For training or other purposes, it is sometimes useful for an office administrator to be able to listen in on a call that is taking place on another handset.

This is known on IPCortex systems as Call Barge and is normally achieved by dialling *9nnn or #9nnn, where nnn is the extension number of the user to be barged (not necessarily the extension the call came in on). This is known on some other systems as Call Spy - as it isn’t possible for the person barging to be heard by the external party.

This feature is only available on Pro, Virtual Edition, and SPP platforms.

*9 enables a listen only barge, and #9 enables whisper so that the voice of the person barging can be heard by the person using the barged handset.

In both cases, xxx refers to the extension number of the person/device you wish to barge. You must use their owned extension for this, even if the call is coming in on another line.

Multiple people can barge or whisper to the same call simultaneously. However for whisper functionality - the people barging the call will only be able to talk to the person using the barged handset, not to other bargers.

Permissions

For security and privacy reasons this facility is only accessible from phones that have been given extra access privileges by being configured with Phone can barge permission. It will also be disabled if the phone has been allowed to call Extension numbers only. Additionally, the target handset must be flagged as Phone can be barged.

A global PIN number can be set for call barge on the global/passwords screen, or on the system/company screen in multi-company systems.