Ooma
Ooma Office has no direct connection to Reception.ai, so you connect it with call forwarding. Your receptionist answers on its own Reception.ai number, and Ooma forwards calls to it. Callers keep dialing your Ooma number.
First, go to Receptionists, select the Phone tile, and get a number. See Phone numbers. Ooma doesn’t forward to international numbers, so use a receptionist number in your own country.
Leave Require key press on answer off wherever you enter the receptionist’s number. It asks whoever answers to press 1 before the call connects, and your receptionist can’t press keys. Some forwarding guides tell you to turn it on, which makes every forwarded call fail.
Then pick one of the setups below.
Forward an extension’s calls
Open call handling
Sign in to the Ooma Office End User Portal at office.ooma.com and open Call Handling on the Settings page. In the Ooma Office desktop app, select your name, then Settings → Devices.
To forward only when the extension’s devices are offline, for example during an internet outage, turn on When all devices are offline, send calls to Forwarding number instead, and enter the receptionist’s number the same way.
From an Ooma Office desk phone, you can also dial *72, wait for the prompt, then dial your
receptionist’s number followed by #. Dial *74 to turn forwarding on or off. Star codes don’t
show the Require key press on answer option, so check it in the End User Portal afterward.
Use a shared external line
A shared external line lets your virtual receptionist, a ring group, or a call queue send calls to an outside number. It requires Ooma Office Pro Plus, and each account can have one.
Add the line
As an administrator, sign in to office.ooma.com and open the Settings page. From the ADD menu, select Shared External Line.
To ring your team before the receptionist without Pro Plus, forward every call to the receptionist and turn on Who answers first in Reception.ai. It rings a staff phone first and hands the call to the receptionist if nobody answers. The staff phone must be a different number from the one callers dial. See Who answers first.
What to know
- Caller ID: Extension forwarding lets you show the original caller’s number or your Ooma number. Ooma doesn’t document caller ID for shared external lines, so check it in your test call. If the receptionist sees your Ooma number instead of the caller’s, every call looks like it comes from the same number, and your receptionist can’t recognize returning callers by their number.
- Forwarding takes over: With Forward it immediately, only the receptionist’s number rings. Your extension’s devices don’t ring.
Test it
Call your Ooma number from another phone at a time when the routing you set applies. Check that your receptionist answers, then open Inbox and confirm which caller number the conversation shows. See Testing.