Phone Preferences

The Phone Preferences screen stores shared, account-wide settings for your phone system. To access it, open the gear menu in your administration area and select Phone Preferences.

Phone Defaults

The Phone Defaults section lets you set account-wide defaults for Music on Hold, Caller ID, E911, time zone, international dialing, park lines, overflow voicemail, and simultaneous call limits. Note that some settings—such as E911, Music on Hold, and park orbits—can be overridden within Organizations for specific groups of extensions.

Here is a list of the options and what they do:

Music On Hold — Specifies the default music on hold for your account. Additional music options can be uploaded as MP3 files on the Music screen within the phone system.

Caller ID — Sets the default Caller ID number for the account. You may temporarily use a number not hosted with WebFones during porting or transition. All available numbers on the account will appear in the selection popup.

E911 Selection — Required for every account. This is the default E911 address used when no other address is set at the organization, location, or extension level. Be sure to review Setup E911 and configure E911 for your numbers so they appear in this list.

Time Zone — Sets the default time zone for your company. You can override this for individual extensions or Organizations, but when no override exists, this default is used for call records, schedules, and system timestamps.

International Dialing — When enabled, extensions may place international calls. When disabled, no extensions can. You can turn it on globally and then selectively disable it for specific extensions if needed.

Call Parking Lines — Sets the account-wide default number of parking lines shown on phones. This can be overridden at the organization level, since each organization has its own park group.

Overflow Voicemail — Specifies the extension that will receive calls when your system reaches its maximum simultaneous call limit.

Simultaneous Calls — Defines the maximum number of concurrent calls allowed on the system. Your plan includes one simultaneous call path per user (e.g., 10 users = 10 included call paths).

Recording Defaults

The Recording Defaults section lets you configure global call-recording permissions and settings. Users listed here receive system-wide access to all call recordings. If you want more granular control, leave this section empty and assign access at the phone-number or extension level instead.

Access to Recordings — Users in this list can listen to all call recordings across the system. Their access is combined with any permissions set on individual phone numbers or extensions to determine who can access each call. If you prefer restricted or targeted access, configure permissions at those more specific levels.

Record Warning Message — This message plays once at the start of a call—before the first ring—to inform callers that calls may be recorded for quality assurance. A standard message is provided, but you may select a different audio file if you prefer custom wording. This setting must be enabled for each phone number.

Phone Defaults

The Phone Defaults section lists phone-specific features that can be enabled or disabled.

Phone Forwarding — Allows users to set call forwarding directly on their Polycom phones. We strongly recommend keeping this disabled. Forwarding loops can occur if a phone forwards to an extension or number that ultimately routes back to the original phone, causing difficult-to-diagnose busy signals across the system. If you choose to enable this, enforce strict usage guidelines.

Phone DnD — Enables the Do Not Disturb feature on Polycom phones. Users must know how to turn DnD on and off—accidental activation is common and often mistaken for phone malfunction. Enable this feature only if needed and if your users are trained on how it works.

Expert Area

The Expert tab on the Defaults page contains advanced configuration options for the phone system. We recommend leaving these settings unchanged unless directed by support.

Reboot Phones Nightly — Automatically restarts phones during the night. Phones must be connected to the phone servers at the scheduled time to receive the reboot command. Note that any DnD or forwarding settings on the phones will reset to their defaults after each reboot.

Jitter Buffer — Helps smooth audio caused by unstable internet connections. If callers occasionally sound garbled or cut out, a jitter buffer may help. However, enabling it can introduce up to a one-second delay, which becomes more noticeable on calls forwarded to mobile devices.

Voicemail Retrieval Extension — This setting typically should not be changed unless absolutely necessary.

Conference Calling Capability — Allows you to disable certain WebFones features that can interfere with third-party conference calling services.

Music on Hold for Outbound Calls — When placing an outbound call on hold (especially when dialed into an external conference service), Music on Hold may play to the far end. If this causes issues, you can disable Music on Hold for outbound calls.

Pound Features for Outbound Calls — The “#” features used for transfer and other in-call actions may conflict with the dialing requirements of external conference services. You can disable these features to avoid interference.