AT&T merlin legend manual Administering Automatic Route Selection ARS

ADMINISTERING AUTOMATIC ROUTE SELECTION (ARS)

To setup Automatic Route Selection, you, the system administrator, must determine which of your line pools provide the lowest cost, most efficient dialing methods for particular types of calls. For example, you may have several WATS line pools that provide the most economical means of making calls to different areas of the coun- try You may also use an alternate long distance company, whose lines are accessi- ble through your main pool, for certain types of calls.

When you have decided which routing patterns you prefer to use, you take the follow- ing steps to administer your ARS system:

●Rank your line pools in order of preference for calls to specific area codes and exchanges. (Exchanges are the first three digits of 7-digit telephone numbers.)

●Record your choices in the forms for Automatic Route Selection Tables provid- ed in the Appendix on page 114.

●Input this information into the system.

●Activate ARS.

Once you have administered ARS, your MERLIN system will automatically select the most appropriate line pool currently available whenever someone in your business places an outside call.

Preparing to Administer ARS Tables

REMEMBER: When you set up your control unit, you set switches F and G to the cor- rect positions for ARS. Before you begin to administer ARS, make sure that switch F on the control unit is set to Pooled (up) and switch G on the control unit is set to Dial Access (up). (See “Button Access vs. Dial Access to Line Pools,” page 19.)

When ARS is activated, the caller does not have to dial the number of a pool to make an outside call. He or she just has to:

●Touch a Pool Access button.

●Lift the handset.

●Dial the outside number.

The system automatically selects the line pool that contains the preferred lines for a call to that area code or exchange. The caller hears “beeps” instead of Touch-Tone signals while the system puts the call through on the line it has selected.

If all lines in the first-choicepool are busy, the system selects the next best pool. If all the lines in the second-choice pool are busy, the system routes the call to the third- choice pool. If all lines in every pool listed on the table for the area code or exchange being dialed are busy, the caller hears a busy signal.

If a trunk line is busy, the caller hears a recorded “all circuits are busy” message. When this happens, the caller touches the same Pool Access button again to route the call to the next entry in the list of line pools.

People dial calls as usual, with one exception. Even if callers don’t normally have to dial atoll prefix (O or 1) before dialing a long distance call, they must dial a toll prefix when using ARS. All callers must dial 1 before the area code and telephone number when p/acing a direct call and 0 before the area code and telephone number when placing an operator-assisted call.

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