Number of rings - how NOT to optimize your hotline

Using number of rings as the rule for forwarding a hotline call to backups sounds clean. In practice, it often makes your routing less reliable, especially once calls are hitting cell phones instead of desk phones.

This breaks for a simple reason. Ring counting is a weak proxy for coverage. Carriers and devices do not agree on what a “ring” is, so the same call can ring four times on one phone and twice on another. When you build a policy on top of that, you end up with missed calls, uneven load, and burnout.

For a reliable alternative, use a workflow where routing follows schedules and has explicit fallbacks. Our main guide to call forwarding with scheduling and failover maps what “backup coverage” needs to mean in a real operation, and how to verify it.

Why teams end up using number of rings

Many agencies rely on “number of rings” to forward hotline calls to backup advocates, but it often doesn’t work as planned. In this article, a former crisis coordinator shares their experiences with this method. This guest post comes from someone who has worked at a non-profit agency assisting survivors of sexual violence. The insights shared are the author’s personal views. They were paid for writing this article.

If you are using ring counting as a substitute for on-call coverage rules, the most reliable alternative is a system where routing follows real schedules and has defined fallbacks. Our guide to call forwarding with scheduling and failover walks through that workflow. It replaces ring counting with a schedule-driven chain you can test.

What counting rings breaks in practice

Do you count the number of rings on the hotline?

Some agencies have a system where both the primary and backup advocates are called at once for a hotline shift. The primary should answer right away, while the backup jumps in if it rings too long. At a rape crisis center I worked, daytime hotline calls went to all office phones at once, but that approach wasn’t effective for us.

Counting rings reduced the quality of service

When I was on a call or in a meeting, the office phones would all ring, distracting everyone. I often had to prepare to answer the hotline. The ring system stopped advocates from focusing fully on survivors. Since we depended on it, if we missed a call, we couldn’t quickly get back to the caller.

Counting rings limited the agency

When hotline calls came in, our team would count rings, waiting to pick up after six rings. This didn’t work during busy times. Calls went unanswered because we couldn’t keep up.

Counting rings was not possible during work-from-home

The system got tougher with remote work as calls were sent to personal phones. Hotline calls often appeared as “Spam Likely,” causing staff to miss calls. Plus, not all phones rang simultaneously. Mine might ring four times, while my coworker’s only rang twice. This meant some advocates answered more calls, even off-shift.

Switching to HelplineSoftware.com solved all of our problems

It turns out that the reason our phones were ringing a different number of times was due to reception issues. Helpline Software worked with us to resolve that issue. Furthermore, they update us in real time when an on-call advocate's phone is out of reception.

Counting rings is an easy rule to explain, but it is not a reliable rule to run. When coverage rotates and calls hit cell phones, you need a system that owns “what happens next,” not a timeout.

For a complete framework on designing reliable routing (including escalation patterns, fallback logic, and what to require from any system), see call routing solutions. It gives you a set of requirements you can use in a demo or an internal review.

Getting started

Want help mapping your backup coverage rules?

Book a short call to review your current setup and where calls keep going sideways. If email is easier, reach out at sales@helplinesoftware.com.

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