Per site: number, greeting, hours
Each location has its own local number, its own recorded greeting and its own opening hours, including the branch that closes early on Saturdays.
Two sites or twenty
Stop running a separate phone system at every branch.
Each location keeps a local number and its own hours. Behind that, there is one directory, one set of rules and one place to change them. A call to the wrong branch is a transfer, not a dead end.
- Local numbers for every site
- Site-specific hours and holiday greetings
- Transfer any call to any location by extension
Example
Incoming call+1 (416) 555-0198
Main menu9–17
11 — Appointments
22 — Renewals
33 — Billing
After hours
Reception queue90 s → Callback offered
AI receptionist
Voicemail to email
A multi-location phone system puts every branch on one cloud service instead of a separate system per site. Each location keeps a local number, its own greeting and its own business hours, while staff share one directory and transfer calls between sites by extension. 3CTel configures site-level rules, overflow between branches and central administration so one person can manage every location from one console.
What changes when every site is on one system
| Today, with a system per site | On one system |
|---|---|
| Each branch has its own number and its own voicemail; the head office cannot see either | Each branch keeps its local number; every voicemail box and call log is visible in one console |
| Transferring a caller to another branch means giving them a new number to dial | Any staff member transfers a live call to any extension at any location |
| Holiday hours are changed by phoning each branch and hoping someone does it | Holiday calendars are set once per site, or once for all sites, from one screen |
| A busy branch lets calls ring out while a quiet one sits idle | Overflow rules send unanswered calls from a busy site to another site or a central team |
| A new location means a new contract, a new install and a new set of rules | A new location is a new site record: number, hours, greeting and users |
Multi-location phone system
Plan the rollout, keep every site's number, pay one bill.
Learn more: Multi-location phone systemMulti-Location Business
A local number per site, one system behind all of them.
Learn more: Multi-Location BusinessBusiness Phone
Reliable calling with routing your team will actually use.
Learn more: Business PhoneTransfers and overflow between locations
- Warm transfer to another branch: the receiving person is announced the caller before the call is handed over, even if they are two provinces away.
- Overflow by site: if the Ottawa front desk does not answer within a set ring time, the call moves to a second site or a central team rather than voicemail.
- Shared queues: a single 'orders' or 'support' queue can be staffed by people at several locations, with calls going to whoever has been free longest.
- Local presentation: calls returned from a shared team can show the local number of the branch the customer originally dialled.
- Site-level voicemail: a message left for a branch goes to that branch's email, with a transcript, and is visible centrally too.
Questions from operators with several sites
Can each location keep its own phone number?
Yes. Each branch's existing local number is ported to the shared system and continues to reach that branch first. Where a location needs a new number, a local number in that city's area code is provisioned. A single toll-free number can sit in front of all sites and route by the caller's choice or by the caller's area code.
How do different opening hours per site work?
Each site has its own schedule. A call to a branch that is closed hears that branch's closed greeting and follows that branch's after-hours path, while a branch that is still open keeps ringing normally. Holiday calendars can be set for all sites at once and then overridden for the location with a different provincial holiday.
Who manages the system when there is no IT person at the branches?
Typically one administrator at the head office, or an office manager, with 3CTel making changes on request. All sites appear in one console, so the same person who sets Vancouver's greeting sets Winnipeg's. Branch managers can be given access limited to their own site if that suits how the business runs.
Cloud PBX (hosted PBX)
A business phone system run by a provider and delivered over the internet, with no switch on site.
Learn more: Cloud PBX (hosted PBX)Cloud PBX vs traditional PBX
Own the switch or rent it: ownership, maintenance, remote users and the path between them.
Learn more: Cloud PBX vs traditional PBXAI agents across every location
Multi-site operators use AI to give every location the same quality of answer without staffing every desk. The AI Receptionist answers each site’s number with that site’s hours and address, the chat and messaging agent routes web and text enquiries to the right location’s calendar, and AI workflows tag every CRM task with the site code. Rules are set centrally and reviewed with a specialist for each rollout wave.
Site-aware AI Receptionist
One AI Receptionist carries every location’s schedule, holiday exceptions and directions, answers the head-office number by asking which site the caller wants, and transfers directly with the reason captured.
Bookings routed to the right site
Web chat and SMS from any location land in one inbox; the AI agent works out the site from the number texted or the postal code and books into that site’s connected calendar.
Compare sites, then approve changes
AI communication optimization compares missed calls and hold times across locations by hour and recommends where overflow should route or a second handset should ring. A regional manager approves each change.
AI at 3CTel
AI agents, messaging, workflows, answers and insight on one phone system, with a person always available.
Learn more: AI at 3CTelAI Receptionist
Answers, understands and books — in English and French.
Learn more: AI ReceptionistAI Communication Optimization
Continuous AI review of your calls, queues, messages and line costs, with recommended changes applied only with your approval and reviewed monthly with a specialist.
Learn more: AI Communication OptimizationRolling out one site at a time
Emergency calling is configured with the registered service address for each site and each device, confirmed with you during rollout.
Map every site
Numbers, hours, who answers, where calls should overflow. This is captured per location with a 3CTel specialist before anything is configured.
Build and test the first site on a temporary number
The pilot branch's greeting, hours and routing are configured and tested before its number is moved. What is learned there is applied to the rest.
Port site numbers in waves
Each location's number is ported on its own confirmed date. Nothing at a branch changes until its port completes, so sites are never half-migrated.
Hand over the console
Your administrator is shown how to change hours, greetings and users across sites, and 3CTel remains available for changes you would rather not make yourself.
Number porting
How a port works, what you need to provide, what causes delays, and what 3CTel does at each step.
Learn more: Number porting9-1-1 on VoIP
Why the registered address matters, how it is confirmed at setup, and how to keep it current.
Learn more: 9-1-1 on VoIPLocations
Local numbers and remote setup for businesses anywhere in Canada.
Learn more: LocationsRelated pages.
Multi-Location Business
A local number per site, one system behind all of them.
Learn more: Multi-Location BusinessMulti-location phone system
Plan the rollout, keep every site's number, pay one bill.
Learn more: Multi-location phone systemBusiness Phone Numbers
Local, toll-free and campaign numbers that all land in one system.
Learn more: Business Phone NumbersCall routing
Decide who answers, in what order, and what happens when they cannot.
Learn more: Call routingRetail & E-commerce
Per-store hours, stock-check routing and pickup texts for stores and online orders.
Learn more: Retail & E-commerceAutomotive
Sales, service and parts routing with vehicle-ready texts and per-campaign numbers.
Learn more: AutomotiveFrequently asked questions.
No. Each site uses whatever internet connection it has. Sites are on one cloud service, so the connection at one location has no effect on the others.
Yes. Presence in the directory shows whether a person is available, on a call or away, regardless of which location they work from, so nobody transfers a caller into a busy line.
Calls to that site's number follow its failover rule: ring the mobile apps of that site's staff, overflow to another location, or go to voicemail. The rule is set per site during planning.
A new site record with a local number, hours and greeting, plus users. If the location already has a number, it is ported on a confirmed date. No new contract or separate system is required.
Access can be scoped so a location manager sees and changes only their own site, while the head office administrator sees everything.
Bring every location onto one system.
Tell us how many sites you run, where they are and how calls should move between them. We will map a rollout and quote it.