Team Queues and Ring Groups: Get the Right Person on the Phone

A ring group is a list of devices that ring together. A queue is a smarter ring group — calls wait in line, the first available person takes the next call, and the caller hears either silence or hold music while they wait. Together, they make sure your phone never just rings into nowhere.

When to use a ring group

Use a ring group when you want a few people to hear the phone at the same time. Whoever picks up first takes the call.

Best for:

• A small team where anyone can answer.
• A front desk with two or three people who all share the line.

When to use a queue

Use a queue when you have more calls than people, or when you want callers to wait in line instead of rolling to voicemail right away.

Best for:

• Busy lines where calls back up.
• Teams that handle calls in order.
• After-hours overflow when only one or two people are working.

Setting up a ring group

1. Open Routing → Ring Groups.
2. Click Add a Ring Group.
3. Name it. Front Desk, Sales Floor, Kitchen — whatever maps to how you actually work.
4. Pick the team members and which devices of theirs you want to ring.
5. Pick the ring style:
6. All at once — every device rings together. First to pick up wins.
7. One by one — rings each device for ten seconds, then moves to the next.
8. Round robin — spreads calls evenly so the same person does not always pick up first.
9. Set the timeout. After this many seconds with nobody answering, the call moves on.
10. Save.

Setting up a queue

1. Open Routing → Queues.
2. Click Add a Queue.
3. Name it.
4. Add team members.
5. Pick what callers hear while they wait:
6. Silence — no hold music.
7. Standard hold music — clean instrumental.
8. Your own audio — upload a file with a message about your business, your hours, or current promotions.
9. Set the maximum wait time. After this, the call goes to voicemail or the after-hours rule kicks in.
10. Save.

Pointing a phone number at a queue or ring group

1. Open Phone Numbers.
2. Pick the number.
3. Under When this number is called, choose Ring Group or Queue and pick the one you set up.
4. Save.

You can have one number ring a queue during business hours and a different ring group after hours. The next article covers business hours and after-hours routing.

Watching the queue in real time

Open Live View in your dashboard. You see:

• How many calls are in the queue right now.
• How long the longest caller has been waiting.
• Which team members are available, on a call, or away.

Managers usually keep this tab open during busy hours so they can jump in and help when calls stack up.

Skills and priorities (Pro plan)

Some calls deserve faster pickup than others. On the Pro plan, you can tag a call with a priority — VIP customer, payment overdue, big quote — and the queue will move that call to the front. You can also build skill-based queues: Spanish-speaking team members get Spanish calls, sales pros get sales calls.

Common questions

Why is one team member getting more calls than the others? They are probably first in the ring order. Switch the queue style to Round robin or reorder the list.

A teammate is signed in but not getting calls. Check their status in Live View — they may be Away or Busy. They can flip back to Available in their app.

Can a queue ring different devices for the same person? Yes. Every device a team member has marked active will ring. If they want only their desk phone to ring during queue calls, they can turn the others off.