Members of a call pickup group know that another group member is receiving a call in two ways:

• Group members can hear the other telephone ring.

• The Call Pickup button status lamp on the telephones of all the group members flash.

For information on how to set up Call Pickup Alerting, see Enabling Call Pickup Alerting.

If the Call Pickup Alerting field on the Feature-Related System Parameters screen is set to n, members of the call pickup group must rely only on ringing to know when another group member receives a call. Pickup group members must be located close enough that they can hear the ringing of the other telephones.

To answer a call, a pickup group member can either press the Call Pickup button on the telephone, or dial the Call Pickup feature access code (FAC).

For more information, see Assigning a Call Pickup button to a user telephone, and Assigning a Call Pickup feature access code.

The Call Pickup Alerting feature is enhanced to support the SIP telephones. You need to upgrade the SIP telephone firmware 2.6 to take advantage of call pickup alerting on SIP telephones. You can activate an audible and a visual alert at a SIP telephone by administering the Call Pickup Ring Type and Call Pickup Indication fields available under the Screen and Sound Options menu on the SIP telephones.

For more information on how to administer the audible and visual alerting, see the user guide for your SIP telephone.

The Call Pickup Alerting field on the Feature-Related System Parameters screen determines how the Call Pickup button status lamps operate.

• If the Call Pickup Alerting field is set to n, the Call Pickup Button status lamps on all pickup group member telephones do not flash when a call comes in. When a pickup group member hears the telephone of another group member ring and presses the Call Pickup button to answer the call, the:

  • Call Pickup button status lamp of the answering group member becomes steadily lit for the duration of the call.

  • Telephone of the called group member stops ringing.

• If the Call Pickup Alerting field is set to y, the Call Pickup Button status lamps on all pickup group member telephones flash when a call comes in. When a pickup group member sees the Call Pickup button status lamp flash and presses the Call Pickup button to answer the call, the:

  • Call Pickup button status lamp of the answering group member goes out.

  • Call Pickup button status lamp of the called group member goes out.

  • Call Pickup button status lamps of the other pickup group members go out.

  • Telephone of the called group member stops ringing.

If another call comes into the pickup group,

• The call will alert to the answering group member. However, the answering group member cannot answer the call using the call pickup button unless the member puts the original call on hold. Once the group member is off the original call, that member is alerted for subsequent group calls and can answer the call using the call pickup button.

• The call alerts to all other group members and can be answered by any of these other group members.

In all scenarios, the call appearance button on the telephone of the called group member:

• Stays steadily lit if the Temporary Bridged Appearance on Call Pickup? field on the Feature-Related System Parameters screen is set to y. The called group member can join the call in progress by pressing the lit call appearance button. The person who picked up the call can either stay on the call or disconnect the call.

• Goes out if the Temporary Bridged Appearance on Call Pickup? field on the Feature-Related System Parameters screen is set to n. The called group member cannot join the call in progress.

The system uses an algorithm to select what call is answered when multiple calls ring or alert in a call pickup group at the same time. The system searches the extensions of the call pickup group until the system finds an extension with a call that is eligible to be answered with Call Pickup. The system selects this call to be answered. The next time that a group member answers a call with Call Pickup, the system bypasses the extension that was answered most recently, and starts the search at the next extension.

For example, if a group member attempts to use Call Pickup when two calls are ringing at extension A and one call is ringing at extension B, the system selects the calls in the following order:

• One of the calls to extension A

• The call to extension B

• The remaining call to extension A

The system also determines which call that a group member answers when multiple calls ring or alert at the same telephone. The system selects the call with the lowest call appearance, which is usually the call appearance that is nearest to the top of the telephone.

For example, when calls ring or alert at the second and the third call appearances, the system selects the call on the second call appearance for the user to answer.

From Communication Manager Release 6.3.6 onwards , call pickup alerting has changed. If the calling station and the called station belong to the same pickup group, both the stations will not get the pickup notification. However, other members of the pickup group will receive the notification. This behavior is applicable to all types of stations, such as DCP, H.323, and SIP. For example, Station A, Station B, and Station C are in a pickup group. If Station A is used to call to Station B, Station C will get the pickup notification. But, Station A and Station B will not get the pickup notification.