Call Duration Limit

A call duration limit automatically disconnects a conversation after a specified number of minutes. The setting is configured at the company level: you enable the limit, choose the number of minutes, and select which call directions it applies to. When a conversation reaches the limit, the 4phone platform ends the call for both parties. This helps keep conversations within company guidelines—such as 30 minutes—or automatically terminate abnormally long calls.

Tip

The timer starts when the call is answered, not from the first ring. Dialing time, queue hold time, and IVR navigation do not count toward the limit.

In simple terms

With a 30-minute limit and a call answered at 10:00:00:

What happens	What the participants experience
The call is ringing, not yet answered	Nothing changes; the timer has not started
The recipient answers at 10:00:00	The conversation proceeds normally; the 30-minute countdown begins
At 10:30:00	The call is disconnected for both parties

The limit applies company-wide. There is no separate per-employee or per-queue duration limit.

What to prepare

Before enabling

1. Decide which calls the limit should apply to: inbound only, outbound only, or all calls.
2. Choose the duration in minutes from 1 to 1440. The default is 30.
3. If you need the limit for inbound calls, make sure your DID numbers are already routed to employees or queues. See How to Set Up a DID Number and Route for details.
4. Administrator role or higher is required. Other users view this setting in read-only mode.

How call direction is determined

The limit is applied based on call direction, which the platform determines automatically:

1. Inbound. Calls arriving on your DID number or from a SIP trunk and reaching an employee or queue.
2. Outbound. Calls placed from an internal extension to an external number via a SIP trunk. This also includes auto-dialer and auto-callback calls.
3. Internal. Calls between internal employee extensions. The limit applies to internal calls only when All calls is selected.

Step 1. Enable the limit

1. Open Settings in the left navigation menu. The Company Information page will open.
2. Scroll down to the Call duration limit section, located below CallerID display in SIP clients.
3. Check the box End call when duration limit is reached. The minutes and direction fields will become editable.
4. In the Duration limit, minutes field, enter a whole number between 1 and 1440.
5. In the Apply limit to field, select one of the options: All calls, Inbound only, or Outbound only.
6. Click Save in the top-right corner of the page.

Important

If an invalid number of minutes is entered, the Save button remains disabled until you enter an integer from 1 to 1440. This prevents invalid values from being saved.

Step 2. Verify that the limit works

To test the configuration, temporarily set the limit to 1 minute, place a test call to your mobile phone, answer it, and wait for it to disconnect. The call should end one minute after you answer. Once verified, restore your desired limit and click Save.

When a call is ended by the limit, it appears in the call log as follows:

• status is Answered, because the recipient answered the call;
• the Termination field on the call card shows Call duration limit;
• call billing covers the conversation time up to the moment the limit ended the call.

Important things to know

1. New calls only. Changing the setting does not affect calls already in progress; they will finish under the rules active when they started.
2. Countdown from answer. The timer starts when the recipient or queue agent answers. Ringing time, queue waiting time, and IVR playback are excluded.
3. Disconnected for both parties. When the limit expires, the call ends for both the caller and the callee. The platform does not play a warning tone beforehand—the call simply disconnects.
4. Billing. The call is billed up to the moment the duration limit terminates it.

Covered scenarios

Scenario	Status	What to keep in mind
Inbound call to an employee (DID to extension)	Active	Timer starts when the employee answers
Outbound call from an extension to an external number via trunk	Active	Timer starts when the external party answers
Call between internal extensions	Active only with All calls	Timer starts when the second employee answers
Auto-dialer and auto-callback	Active	Treated as outbound calls
Inbound queue	Active	Timer starts when a queue agent answers
Call forwarding and voicemail	Active	When the limit ends a call, it does not fall back to forwarding or voicemail. If a call is forwarded before being answered, the timer starts when the forwarded recipient answers.
Failover to a backup trunk on dial failure	Active	The limit does not interfere with trunk failover. The timer starts only when the recipient answers.
Early answer from telecom provider	Early countdown possible	If the provider signals an answer before the recipient actually picks up, the timer will start early. Check with your provider.

Common issues

Call ended before the limit

Check the following in order:

1. In the call card, verify whether the Termination field says Call duration limit. If it shows another reason, the call was ended by the participant or telecom provider, not by the limit.
2. Compare the answer timestamp with the end timestamp. The countdown starts from answer, not from the start of ringing.
3. Confirm that Duration limit, minutes in your settings matches the expected value.
4. Your telecom provider may enforce its own maximum call duration independently of 4phone.

Call does not end when the limit is reached

Check the following in order:

1. The End call when duration limit is reached checkbox is enabled and the settings have been saved.
2. The call direction matches your configured scope. For example, an outbound call will not be limited if Inbound only is selected.
3. The call started after the setting was saved. Calls already in progress do not receive the new limit.
4. The call is routed through an inbound queue. For queues, verify the limit with a test call before relying on it in production, as described in "Covered scenarios".

Next, we recommend reading Outbound Routes and Number Formatting and Common Issues and Quick Fixes.