Attendant with Answering Machines for System Answer Assurance and Messaging

At Doe, Smith, and Jones (Attorneys), the receptionist (Jim) handles most incoming calls, with an Attendant as his backup. When Jim is unavailable, the Attendant answers—the caller can hold until Jim is free or press 1 to leave a message. (Unlike ABC Supermarket, the Attendant does not offer a choice of routes—the attorneys do not want to receive unscreened calls—but callers who know the extensions can dial them directly.) Here the Attendant’s Transfer Return extension is the Attendant itself, so the Attendant controls calls until the receptionist or the answering machine is free.

With an answering machine at each extension, you can have an inexpensive messaging system. (Each extension has an answering machine and a phone, combined on one jack using an inexpensive AT&T 267F2 adapter.) A caller who knows an attorney’s extension can dial it directly; if the attorney does not answer, the answering machine takes a message. The attorney can call in later and dial a code to retrieve messages from the machine—by dialing the exten- sion after hours, or by transfer when Jim is there.

Figure 1-4 Attendant Used with Answering Machine

1-12Setup Decisions

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AT&T 518-455-710 manual Attendant Used with Answering Machine