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Engage Call Queue Looping: Why Calls Only Ring The First Two Agents

  • Published on May 21, 2026
  • 2 minute(s) read
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Question

Why are inbound calls bouncing between two Engage Agents?

Example:

Joel, Justin, and Camille are all Engage Agents in a Queue.

  1. A call comes in to a Contact Center Queue that routes calls to Engage Agents      

  2. The call is initially offered to Joel.      

  3. Joel does not answer, so the call gets offered to the next Agent.      

  4. The system then offers the call to Justin.      

  5. Justin also does not answer.      

  6. The call fails to proceed to Camille. Instead, it loops back and is offered to Joel again.

Applies To

  • 8x8 Engage

Answer

When an inbound call is offered to the queue, the call is only being offered to the first two Engage Agents who have been idle the longest, even when there are more available agents.

The call routing system prioritizes Agents based on longest Idle Time (time since the last accepted interaction) for that Queue.

For example:

Agent

Idle Time

Joel

30 minutes (Longest Idle)

Justin

20 minutes

Camille

10 minutes

  1. The call is initially offered to Joel (who has the longest idle time).      

  2. If Joel does not answer, his Status will automatically be set to Auto Pause (Reject Timeout on the back end).

             

    • This will allow the call to get offered to the person with the next longest idle time who is Available (Justin).

    • Joel's status will reset back to Available approximately 10 seconds after the Auto Pause was enabled.        

  3. The system then offers the call to Justin.    

    • During the time that the call is getting offered to Justin, Joel's Auto Pause will expire and his Status change Available.        

  4. If Justin also does not answer, his Status will autmoatically be set to Auto Pause.    

    • This will allow the call to get offered to the person with the next longest idle time who is available (Joel).

    • Justin's status will reset back to Available approximately 10 seconds after the Auto Pause was enabled.        

  5. The system the offers the call to Joel.    

    • The call will not be offered to Camille. It will be offered back to Joel because he has the longer idle time.

This appears to create an undesirable loop between the same two agents, instead of proceeding down the list to Camille.      

Additional Information 

To ensure calls route correctly to the next available agent (like Camille), any 8x8 Engage agent who is unable to answer a call or needs a break must set their status to 'Pause'. This prevents the system from immediately rerouting calls back to them and ensures the call queue logic proceeds to the next longest-idle available agent.

For details on how to Pause, see this article: How Can I Stop Receiving Calls From Engage Call Queue?

 

 

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