sundance-communications.com/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems Avaya - Lucent Telephones & Systems Autodial / Autocall with message

Hello all!

I was wondering if our phone system was capable of doing this, and if not what would you guys suggest we purchase so that we can.

Basically we have a small office and would like to set up everyone's number on a call list so that, for example, on a snow day when we want to start 2 hours late we can have the system call everyone on the list and play a recorded message when they pick up.

Is this possible?

We have a a Partner ACS Telephone system with a Partner Messaging R7.0 (6-port) Voicemail blade.

Thanks in advanced for any help!

I don't think that the Partner can do a broadcast. You would need to use some sort of external auto dialer.

One option would be to create a temporary auto attendant greeting. Have the message reflect a delayed opening and simply have people call in.

That was my solution, but my boss would like everyone to be called..

We work with general labors and some may not call or I am not sure.

If the system can not do it as it (didn't think it could), do you have any external items that you would recommend?

i know we've had this question before for a church and emergency notification I believe. I don't remember what the recommendation was but maybe some guys will remember those threads.

And no, the Partner system won't do it.

-Hal

phonetree.com is used by many churches to broadcast telephone messages - perhaps can be used for your application.

Yeah, we have several Churches around here that uses Phonetree for the prayer line.

I will give Phonetree a look, thank you guys.

You can also try free software from EFLO.net call Vicidial. Not as simple or direct as phonetree.com, but I like the price. And there's also a branch (different guys who are just borrowing the base code) called VicidialNOW that you can install from an .iso image and get it running very quickly.

We used to use Phone tree at my Temple but the problem with it was that it calls people one at a time, one after another. If you've got a lot of people it just takes too long.

We changed to PennAlert which is an Internet based product that calls everyone on the list simultaneously. No equipment to buy, just sign up and give them a credit card or a check on deposit. It's about $0.10/minute/call. If it's just an occasional thing this might be a good solution for you. (www.pennalert.com)

Sam