Setup Simultaneous Ring 

 

Normally, when someone calls your office number, only your desk phone rings. With Simultaneous Ring, another phone – for example your work mobile – rings as well. Your desk phone keeps ringing as usual.

The difference from call forwarding: With call forwarding, another phone rings instead of your desk phone. With Simultaneous Ring, it rings in addition to your desk phone – and you decide on the spot where to answer.

  • One number for everything: Callers dial your office number as usual. You don’t have to give out your mobile number.
  • First to answer takes the call: As soon as you answer on one phone, the others stop ringing.
  • You decide when: With a schedule, you can set your mobile to ring along only during your working hours, for example.
Diagram: a caller dials the office number. The phone system makes the desk phone and the mobile ring at the same time.
How Simultaneous Ring works

Important: the feature has to be activated first

Simultaneous Ring is not automatically available for every phone. Before you can use it, University Computer Centre (URZ) has to activate it for your number. Without activation, an error message appears when you try to add an additional phone in the Self Care Portal (see “Frequently asked questions” below).

To request activation, please contact University Computer Centre (URZ) – by ticket (see ticket system), by email to servicedesk [at] tu-freiberg [dot] de (servicedesk[at]tu-freiberg[dot]de) or by phone on extension 1818 (from outside: 03731 39 1818). Please make sure to state the extension of your desk phone.

Important: Simultaneous Ring can only be activated if you are the only person using your phone (only your name is shown on the display – not the name of another colleague as well).

What you need

  • activation by URZ (see info box above)
  • a computer on the university network or connected via VPN
  • your usual login details (central Windows user name and password)
  • the number of the phone that should ring along (e.g. your mobile)

  • Step 1: Sign in to the Self Care Portal

  • In your browser, open https://phone.tu-freiberg.de (nur erreichbar aus dem Uninetz oder per VPN)
  • The “Self Care Portal” appears. Enter your Username and Password and click “Sign In”.
Sign-in page of the Cisco Unified Communications Self Care Portal with the fields Username and Password and the Sign In button
Figure 1: Signing in to the Self Care Portal

If the “PIN Reset” window appears after signing in

Then you first have to set your own PIN. Only then can you continue in the portal.

  1. Enter a PIN of your choice under “New PIN”.
  2. Enter the same PIN again under “Verify PIN”.
  3. Click “Change PIN”.

Your PIN must meet these rules:

  • digits only (0–9) – no letters and no special characters
  • at least 4 digits, e.g. a four-digit number of your choice

The PIN is needed for various services of the phone system, most of which are not in use yet. Please remember it anyway. Your password for signing in stays the same.

PIN Reset window with the fields New PIN and Verify PIN and the buttons Change PIN and Cancel
Figure 1a: Setting your own PIN (only if this window appears)

Step 2: Add an additional phone

  1. After signing in, you see the “My Phones” page. At the top, under “Company Phones”, your desk phone is listed – you don’t need to change anything here.
  2. Further down, in the “Additional Phones” section, click the tile with the plus sign. (⊕).
My Phones page: at the top the desk phone under Company Phones, below it the Additional Phones section with a tile showing a plus sign
Figure 2: The “My Phones” page – add an additional phone using the plus sign at the bottom
  1. The "Add a New Additional Phone" window opens. Under "Phone Number or URI", enter the number that should ring along – ideally in international format with +49 and without spaces, e.g. +4917123456789.
  2. Under "Description", enter a name, e.g. "Mobile Phone".
  3. Tick "Enable Single Number Reach". This switches on Simultaneous Ring.
  4. Below it, you see your office number with a tick ("5555" in the example figure below). Leave this tick set – it connects your mobile phone number to your office number.
  5. Click "Save".
  6. Note on "Enable Move To Mobile": This option in the same window is currently not supported here. Simply leave it unticked – it is not needed for Simultaneous Ring.
  7. Done! From now on, your mobile rings along when someone calls your office number. It is best to make a test call straight away, for example from a colleague’s phone.
Add a New Additional Phone window with phone number +4917123456789, description Mobile Phone, Enable Single Number Reach ticked and the office number 5555 ticked
Figure 3: Entering the number and enabling Simultaneous Ring

Schedule: when should your mobile ring along?

Without a schedule, your mobile rings along around the clock – including evenings and weekends. If you don’t want that, create a schedule.

  1. On the “My Phones” page, under “Additional Phones”, open the tile of your mobile (gear icon at the top right of the tile).
  2. Below your office number, click the small calendar icon (with a plus sign) to the left of “Create a schedule for this assignment”. Important: only the icon can be clicked, not the text.
  3. The “Add a New Schedule” window opens. At the top, enter a name, e.g. “Business Hours”.
  4. Choose one of the two options:
    • “Ring all the time” – your mobile rings along at any time.
    • “Ring only during specific times” – tick the days you want and select the times from … to … for each.
  5. Check the “Time zone” at the bottom left. It must say “(GMT+1:00) Europe/Berlin” – only then are the times correct (summer and winter time are taken into account automatically). This time zone is usually already preset. If it shows something else, e.g. “(GMT) Etc/GMT”, change it (see note below).
  6. Click “Save”, and then click “Save” once more in the additional phone window.

Example (Figure 4): Monday to Friday from 7:00 to 15:45. If someone calls outside these times, only your desk phone rings.

Add a New Schedule window: name Business Hours, Ring only during specific times selected, Monday to Friday 07:00 to 15:45, time zone (GMT+1:00) Europe/Berlin
Figure 4: Schedule “Business Hours” – Monday to Friday, 7:00 to 15:45

Changing the time zone: Click into the “Time zone” field, delete its content and type Berlin. Then select the suggested entry “(GMT+1:00) Europe/Berlin”.

Time zone field with the word Berlin typed in and the suggestion (GMT+1:00) Europe/Berlin
Figure 4a: Type “Berlin” and select Europe/Berlin

Ring delay and other timing settings

Timeline from 0 to 25 seconds. The desk phone rings from the moment the call comes in until it is answered on one of the phones. The mobile starts ringing after 4 seconds and stops after 19 seconds; both times are adjustable. If the call is answered on the mobile within the first 1.5 seconds, this counts as mobile voicemail: the call to the mobile is cancelled and the desk phone keeps ringing. As soon as the call is answered on one phone, the others stop ringing immediately.
How a call works over time with Simultaneous Ring – with the default values of a 4-second delay and 19 seconds of ringing on the mobile.

Using the “Advanced call timing” link (bottom left in the additional phone window), you can fine-tune the behaviour. The default values suit most users – only change something here if things don’t work well in everyday use.

Delay before your mobile rings

“Wait … seconds before ringing this phone when my business line is dialed.”
Sets how long only your desk phone rings before your mobile joins in. The default is 4 seconds.

  • Shorter (e.g. 0 seconds): Your mobile rings along as early as possible. Useful if you are often on the move.
  • Longer (e.g. 6 seconds): At your desk, you get the first chance to answer – your mobile only rings if you don’t pick up the desk phone quickly enough.

Note: even at 0 seconds, it takes a few seconds for technical reasons before your mobile actually rings.

Protection against your mobile voicemail

Good to know: The phone system cannot tell whether you answered on your mobile or your mobile voicemail did. For the system, both count as “call answered” – your desk phone then stops ringing, and the caller may end up on your mobile voicemail.

Under “Prevent this call from going straight to this phones voicemail by:” you can choose how the system still tries to detect a voicemail:

  • “using a time delay of … seconds” (default: 1.5 seconds): If the call is answered on your mobile within these first 1.5 seconds (typical for a voicemail), the system cancels the call to your mobile – your desk phone simply keeps ringing. This setting suits most users.
  • “requiring you to respond to a prompt to be connected”: When you answer on your mobile, you are asked to press a key before the call is put through. This is the most reliable option, but it takes one extra step.

How long your mobile rings

“Stop ringing this phone after … seconds to avoid connecting to this phones voicemail.”
After this time, your mobile stops ringing (default: 19 seconds). This is important so that your mobile voicemail does not answer the call – otherwise the caller leaves a message there, and your desk phone stops ringing.

  • Do callers still end up on your mobile voicemail? Then set a lower value here.

After making changes, click “Save”.

Advanced Call Timing window with a wait time of 4.0 seconds, voicemail protection using a time delay of 1.5 seconds and stop ringing after 19.0 seconds
Figure 5: Advanced Call Timing

Switching Simultaneous Ring off temporarily

When you are on holiday or off sick, you probably don’t want work calls on your mobile. This is how to switch Simultaneous Ring off without losing your settings:

  1. Sign in to the Self Care Portal.
  2. On the “My Phones” page, under “Additional Phones”, open the tile of your mobile (gear icon).
  3. Untick “Enable Single Number Reach” and click “Save”.

When you are back, simply tick it again. Number, schedule and timing settings are kept.

More convenient: the “Mobility” button on your desk phone

If you want to switch Simultaneous Ring on and off frequently, URZ can add a “Mobility” button to your desk phone on request. It lets you switch Simultaneous Ring on or off directly on the phone – without signing in to the Self Care Portal.

  • Please note: The button takes the place of one of your speed dial buttons; that speed dial is then removed. Think about which speed dial you can do without beforehand.
  • If you have switched Simultaneous Ring off with the button, your schedule will not switch it back on. It stays off until you switch it on again with the button.

Request the button from URZ in the same way as the activation.

Frequently asked questions (FAQ)

The caller always sees only your office number on their display – even if you answer on your mobile. Your mobile number is not shown, and the caller cannot tell which phone you answered on.

Rufen Sie mit dem eingetragenen Handy eine Nummer innerhalb der TUBAF an – zum Beispiel bei einen Rückruf –, wird dort ebenfalls Ihre Büronummer angezeigt und nicht Ihre Handynummer. Das gilt nur für Anrufe zur TUBAF; bei Anrufen außerhalb der TUBAF sieht der Angerufene weiterhin Ihre Handynummer.

Wichtig, damit dies funktioniert ist, dass Sie Ihre Handynummer im internationalen Format, beginnend mit +49, ohne die führende Null und ohne Leerzeichen oder sonstige Zeichen (z.B. Schrägstriche, Klammern, Bindestriche usw.) einspeichern (z.B. +491712345678).

If you use the registered mobile to call a number within TUBAF – for example to call someone back – your office number is shown there as well, not your mobile number. This only applies to calls within to TUBAF; for external calls (outside TUBAF), the person you call still sees your mobile number.

For this to work, it is important that you save your cell phone number in international format during setup, starting with +49, without the leading zero and without spaces or other characters (e.g., slashes, parentheses, hyphens, etc.) (e.g., +491712345678).

Yes, you can add several additional phones and set for each one whether and when it should ring along.

To do this, go to the "Additional Phones" section in the user portal and click the plus sign (⊕) to add another device.

Check whether “Enable Single Number Reach” is ticked, whether the number has been entered correctly (with +49) and whether you are within your schedule. 
Also check whether you have set up call forwarding on your office phone. Call forwarding prevents your office phone from ringing. This means your mobile phone cannot ring at the same time as your office phone.

If that doesn’t help, the feature may not have been activated for you yet – please contact URZ (by Ticket), by mail to servicedesk [at] tu-freiberg [dot] de (servicedesk[at]tu-freiberg[dot]de), or by telephone on extension 1818 (from outside the University: 03731 39 1818).

Under “Advanced call timing”, increase the value for “using a time delay of … seconds” a little (e.g. from 1.5 to 3 seconds) so that the system recognises the voicemail as such. The option “requiring you to respond to a prompt to be connected” is more reliable (see above). Only if your mobile voicemail kicks in after a longer ringing time does it also help to shorten the ringing time of 19 seconds.

If this message appears when you try to add an additional phone, your account has not been activated yet.

Please contact URZ (by Ticket), by mail to servicedesk [at] tu-freiberg [dot] de (servicedesk[at]tu-freiberg[dot]de), or by telephone on extension 1818 (from outside the University: 03731 39 1818).
Please make sure to state the extension of your desk phone.

In case of questions or issues, please open a Ticket, call us by telephone on extension 1818 (from outside the University: 03731 39 1818) or send a mail to servicedesk [at] tu-freiberg [dot] de (servicedesk[at]tu-freiberg[dot]de).

Please provide your office extension number or details of how you can otherwise be contacted should we have any queries.