[Asterisk-Users] Paging & Intercom

[John Baker]

Polycom 600 phones will do this.  They're about $300, including the 
power supply.

I wrote a little how-to at 
http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-Polycom+auto-answer+config

I also wrote an all-call script for system wide paging which you're 
welcome to, if you decide to use these phones.

John


willy at yponeinc.com wrote:

>Hi all!
>Having stuck my neck out and going for [*] for our new 
>sales office, (instead of upgrading a 
>Meridian-Nortel key system), one of the main concerns 
>remains the support (or lack thereof) of paging / 
>intercom functionality.  Maybe I am just missing somthing 
>elementary?  Here goes:
>After perusing the list archives, I am more & more concerned
>about the 'paging' 'voice call' 'intercom' scenario.
>
>Quoted below is a message from John Todd (sometime last
>year) on the list:
><quote>
>This is not an explicit answer to all of your questions,
>but...
>
>1) There is currently no intercom functionality supported by
>Asterisk as an "in-band" method of communicating with
>phones. There is the ability to make audio on a phone call
>appear out of the sound-out port on a soundcard, which may
>be what you're after if you have a PA system of some sort.
>
>2) You can do everything you're looking for with Asterisk.
>Spend a bit of money on some hardphones (Cisco ATA-186 is my
>personal bias, since they have 2 lines and they're cheap)
>and get an X100P analog adapter. Everything you've mentioned
>can be demo'ed with that configuraion.
>
>JT
></quote>
>
>Let's see if I got this right:
>(a) single line SIP phones (e.g. GS-BT100) not likely to
>provide "auto answer" on demand, i.e. allow a 'page' to come
>through
>(b) multi line SIP phones: configure an extension for "auto
>answer".  [*] may support all-page by sending voice to all
>non-busy phones at the same time
>(c) use ATA-186 - or similar - adapter, and inexpensive
>ANALOG (2 line?) phone to provide the intercom / pageing
>functionality
>
>For a deployment where there is a relatively large number of
>phones, the cost-per-phone evidently becomes a principal
>driver. 
>
>Here's the user classes:
>(1) regular user:  inexpensive GS BT100 may work.  
>(2) power user / manager
>(3) shared phones in public areas: i.e. kitchen, computer
>room
>(4) attendant
>
>Using an old-style paging system is out of the question. 
>Paging must be supported through the hard phones.
>Any ideas?
>
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