The primary number of a telephone is the extension assigned to the telephone when the telephone is administered. On the Station screen, the Extension field displays the primary number of the telephone. On a multiappearance telephone, multiple appearances of this primary number can exist.

A bridged call appearance is an appearance of a primary number on a different telephone. In most ways, the bridged call appearance acts like the primary number appearance. For example, when someone calls an extension, you can answer the call at the primary telephone or at the bridged call appearances of that extension. When a call is received, the primary telephone and the bridged call appearances alert visually, with audible ringing as an administrable option. Likewise, a call that is made from a bridged call appearance carries the display information and the Class of Restriction (COR) of the primary number.

You can use a bridged call appearance to perform operations such as conference, transfer, hold, drop, and priority calling.

If a call is transferred from a bridged appearance to another number and the call goes unanswered, the call returns to the bridged appearance. The call does not return to the primary number. On a bridged station without a line appearance, the call originator hears a reorder tone after the transfer recall timer expires.

For example, a user calls the primary number B and the call is answered from station A, the bridged appearance of station B. Station A performs a blind transfer to another station D, but the call is unanswered. The unanswered call returns to the call appearance of station A.

The enhanced Bridged Call Appearance feature is introduced for Communication Manager Release 6.3.2 and later. With this enhancement, Communication Manager matches the caller information on the bridged lines with the caller information on the principal stations. To avail this feature, set the Match BCA Display to Principal field on page 2 of the COS screen to y.