Voipfone Voipfone
Voipfone

PBX Business Hours

PBX Business Hours

You can set the hours that your business is open and closed so that when you are closed your calls go directly to your voicemail, or to another destination.

You can set different times for each day so that if you have an early day closing or close over the weekend your phones can match your working day.

You can change your hours any time you like and as often as you like from your Control Panel on our web site from anywhere.

Multiple weekly schedules & holiday calendars

Multiple weekly schedules & holiday calendars

Forward calls when closed

Forward calls when closed

Alternate voicemail greetings

Alternate voicemail greetings

How Much Does It Cost?

Business hours is included free with extensions on all of our monthly plans and on Voipfone Flex

Compare Plans

How Do I Use It?

The first step is to create your Business Hours Schedule(s). A schedule is a set of weekly opening hours and holiday dates that can be applied to one or more of your Call Groups and Extensions. You can define as many different schedules as you need, allowing you to have different opening hours for the various departments in your company.

Weekly Hours

The weekly hours are your basic opening hours that will repeat every week, unless overridden by the Calendar or a Temporary Closure.

Start by heading to the Business Hours page and click "Create Your First Schedule" or "Add".

Give your schedule a name, and decide whether you want your business hours to apply to internal calls (calls between your extensions). Click "Next".

Business Hours Schedule

Now set your weekly opening hours. Untick the "Open all Day" box and set your opening and closing times. If you have already defined another schedule, you have the option to copy its opening hours to your new schedule to save time.

Business Hours Weekly

If you need more than one opening period in the day (for example, if you are closed for lunch), click the + icon at the end of the row and then set the hours for the next period.

Business Hours Time Periods

You now have the opportunity to copy the holiday calendar from one of your other schedules, or import a set of UK bank holidays. The bank holidays default to "closed all day". if you have special opening hours on those days, you can edit the calendar once you have finished creating this schedule.

Business Hours Copy Calendar

When you are happy with your hours, click "Next" and then "Finish" to save them. Your new schedule will appear in the list of schedules on the Business Hours tab. If you want to rename your schedule or change how the hours are applied to internal calls, click the "Settings" button. To change your regular weekly hours, click the "Weekly" button.

You can now use the "Extensions" and "Groups" tabs to select which schedule to apply to each of your extensions and groups.

Business Hours

Calendar

The calendar allows you to set special opening hours on specific dates such as Bank Holidays, or for a range of dates (for example if your company is closed for Christmas). From the list of schedules on the Business Hours tab, click the "Calendar" button, which brings up a list of all the dates you have set so far.

Business Hours Calendar
Business Hours Calendar Item

Temporary Closure

You can close without disrupting your weekly hours or calendar settings by applying a temporary closure.

From the list of schedules on the Business Hours tab, click the "Temporary Closure" button, and then select the type of closure you would like:

Business Hours Temporary Closure

Routing Calls When Closed

Business Hours Schedules can be applied to Call Groups or to individual Extensions.

Call Groups

To set the Schedule for a Call Group, visit the Call Groups page in your Control Panel, click the Groups tab, and then choose yourSchedule from the Business Hours drop-down list. If you do not choose a Schedule, the Call Group will be treated as always open.

When the Schedule says that the Call Group is closed, the caller will normally hear an engaged tone. To send the call to voicemail instead, enable Group Voicemail for the Call Group on the Configure Voicemails page.

Alternatively, the call can be diverted to another Call group, Extension, mobile number etc. Simply go to the Call Diverts page, click the Groups tab and choose your desired destination from the "When Closed" drop-down list.

Extensions

To set the Schedule for an Extension, visit the PBX Extensions page in your Control Panel, and choose the Schedule from the Business Hours drop-down list. If you do not choose a Schedule, the Extension will be treated as always open.

When the Schedule says that the Extension is closed, the caller will normally hear an engaged tone. To send the call to voicemail instead, tick the Voicemail box for the Extension on the PBX Extensions page.

Alternatively, the call can be diverted to Extension, Call group, mobile number etc. Simply go to the Call Diverts page, click the Extensions tab and choose your desired destination from the "When Closed" drop-down list.

Voicemail Greetings When Closed

You can upload an alternate custom voicemail greeting to be used when the Call Group or Extension is closed. Either a professionally recorded greeting or one of your own can be used. All greetings must be in MP3 format.

If a "When Closed" greeting has not been uploaded, the custom "When Open" greeting will be used (if one has been uploaded), otherwise the default Voipfone voicemail greeting will be played instead.

Got a question?

New technology can seem confusing at first, but don't worry, we are here to help!

Your call, email or chat will be handled by one of our real live
customer services representatives - no AI, no bots!

Got a Question?

You can speak to one of our Customer Service representatives by calling our dedicated Customer service line on 0345 868 5555 and we will be happy to answer any questions you have.

Configure Services

Log in to your online control panel to configure your services. With Voipfone's online control panel you can manage your account in real time, from your PC anywhere in the world.

Signup

You can try our service for FREE - without risk or commitment. Firstly, we'll give you a free incoming 056 telephone number so that people can call you from ordinary telephones.