time agents are on calls vs idle

Per-agent

• Calls handled
• Average handle time
• Occupancy
• Pause time

Use these metrics to:

• Spot understaffing — high abandonment + long average wait = need more agents
• Identify training needs — high handle time = agent struggling with calls
• Reward top performers — visible volume + good handle time = solid contributors

Real-time queue monitoring

The Analytics page updates live (via WebSocket). Open it on a TV in the office and watch your queue stats throughout the day.

If you don't see live updates, check that your network allows WebSocket connections — corporate firewalls sometimes block.

Common queue patterns

Simple support line

• Strategy: LeastRecent
• Hold music: licensed track
• Announce position + hold time
• Wrapup: 15 seconds
• No-answer overflow: voicemail

High-volume sales line

• Strategy: RRMemory (everyone gets a fair share)
• Hold music: marketing audio
• No position announcements (it discourages waiting)
• Hold time announcement only at 1+ minutes
• Wrapup: 30 seconds (to log the lead)
• No-answer overflow: callback queue (save number, auto-callback when next agent free)

Tiered support

• Two queues: Tier 1, Tier 2
• All Tier 1 agents in Tier 1 queue
• Tier 1 and Tier 2 agents in Tier 2 queue, but Tier 2 agents have penalty 1, Tier 1 penalty 2
• Customers route to Tier 1 first; complex calls escalate to Tier 2

Common pitfalls

• Setting Wrapup too low — agents need time after a call to update CRM, take a breath. 15-30 seconds typical.
• Setting Max Wait too high — callers waiting 10+ minutes mostly hang up. 3-5 minutes is humane; > 5 minutes you should be ashamed of yourself; > 10 minutes the call data is useless because everyone hung up.
• No-answer destination = voicemail when caller wasn't told voicemail was an option — caller is surprised and angry. Tell them ("If we can't reach you, please leave a message after the tone").
• Forgetting wrapup announcements — agent gets a call milliseconds after hanging up, doesn't have time to log the prior call. Build in real wrapup.