So there I am, on the my desk phone, talking to some very important client and I now have 45 minutes to make an appoint that is 1 hour away by car! The client is important and we have been trying to link up for days! I also have to be at this next appointment on time! This is where a new ShoreTel 11 feature called “twinning” comes in. While talking to my very important client, I hit a button on my phone labeled MOVE and my cell phone starts ringing! I answer the cell phone, hang up the desk phone and continue my conversation as I make a mad dash for the parking lot! How kool is that?
With the release of ShoreTel 11 you will find a new option under the ShoreTel Logo in the upper left hand corner of your call manager. Select “Additional phones” on the drop down list. This will provide another drop down list and you will select “configure additional phones”. This next screen will let you define two other phones that can ring when your main extension is called. Assume you put your cell phone in the “first phone” section. Set the number of Rings to 5 and check “Accept call by answering”.
Two actions will result: First, when someone calls your main extension, your cell phone will also ring. Secondly you will note a new toggle button appears in the display of your phone and it is labeled “AddOff/AddOn”. The new button allows you to enable and disable the “twin” ring at the push of a button! Now assume you have an active call on your office desk phone. You will note that the “addOff/AddOn” button has now changed to “MOVE”. During your active call you can depress “move” and the call will ring on to your Cell phone! Likewise, while you are on your cell phone, from a call that was “twinned”, you can press *23 and send the call back to your desk.
Now I know this is not what they had in mind when they were talking about “fixed mobile convergence”, but it works and it is a wonderful tool. The attached video illustrates the text description of how a user configures these options in their ShoreTel Communicator. Enjoy!