How to Set Up Call Center Queues

Keep callers waiting for the right agent

A Call Center Queue holds callers with music while it offers calls to eligible agents. Use it for a support team, reception or a department that needs a waiting line. Team Ringing (Ring Groups) rings destinations but is not an agent queue. A queue, an agent and the agent's assignment to a queue are separate settings.

1. Open Call Centers

1. Open Settings → Phone Numbers and open Call Flow for the correct business number and location.
2. Select Call Centers. The list shows each queue's name, internal extension, agents and strategy.
3. Use Add Call Queue for a new queue, or the pencil to edit an existing one.

Creating a queue does not automatically route your business number to it. Finish the setup and test it before changing the live incoming route.

2. Create the queue

• Name: use a recognizable department name. Description is optional.
• Greeting: optionally choose a recording played once before the caller joins the queue.
• How calls are shared out: choose a strategy from the guide below.
• Music on hold: choose the music callers hear while waiting.
• Maximum wait: set the overall waiting limit.
• Maximum wait with no agents: set the no-agent waiting limit. This is different from how long an individual agent's phone rings.
• If nobody answers: choose a fallback such as a voicemail. If this is empty, the call is hung up when the waiting limit is reached. Avoid routing back to the same queue.

Review recording and other options, then click Save. The queue receives an internal extension. Save the new queue first, then reopen it to add agents.

Before assigning your team, follow How to Add and Manage Call Center Agents for status, ringing and wrap-up settings.

3. Assign agents to the saved queue

1. Return to Call Queues and edit the saved queue.
2. Click Add Agent and select the desired extension. Repeat for the team. An extension already assigned to this queue is excluded from the picker.
3. Set Level and Position. Level groups agents into tiers; Position sets their ordering within the tier for strategies that use order. Lower values come first.
4. Check each agent's status and click Save. Reopen the queue to verify the assignments and settings.

Use the same level for a simple team. Use separate levels for primary and backup staff, with the level rules below. Creating an agent without assigning it to the queue is not enough.

4. Choose a distribution strategy

• Round Robin: rotates the starting agent across calls instead of always starting with the first.
• Ring everyone: rings eligible free agents together; the first answer takes the call.
• Longest waiting agent: favors the agent who has been without a call the longest, not the caller who has waited the longest.
• Top down: starts each call at the beginning of the agent list and works downward.
• In the order listed: offers calls one agent at a time using the configured order.
• Least talk time: favors the agent with the lowest tracked talk time.
• Fewest calls: favors the agent with the fewest tracked calls.
• Random: chooses an agent at random; consecutive calls may select the same agent.

Strategies work with agent availability, ringing and retry timers, and applicable level rules. They do not override a logged-out agent or an unreachable phone. Round Robin belongs to Call Center; it is not the Ring Group Rollover option.

5. Review advanced options

• Count the wait from: chooses whether waiting credit is based on entry to this queue or the original incoming call. It is not the agent's ring timeout.
• Clear callers who hung up after: controls retention of abandoned queue entries; it is not a timer that disconnects a caller still waiting.
• Tag on the agent screen: adds a label to help identify queue calls.
• Level rules: enables tier-based distribution. Review Wait before the next level, Multiply the wait by the level and Skip levels with nobody logged in when using backup tiers.
• Record calls: controls the queue's recording option. Verify an actual test recording when recording is required.

Leave advanced options at understood settings; test tier timing before using it in a live route. Re-apply to the phone system is not a call test; consult support before using it to troubleshoot a live queue.

6. Connect the queue to incoming calls

For direct routing, return to the business-number section of Call Flow, choose the queue in Select Action for Incoming Calls and save. If Business Hours or a Phone Menu (IVR) must run first, keep that entry point and choose the queue as the appropriate destination instead. Do not bypass your closed-hours route unintentionally.

7. Test before going live

• Confirm agents are assigned, available and reachable on their extensions.
• Place a controlled call and verify the greeting, hold music, answer and two-way audio.
• Use at least two agents and repeat calls to check the intended distribution.
• Test busy, rejected and unanswered offers, wrap-up time and automatic break behavior.
• Test with all agents logged out, and let a call reach the maximum wait. Confirm the correct fallback rather than a hangup or loop.
• Verify business hours, IVR routing and any required recordings.

Saved settings are not proof of successful call delivery. If no phone rings, check queue membership, global agent status, phone registration/DND, wrap-up and retry delays, and level rules. If callers are disconnected, check both wait limits and the fallback. Contact support with the queue name/extension, test time, called number and what happened.

Related guide

How to Create a Ring Group for Multiple Extensions or Cell Phones

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