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Set Up Inbound Calls

This guide takes you from an empty Daktela instance to answering calls to your number. It builds the pieces in the order they depend on each other.

If you haven't yet, read How Calls Work first β€” it explains what each piece does and how a call travels through them.

Info

You need a trunk connecting Daktela to your carrier β€” trunks are set up by Daktela's Support team.

The whole setup:

  1. Create the inbound call queue
  2. Add agents to the queue
  3. Give your agents devices
  4. Define your business hours
  5. Create the time condition
  6. Create the inbound routing
  7. Apply the configuration and test

1. Create the Inbound Call Queue

  1. Go to Settings β†’ Routings β†’ Queues and click Add new, then select Calls inbound.
  2. Fill out the Unique queue number and the Title (e.g. "Support line").
  3. Click Save.

The queue has many options β€” ringtones, recordings, IVR while waiting, position announcements, missed-call callbacks. The defaults are fine to start; every field is described in the Calls Inbound reference.

2. Add Agents to the Queue

Info

Agents get queues only through their user rights: this dialog and the Queues tab of a set of rights are two views of the same setting β€” see How Users & Rights Work. If you have already given the queue a log-in type in your rights, this step is done. Setting up Daktela for the first time? Set Up Your Contact Centre shows where queues, rights and users fit in.

  1. In the queue list (Settings β†’ Routings β†’ Queues), find your new queue and click Change in the Agents column.
  2. Check (tick) the user rights that should have access to the queue.
  3. Select a Priority for each set of rights (0 – highest, 10 – lowest) and a Login type β€” Automatic is a good default.

See Queue Basics – Assign Agents to a Queue for all the options, and Distribution Strategies for how priorities drive who rings when.

3. Give Your Agents Devices

Unlike chat channels, answering calls requires a device:

  • Daktela devices β€” calling directly in the browser, the fastest way to get started.
  • SIP devices β€” hardware or softphone SIP extensions.
  • External numbers β€” ring the agent's external phone number.

Agents select their device when going Ready β€” see Get Started – Select a Device.

4. Define Your Business Hours

  1. Go to Settings β†’ Workflows β†’ Time groups and click Add new.
  2. Fill out the Title (e.g. "Business hours") and add an Open definition for each working period β€” e.g. 9:00–17:00, Monday–Friday.
  3. Click Save.

See Time Groups for holidays, linked groups and common pitfalls.

5. Create the Time Condition

Calls have their own time conditions inside the call routing dialplan:

  1. Go to Settings β†’ Routings β†’ Calls β†’ Time conditions and click Add new.
  2. Select the time group from step 4 and set where the call goes when you are open (the queue from step 1) and when you are closed (e.g. an announcement with your opening hours, a missed call so agents can call back, or terminate).

Warning

If you do not select a time group, the call will always go to the "closed" destination.

6. Create the Inbound Routing

The inbound routing connects your phone number to the routing chain:

  1. Go to Settings β†’ Routings β†’ Calls β†’ Inbound routings and click Add new.
  2. Enter a Title, and in DID number enter the number the caller dials (leave blank to match any number; patterns starting with _ match ranges).
  3. In Next destination, select Time conditions and choose the time condition from step 5.
  4. Click Save.

All routing fields β€” caller ID matching, alert info, CID name prefix β€” are described in Call Routings – Inbound Routings.

7. Apply the Configuration and Test

  1. Back in the routing list, click Apply configuration changes in the top right corner.
  2. Test the open path: with an agent logged in to the queue, in the Ready state, with a device selected and during business hours, call your number and check that it rings the agent.
  3. Test the closed path: outside business hours, check the call reaches your "closed" destination.

Go Further

  • IVR β€” "press 1 for sales": guide callers to the right queue, with a worked example on the reference page.
  • Announcements and TTS announcements β€” play recordings or generated speech.
  • Call steering β€” let callers say what they need (licence required).
  • Ring groups β€” ring several extensions at once.
  • Missed-call callbacks β€” turn on Missed activities and Auto call back in the queue settings.
  • Recordings β€” configure when calls are recorded in the queue settings; manage audio files in System recordings.
  • For agents β€” answering calls is described in Incoming Calls.

Not Working?

  1. Calls don't reach the queue? Click Apply configuration changes in Settings β†’ Routings β†’ Calls β€” routing changes stay in a working copy until you do.
  2. Always the closed destination? Check the time condition has a time group selected and that the time group covers the current time.
  3. Calls reach the queue but don't ring? In Realtime, check an agent is logged in to the queue, Ready and not on a pause, and that their Extension isn't Unavailable (no device online).
  4. Callers wait forever when nobody is there? By default Max. waiting time is unlimited and there are no queue conditions β€” set them as recommended in Inbound Call Queue.
  5. The DID doesn't match? Check the DID number in the inbound routing is the number your trunk passes, or leave it empty to match any number.

More checks, by symptom, are in Troubleshooting.