Home > Help, Info, Tips, Advice, Specs, Fun > Hunting: the most
misunderstood thing
in the phone business

Hunting: the most
misunderstood thing
in the phone business

Hunting: the most<br>misunderstood thing<br>in the phone business
Item# humomiinte

Product Description



Let's say you have three phone lines, 555-8500, 555-8501 and 555-8793.
 
If someone tries to call you on 555-8500, while you're talking on that line, she should get a busy signal, because the call encounters a "road block" at your local phone company's central office.

 
However, if your phone company provides "hunting," the call will "hunt" for another "road" -- your next available line -- and reach you on 555-8501 or 555-8793.
  • Some phone companies have other names for this service, such as ISG (Incoming Service Group), Roll-Over, Rotary, and Call Forward on Busy. They can do the same thing, but may have different prices, and might even be free.
  • Many people think that their own multi-line phones or phone systems can provide hunting from one phone line to another; but it doesn't matter if you paid $50 or $5,000,000 for your phone gear: ONLY the phone company can do it.
  • If you don't have hunting, a second caller can reach phone company voicemail, but not your own voicemail system.

    • Photo at top shows Groucho Marx as hunter Jeffrey Spaulding in Animal Crackers, an absolutely hilarious movie (Paramount, 1930).
  • "One morning, I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got in my pajamas, I don't know. Then we tried to remove the tusks, but they were imbedded so firmly that we couldn't budge them. Of course, in Alabama, the Tuscaloosa, but that's entirely irr-elephant to what I was talking about."