Call screening ("press a key to accept") makes the person who answers a forwarded call press a key before the caller is connected. A human presses a key; a voicemail box or "switched off" message never does. So screening stops an employee's voicemail from grabbing the call while the other phones stop ringing. On Edesy it's on by default for new forwarding rules.
Turn on screening for your number: Open the Call Forwarding portal and edit your forwarding rule.
The problem screening solves
Forwarding sends a call to your team's mobile phones. Mobile networks often "answer" a call themselves when the phone is:
- switched off or out of coverage,
- busy on another call,
- set to divert unanswered calls to voicemail,
- in a mode that plays an announcement.
To the forwarding system, all of these look like an answered call. With ring-all forwarding, whichever phone "answers" first wins and the others stop ringing. If that's a voicemail box, the customer is talking to a recording while three people who could have picked up never got the chance.
With one-by-one forwarding, a voicemail on the first phone stops the sequence: the call never moves on to the second person.
How press-a-key-to-accept works
| Step | Caller hears | Team member hears |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Call arrives on your business number | Ringing | Their phone rings |
| 2. Team member answers | Still ringing | "You have a forwarded call. Press any key to accept." |
| 3a. They press any key within about 8 seconds | Connected | Connected to the caller |
| 3b. No key pressed (voicemail, announcement) | Still ringing | That leg hangs up |
| 4. After 3b | Other phones keep ringing, or the next number in the list is tried | n/a |
The prompt plays only to your team member. The caller never hears it.
What it looks like with each strategy
Ring all at once. Every phone rings. If one is answered by voicemail, that leg waits for a key press, gets none, and drops out. The other phones are still ringing and the first real person to press a key gets the call. See simultaneous vs sequential forwarding.
One by one. The first phone rings for its ring time. If voicemail picks up, no key is pressed, that leg ends and Edesy moves on to the next number. The call reaches a person instead of stopping at a recording.
Screening also tells your team "this is a business call"
The prompt itself is useful. When an employee's personal mobile rings, they know from "You have a forwarded call" that a customer is on the line, and can answer in a business voice. You can pair this with the caller ID setting:
| Caller ID shown to your team | When to use |
|---|---|
| The original caller's number | Your team needs to recognise or call back the customer |
| Your virtual business number | Staff should always know it's a business call, and you don't want personal phones to store customer numbers |
Recommended settings
| Setting | Recommendation |
|---|---|
| Call screening | On for any rule with mobile targets |
| Ring time per person (one by one) | 15 to 20 seconds to start, then adjust from the call log |
| Answer on bridge | On (default): the caller hears real ringing and is connected only when someone accepts |
| Fallback | A backup number or decline when nobody accepts |
| Recording | Per number, if you need it |
When to turn screening off
Screening adds one key press and a second or two to every answered call. You can switch it off per rule when:
- every target is a desk phone or SIP line that has no voicemail,
- your team takes many short calls and the key press slows them down,
- you've tested the targets and none of them divert to voicemail.
If even one target is a mobile phone that can divert, keep it on. The cost of one lost lead to a voicemail box is higher than a key press.
Common questions from teams
"I pressed a key but the caller had already gone." The caller hung up while phones were ringing. Look at the call log for time-to-answer, and shorten the ring list or ring times.
"My phone rang and stopped." On ring-all, someone else accepted first. On one-by-one, your ring time ran out and the next person was tried.
"Can the prompt be in Hindi?" The prompt is a fixed English line today. Keep this in mind if your team prefers Hindi; it's short and most people learn it after a couple of calls.
Setting it up
- Open your rule on the Call Forwarding portal.
- Check that "press a key to accept" is on.
- Call your business number from another phone and let one target's phone go to voicemail on purpose.
- Confirm the call moves on to the next person.
- Check the call log entry: who connected and how long the call took.
The same option is available on rules created through the API (confirm_required on
/v1/forwarding/rules). See the call forwarding docs.
Price
Screening is included. Forwarded calls cost Rs 1.00 per minute plus number rental (Rs 499 a month for a mobile or 92-series number, Rs 449 for a landline), plus 18% GST. With answer on bridge, the call is connected only when someone accepts. See call forwarding pricing and all forwarding features.
Set up screened forwarding or read more about call forwarding.