telephony Telephony ( ) is the field of technology involving the development, application, and deployment of telecommunication services for the purpose of electronic transmission of voice, fax, or data, between distant parties. The history of telephony is i ...

, line hunting (or hunt group) is the method of distributing phone calls from a single

telephone number A telephone number is a sequence of digits assigned to a landline telephone subscriber station connected to a telephone line or to a wireless electronic telephony device, such as a radio telephone or a mobile telephone, or to other devices f ...

to a group of several phone lines. Specifically, it refers to the process or

algorithm In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm () is a finite sequence of rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific Computational problem, problems or to perform a computation. Algorithms are used as specificat ...

used to select which line will receive the call. Hunt groups are supported by some PBX phone systems. Also, some phone companies will provide this feature for a small fee (see also:

Centrex Centrex is a portmanteau of central exchange, a kind of telephone exchange. It provides functions similar to a PBX, but is provisioned with equipment owned by, and located at, the telephone company premises. Centrex service was first installed ...

). In the tariffs of some telephone companies, one may obtain hunting for free, but forward on busy is a charged service.

Multi-line hunting

''Multiline hunting'' (sometimes MLH, ''line hunting'' or MHG, ''multiline hunting group'') is a

feature Feature may refer to: Computing * Feature (CAD), could be a hole, pocket, or notch * Feature (computer vision), could be an edge, corner or blob * Feature (software design) is an intentional distinguishing characteristic of a software item ...

that allows multiple

telephone line A telephone line or telephone circuit (or just line or circuit industrywide) is a single-user circuit on a telephone communication system. It is designed to reproduce speech of a quality that is understandable. It is the physical wire or ot ...

s going into a business to act as a single group, called a ''hunt group''. This type of fallback is a somewhat more complex form of

call forwarding Call forwarding, or call diversion, is a telephony feature of all telephone switching systems which redirects a telephone call to another destination, which may be, for example, a mobile or another telephone number where the desired called party is ...

. If the line called is busy, the call goes to the next available line. Only if no lines in the group are open does the

calling party The calling party (in some contexts called the "A-Number") is a person who (or device that) initiates a telephone call. The person who, or device that, receives a telephone call is the called party (or callee or B-party). In some countries, it is ...

get a

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Linear hunting

In ''linear hunting'', calls are always delivered to the lowest-numbered available line. This is also referred to as ''serial hunting'' or ''terminal hunting''. It resembles ''busy/no-answer call forwarding''. Calls are always delivered to the first line, unless it is busy—then the second, third, and remaining lines are considered in succession. This configuration is most often found on multi-line phones found at small businesses. For

automatic call distributor An automated call distribution system, commonly known as automatic call distributor (ACD), is a telephony device that answers and distributes incoming calls to a specific group of terminals or agents within an organization. ACDs direct calls based ...

systems with high call volumes, this is usually the least preferable method, because calls will arrive at destinations that are in the process of completing the previous call, and depending on the circumstances, may be the least prepared to take the call. Linear hunting can also cause problems in automated equipment that answers calls, particularly if a destination extension fails on a lower-numbered line. This extension will disrupt a disproportionately high percentage of the incoming calls, whereas circular hunting will spread that disruption evenly throughout all the calls, minimizing the possibility for a major disruption.

Circular hunting

In ''circular hunting'', the calls are distributed "round-robin". If a call is delivered to line 1, the next call goes to 2, the next to 3. The succession throughout each of the lines continues even if one of the previous lines becomes free. When the end of the hunt group is reached, the hunting starts over at the first line. Lines are skipped only if they are still busy on a previous call. Circular hunting is a good way to distribute calls to electronic answering equipment such as fax machines.

Most-idle hunting

In ''most-idle hunting'', calls are always delivered to whichever line has been idle the longest. This considers the length of time that the calltaker has been busy versus available. This is typically used in call centers where the calls are being answered by people, to distribute the load evenly.

References

Calling features

Multi-line hunting

Linear hunting

Circular hunting

Most-idle hunting

See also

References