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This guide helps you troubleshoot situations where the dialer appears to “freeze” on one contact and does not move to the next one in the list.
User level: Admin

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First check: which dialer are you using?

Before you start, confirm which tool you are in: The expected behavior is slightly different for each, so the checks below are grouped by cause, not by product.

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Quick things to verify

Before going deeper, ask the agent to check:
  1. Is there an active campaign session?
    • For CloudTalk Dialer (Sequential / Parallel): open the Dialer tab, select a campaign, and click Start session.
    • For Power Dialer: open the Power Dialer tab and click the Call icon on the campaign card to start dialing.
  2. Is the call fully ended?
    • The previous call must be disconnected and the wrap-up screen completed before the dialer can move to the next contact.
  3. Is the internet connection stable?
    • If the app lost connection, the dialer may appear idle until the client reconnects.
If all of this looks fine and the dialer still does not move, continue with the specific scenarios below.

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Scenario 1: The dialer is waiting for a call outcome (disposition)

Symptom
  • The last call ended, but the dialer is still on the contact screen.
  • You see a panel with dispositions, notes or tags.
  • There is no button for the next call, or it is disabled.
Why this happens In CloudTalk Dialer, selecting a call disposition after each call is mandatory. In Power Dialer, dispositions may be required, depending on campaign configuration.
What to do
  1. Select a disposition that reflects the call result.
  2. Once everything is filled, click Save or Next contact.
  3. Confirm that the next contact appears and can be dialed.
If the team recently added new required fields or surveys for the campaign, missing data there can also block progression until they are filled.

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Scenario 2: There are no more contacts in the agent queue

Symptom
  • The dialer stays idle.
  • The Start session or Call button appears, but nothing happens when clicked.
  • The queue is empty, or only a few contacts are listed and no new ones appear.
Why this happens The dialer can only move to the next call if an eligible contact is available. The queue may be empty because:
  • All contacts have already reached the maximum number of allowed call attempts.
  • Contacts are waiting for their next retry window based on the Hours between attempts setting.
  • No contacts are currently assigned to the campaign.
What to do
  1. Check whether the campaign shows available contacts or scheduled calls.
  2. Review the campaign configuration to confirm:
    • The correct teams or users are assigned to the campaign so contacts can be distributed.
  3. Update the campaign settings or add more contacts if needed, then restart the session or click the Call icon again to reload the queue.
If you are unsure how your campaign is configured, review the general Campaigns guide.

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Scenario 3: AI Sales Dialer: Sequential Mode requires manual start of the next call

Symptom
  • The current call ends, and nothing happens.
  • The agent expects the next contact to be dialed automatically, but it is not.
Why this happens The AI Sales Dialer: Sequential Mode is designed to let agents review contact details and manually start the next call. It is normal behavior that it does not automatically dial the next contact. What to do
  • Confirm the agent is using AI Sales Dialer: Sequential Mode, not Parallel or Power Dialer.
  • Explain that this mode always requires:
    1. Review the contact.
    2. Click Start call or Call on the next contact.
If the team wants fully automated dialing, consider using AI Sales Dialer: Parallel Mode or Power Dialer for the campaign instead of Sequential.

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Scenario 4: Campaign session is paused or expired

Symptom
  • The agent was calling normally earlier, then the dialer stopped progressing.
  • The session shows as Paused, or the agent is back on the Dialer campaign list.
  • Uncalled contacts are still visible in the campaign.
Why this happens A calling session can stop for several reasons:
  • Pause or End session was selected.
  • The user was inactive or disconnected for an extended period.
  • If a session remains paused for too long, uncalled contacts may return to the shared campaign pool.
What to do
  1. Open the Dialer tab in the app.
  2. Select the campaign again.
  3. Click Start session, or click the Call icon for Power Dialer to relaunch the queue.
  4. Confirm that the contact list reloads and calling can resume.
If the queue remains empty after restarting the session, refer to the “no more contacts in the queue” section.
For more details about how contact queues, attempts and retry timing work, see Campaigns and CloudTalk Dialer

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Scenario 5: Smart Dialer doesn’t auto-dial

Symptom
  • The Click to Call extension and Smart Dialer queue are open in the browser.
  • The next call does not start automatically.
Why this happens Smart Dialer does not place calls automatically. It scans web pages for phone numbers, builds a list of contacts and provides a queue, but each call must be started manually. Smart Dialer is a tool for gathering numbers, not an auto dialer. What to do
  1. Make sure the tool is being used as intended:
    • Smart Dialer creates a call list, but calls must be started manually.
  2. Use Add to Smart Dialer to add numbers from a webpage.
  3. Start each call manually from the Smart Dialer panel.
  4. If no numbers appear in the queue:
    • Check that the Click to Call extension is installed, enabled and logged in.
For automated dialing, use a Dialer campaign instead of Smart Dialer.

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Scenario 6: Calls are dropped instantly due to network or carrier issues

Symptom
  • The dialer appears not to move forward, but in reality the next calls end almost instantly.
  • Agents may see very short “failed” calls in their recent history.
Why this happens Some calls can fail immediately because of:
  • Invalid or inactive numbers
  • Carrier blocks or spam protection
  • Temporary network issues
CloudTalk assigns system dispositions such as Number Not in Service, Call Blocked, Line Busy, or Ring Out. Additional technical dispositions may appear depending on your environment (for example, network-related failures). What to do
  1. Ask the agent to open their Call History or campaign statistics and check the last few calls.
  2. Look for repeated system dispositions like:
    • Number not in service
    • Call blocked
    • Network issue
  3. If many contacts in a row fail with the same reason:
    • For Number not in service / Call blocked, review the contact list quality.
    • For Network issue / System limit, check local network, VPN or throttling and involve Support if needed.

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Scenario 7: Campaign settings create long waits between call attempts

Symptom
  • The dialer appears stuck, even though there are contacts that should be retried.
  • Contacts remain marked as Scheduled instead of being dialed.
Why this happens Retry behavior depends on the campaign settings:
  • Attempts per contact
  • Hours between attempts
  • Answer wait time (Sequential and Parallel Dialer)
  • Number of parallel calls (Parallel Dialer only)
If these values are set too high, the dialer may wait a long time before trying the next number. It can look inactive, even though it is simply waiting for the retry window to open. What to do
  1. Open the campaign settings and review the retry configuration.
  2. Check:
    • Attempts per contact
    • Hours between attempts
    • Answer wait time
    • Number of parallel calls (Parallel Dialer only)
  3. Adjust these values if you want the dialer to rotate through contacts more quickly.
  4. Restart the campaign session so the updated settings apply.

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Scenario 8: A scheduled callback is assigned to a contact with no phone number

Symptom
  • The dialer session is active and the Next Call (or Call) button appears enabled.
  • Clicking the button does nothing: no call is placed and no error message appears.
  • The affected contact can’t be skipped or removed from the queue.
  • The block keeps coming back until the contact’s data is corrected.
Why this happens If a scheduled callback is linked to a contact that has no phone number saved, the dialer has no number to dial and the queue stalls, without showing an error. The block will keep recurring until that contact is either given a valid number or removed. What to do
  1. Open Dialer > Campaigns and select the affected campaign.
  2. Find the scheduled callback (rescheduled contact) that has no phone number saved.
  3. For that contact, either add a valid phone number, or remove the contact from the campaign.
  4. Once the contact is corrected or removed, the queue resumes.
Prevent recurrence Review scheduled callbacks across your active campaigns for any contacts that have no phone number, and correct or remove them. This stops the block from reappearing in future sessions. If you’re unsure how to edit a contact’s phone number, see Setting up Campaigns or reach out to CloudTalk Support.

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Scenario 9: The dialer keeps returning to the same contact on every “Next Call”

Symptom
  • Clicking Next Call brings the agent back to the same contact every time.
  • The contact card may appear blank or fail to load.
  • The agent cannot save a call disposition for that contact.
  • The loop continues across multiple attempts and may affect more than one agent in the same campaign.
Why this happens One or more contacts in the campaign do not have a phone number attached. Since a contact without a number cannot be dialed, it also cannot be dispositioned, so the dialer keeps cycling it back into the queue. What to do
  1. Check the affected campaign’s contact list and remove or update any contacts that do not have at least one valid phone number.
  2. For new campaigns, enable Queue Control at creation time (under campaign settings). This allows agents to manually remove contacts from the pool during a session. Note: this setting must be enabled when the campaign is created. Enabling it on an existing campaign may not work correctly.
  3. If the issue continues after removing numberless contacts, contact Support with your campaign name or ID and the contact names that keep reappearing.
Prevent recurrence Before launching a campaign, review your contact list to ensure every contact has at least one valid phone number. Contacts without a number will cause this looping behavior until they are removed or updated.

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When to contact Support

If you checked all of the above and the dialer still does not move to the next call, reach out to CloudTalk Support. Include:
  • Dialer type: CloudTalk Dialer (Sequential / Parallel), Power Dialer or Smart Dialer
  • Campaign name and environment (Dashboard vs Legacy)
  • Approximate time the issue happened, including timezone
  • Agent email affected
  • Example Call ID or Log ID from a recent call in that campaign
  • Screenshots or short screen recording, if possible
This information helps Support quickly see whether the problem is related to:
  • specific campaign configuration
  • contact list quality
  • network or carrier issues
  • a bug in the dialer logic
Need help or have a question? Just reach out through our Support portal — we’re here for you.