Ring Groups control how incoming calls are distributed across people, departments, or destinations. Unlike Departments, Ring Groups are purely call-flow tools—they do not represent teams or ownership structures. Ring Groups are commonly used in Welcome Menus, scheduled routing, and overflow scenarios.
What are Ring Groups?
Ring Groups are distinct from Departments and individual call forwarding rules. Use Ring Groups when you need:
- Controlled distribution of incoming calls across people, teams, or destinations.
- Tiered or sequential call routing (escalation, overflow, or backup handling).
- Time-based or conditional call flows connected to Welcome Menus or Schedules.
Ring Groups focus on how calls move through your system, not on organizational structure or ownership of an extension.
Access Ring Group Settings
You can manage Welcome Menus from the Settings portal.
- Log in to the net2phone desktop or browser app with Admin credentials.
- Click your profile icon in the top right corner.
- Click Company Settings from the left navigation menu.
You will be redirected to the Settings portal. - Select the Ring Groups page from the right navigation menu.
There is a refresh button on this page if you need to update the list of ring groups.
There are two different list views. By default, the page will open to All Ring Groups. If you want to focus on team member management, click Team Member Status.
Add a new Ring Group
Create a new ring group when you need a tiered or controlled distribution system for handling incoming calls.
- Click Add Ring Group. Under the Settings tab, enter the following information:
- Enter a unique Name and an Extension (the automated extension is sequential).
- If needed, choose a phone number in the Assigned Numbers field.
- Choose where to Send SMS: the default value "All Company" will make the SMS visible to everyone; alternatively, you can select a team member or a department.
- (Optional) Enable call recording by clicking the toggle.
- Click Next to open the Call Routing tab.
Ring Group Call Routing
Calls to the ring group will be routed based on the time blocks within this section.
⚠️ Avoid infinite forwarding loops with “If Call Not Answered”
Every ring group must have a defined ending. Avoid configurations that route calls back into the same ring group or create circular call paths. If no tiers are configured, incoming calls will bypass tier routing and go directly to the If Call Not Answered destination.
While additional tiers are optional, the If Call Not Answered setting is required. Available destinations include:
- Team member
- Department
- Ring group
- Welcome menu
- Special extension
- Forwarding number
- Hang up
If you select a team member or department, you can also choose to send the call directly to voicemail.
Ring Group tiers
You must have at least 1 tier for each ring group.
- Within the Call Routing tab of a Ring Group configuration page, click on Add Tiers.
Example: Ring Group configuration page with the second tab, Call Routing, open. - Set the number of Rings before timeout for each tier.
- Click in the Tiers dropdown box to select as many Team Members, Departments or Special Extensions as you want to include in the Ring Group.
- (Optional) Click Add Forwarding Number if you need to add an external number to the ring group.
- Choose a call routing option for If Call Not Answered.
- Click Save to create the ring group.
Multi-tier ring groups
Ring Groups can include multiple tiers to control how calls escalate when they are not answered. If a call is not answered in the first tier, it moves to the next tier in the order defined.
- To add another tier, click Add New Tier and configure it using the same options as the previous tier.
- You can remove a tier at any time by clicking the Delete button.
Save your changes!
The system will give a warning if you navigate away before saving your changes.
Reassign and delete Ring Groups
To remove a ring group:
- Click the Delete button on the right side of the ring group you want to remove.
The popup will offer you the opporunity to reassign the ring group phone number. - Click the Delete button to confirm.
To reassign a ring group number,
- Find the ring group you want to edit within the settings configuration page.
- Click the drop-down menu under the Phone Numbers column.
- Select the new number you want to assign to the selected ring group.
Success: the page will automatically refresh, and the number you have chosen will display in the Phone Number column.
