Call quality and troubleshooting
What happens to my calls if the power or internet goes out?
Your phone number and call routing live on the 3CTel platform, not in your office, so a local power or internet outage does not take your number down. Calls still arrive at the platform and follow the failover rules set for you: ringing the mobile app on cellular data, forwarding to cell phones, or going to voicemail with email delivery. Desk phones stop until power and internet return.
What keeps working and what stops
Because nothing at your site is needed for the number itself, an outage at the office is a device problem, not a phone-number problem. The question becomes how to reach staff while their desks are dark.
- Keeps working: your number, the main menu, voicemail, voicemail to email, call routing rules, and the mobile app on cellular data.
- Keeps working: texting and receiving faxes by email from any device with internet.
- Stops: desk phones and the desktop app on office computers until power and internet are back.
- Stops: anything that depends only on the office network, such as a paging system connected to the phones.
Failover rules set up in advance
During planning, your specialist asks what should happen if the office cannot be reached. Typical answers are: ring the mobile apps first, then forward to one or two cell phones, then take a voicemail that is emailed to a shared address. Because the platform can tell that desk phones are unreachable, these rules can trigger automatically without anyone changing settings during the outage.
- Automatic: calls fall through to the mobile app or cell forwarding when desk phones are unregistered.
- Manual: an administrator switches an outage rule on from the admin portal or the mobile app.
- Assisted: a 3CTel specialist makes the change for you if no one is available to do it.
Reducing the impact of outages
- Put the modem, router and switch on a small UPS so short power blips do not restart the network.
- Make sure key staff have the mobile app installed and signed in before an outage happens.
- Keep a second internet path where it is justified, such as a cellular backup on the router.
- Record a short "we are experiencing a service interruption" greeting in advance so it can be turned on quickly.
- Test the failover once a year by unplugging the office internet for a few minutes after hours.
During a power outage, 9-1-1 from desk phones is unavailable. Use a cell phone. See the 9-1-1 article for how VoIP 9-1-1 works.
Related questions.
Will callers hear a busy tone if the office is offline?
Not if failover rules are in place. Callers hear the normal greeting and their call is routed to the mobile app, a cell phone or voicemail as planned. Without failover rules, calls to an unreachable extension go to that extension's voicemail.
Can I switch forwarding on from my phone during an outage?
Yes. An administrator can turn a prepared outage rule on from the mobile app or by signing in to the admin portal from any internet connection. A 3CTel specialist can also do it on request.
Do I need a backup internet connection?
It depends on how much a few hours without desk phones would cost you. Many small offices rely on the mobile app and cell forwarding. Businesses with a front desk or contact centre often add a cellular backup on the router.
Last updated:
Not a 3CTel customer yet? See your recommended setup in four short steps.
Build My Phone System