Comcast Business App BV/E trouble

We have BV/E but the mobile app either isn't working right or has design shortcomings.

When we install the app on the mobile phone and sign in, it seems to show everything the user can do through their portal account. They can see their seat's settings for thing such as call forwarding, name on the seat, etc. However, its use as the extension of the seat itself seems to be either not working for us or never built in to begin with. I would find the latter rather unsettling since every other Cloud PBX vendor has a properly-working mobile app. That's why I'm posting this so I can be shown how this could be because of "user error."

I can make an outgoing call through the app without trouble. The call is sent with the proper Caller ID associated with the BV/E account and not the cell phone's number. So that's fine.

The incoming calls are a big problem, though. When someone calls the BV/E extension, it does not ring at all on the mobile app. I called Comcast BV/E tech support (I presume Level 1 - they seemed unfamiliar with the product) and was told that either call forwarding to the cell number or turning on Be Anywhere with the cell number is necessary. This can't be the case because doing so would render the mobile app useless. If the cell phone doesn't answer, the caller hears the personal voice mail message on the cell phone instead of the BV/E seat's voice mail. Other Cloud PBX providers' mobile apps will ring when a call comes into the associated extension and, if there's no answer, the call is routed to the voice mail on the Cloud PBX for that extension. In other words, the incoming call isn't handled by the cell phone's native call handling at all.

Will you please provide some insight into this?

Thank you.

Responses

Comcast_Nick

Official Employee

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34 Messages

2 years ago

Hey @user_7bc0a4, thank you for reaching out to Comcast Business Support on our Forums. That is correct setting call forwarding would go to the cellphone's voicemail but it should go to the main voicemail when using Be Anywhere. If you were wanting it to go to multiple extensions, there is also the Hunt groups you could set up. There is an option to set up where they ring simultaneously or sequentially. Our website here walks you through managing that and the options.

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user_7bc0a4

New Member

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2 Messages

@Comcast_Nick

Thanks very much for the tip. I think I have now figured out the design behind the Comcast Business App.

First, the app isn't used to receive calls at all. Instead, incoming calls are accommodated by the use of the Be Anywhere feature but only if the Answer Confirmation feature is turned on. This is the only way BV/E can distinguish its calls from the others your cell phone receives.

Example:
If Be Anywhere is on with your cell phone on the list but without Answer Confirmation turned on, the cell phone will ring when a caller rings your seat (either by dialing your seat's DID or dialing a ring group to which your seat belongs.) These calls will ring your cell phone and get its personal voice mail message if the cell phone's "number of rings before voice mail" setting is lower than that of your BV/E seat.

If Be Anywhere is on with your cell phone on the list and with Answer Confirmation turned on, the cell phone will still ring when a caller rings your seat (either by dialing your seat's DID or dialing a ring group to which your seat belongs.) But now, when you or your cell phone's voice mail answers, BV/E will say, "press any digit to accept the call." BV/E won't consider the call actually answered unless it hears a DTMF tone. Therefore, unless you have a DTMF tone in the first few seconds of your cell phone's voice mail greeting (highly unlikely,) BV/E will time out and play its greeting to the caller.

Second, the app can be used to make outgoing calls through BV/E pressing "Make A Call." This will send the call with the Caller ID as configured within the BV/E portal. This is the identical behavior you would get by dialing the Be Anywhere number associated with your BV/E system (this is why a number can be on only one seat's Be Anywhere list.) Using the app to make outgoing calls just saves you the additional effort of dialing your Be Anywhere number.

So that's the method behind the Comcast Business app: Add your cell phone to the Be Anywhere list with Answer Confirmation turned on (in fact, the app itself may do this when it's installed.) If your cell phone rings and you don't recognize the calling number, listen for "press any digit to accept the call" when you answer. If you hear it, it's a BV/E call and you can decide to take the call or ignore it for BV/E voice mail. If you don't hear it, it's your Aunt Betty! So, say "Hello, aunt Betty! Thanks for the present!"

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2 years ago

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user_222f9e

New Member

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2 Messages

Thank you so much for this explainer. We just installed the BV/E system yesterday and had a lot of confusion with how to answer calls through the app. You note confirms that one cannot answer a call “in the app.” This is disappointing as that is what we were sold. With the Be Anywhere on function, it’s very difficult to know if an incoming call is a work or personal call.
We previously used RingCentral and the call would still ring on the phone like a regular call but below the number would be a RingCentral icon so we knew it was a work call.

I guess we have to make sure the answer confirmation is on and get used to the “press one” feature.

this is disappointing for us.

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2 years ago

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CC_Marcella

Contributor

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11 Messages

On behalf of Comcast/Xfinity, I want to extend my sincerest apologies for the negative experience that you are having with this phone feature. At Comcast/Xfinity, we pride ourselves on giving our 100% every day to ensure that our customers’ needs are being met. I know that we have let you down, and for that, we are very sorry. Is there anything else that I could help with to make your experience better?

I no longer work for Comcast.

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2 years ago

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