Symptom
When using an Auto Attendant to dial out to an external line, you receive a busy signal/call drop.
Applies to
- Admin Console
- Auto Attendants
Resolution
For an Auto Attendant to forward calls out to an external number, the phone number receiving the inbound call must be assigned to a user or service first. An unassigned number will not support forwarding to an off‑net (external) destination. You need to involve a user/number in some way:
- One method would be to assign a number to the Auto Attendant.
- The second method is to assign the Auto Attendant’s 8x8 number to a user account, then configure that user’s call forwarding to the external number. Calls to the AA number are then forwarded out via that user’s forwarding rules.
- Another method is to forward calls from the Auto Attendant to a user or ring group, and then configure that user/ring groups call forwarding rules to dial out to the external number.
The above approaches rely on a number being associated with either the Auto Attendant, with a user or extension that handles the external forwarding.
Note: Essentially, when placing a call to the Auto Attendant to forward out to the external line from the Auto Attendant that is not assigned to a number, there is no phone number to associate with the call, and the carrier rejects it with a 403 FORBIDDEN.
Causes
- Concurrent external calls has been reached
- No user/service/number is assigned to the Auto Attendant