What is vPhone and how does it work?

Once you download the Chrome browser plug in, vPhone allows you to set up and receive inbound calls from PhoneBurner. 

Here are some videos to help you get started:

• What does vPhone look like

• How to set up vPhone 

• vPhone settings

How does Local ID and Caller ID work with vPhone? 

• If the setting to use vPhone number for dial sessions is turned on,  Local ID will still take priority if no Local ID number is found for the area being called, then the vPhone number is used.

• If Local ID not available/purchased,  then vPhone ID will be used.

• If the vPhone number caller id is turned off, then Local ID is also disabled.

Understanding Call Routing:

• vPhone allows the call to be routed in 3 ways, to the extension, to an existing phone number, and to voicemail. The first two are simultaneous, meaning if both are enabled both will ring at the same time, and the first one to answer will get the call.

• The important thing to understand is that an existing phone number will likely answer the call if the device is turned off (for example, a cell phone will answer immediately with the phone's voicemail). So if you have enabled routing to both extension and existing phone number, but your phone off, the extension will likely never ring because your phone's voicemail will pick up immediately. 

• Some virtual PBX systems (RingCentral) also answer the phone immediately (though they play a ringing sound the the caller), and then route the call to the user's device. This means routing to one of those phone numbers with vPhone will effectively bypass the extension as the other system will always 'answer' first (even though it doesn't appear that way ). 

• When routing/forwarding to an existing number, vPhone will always ask the answerer to 'accept' the call. This cannot be disabled, as it ensures that the call is not routed to an external voicemail.

• When routing to voicemail is enabled, vPhone only routes thereafter the other routes have not answered the call (our time out just a little less than 30 seconds, designed to time out before a normal phone will answer with voicemail). If the only other route is the extension, and the extension is not connected, then voicemail will answer right away (when the extension is offline, we know that, so we don't wait for the timeout). If no other route is defined, voicemail will answer right away. 

Understanding the Extension / Softphone:

• Currently, the extension has no awareness of what user is logged in (if any) to Phoneburner in the browser. That means you must log into the extension to use it, and that it's completely possible for one user to be logged into the extension and another into the site. Make sure you are logged in correctly if you share a computer with another user. 

• The extension's softphone must be enabled to answer calls via the extension. Before it can be enabled, the extension must be granted microphone access. It is possible to enabled / disable the softphone while leaving the extension in a logged in state.