18.10. Call pickup/steal

By default it is possible to pick-up a ringing call to a telephone or hunt group by dialling a prefix (default *) and the extension number of the telephone or hunt group. This stops the call ringing the phone or hunt group and connects it to the phone that dialled the pick up code.

Tip

You can restrict which phones are allowed to pick up or steal a call in the telephone and hunt group configuration.

Using the same code you can also steal an active call from a telephone. This hangs up the telephone and moves the call to the phone that dialled the code.

Tip

Call stealing is useful as a sort of reverse call transfer which works well in an open office. Someone can say "I have a call for you on 406" and you can dial *406 to steal the call from them. This is quicker, saves them asking your extension number, and avoids putting the caller on hold. It is much like key and lamp systems where someone might say "There is a call for you on line 3".