[Asterisk-Users] Shared line appearances

[Paul Rodan]

I don't think the nature of these phones would allow for such a thing. It
was designed for transfers and such, to be a real PBX, not like having 4
phone lines from BellSouth and multiple 4 line phones.

 

I couldn't imagine SER/Asterisk/any SIP proxy or program doing what is
needed.

 

The only idea I had to get asterisk to do it would be have the calling party
thrown into a conference room right away, and then have it ring all the
other phones. Whoever answers it would then be put into the conference room
with the calling party.  But I think the trick is, whenever a person calls
in, they get thrown put into a conference room, and then the PolyCom's all
have to auto-answer and place the calls on silent hold, so that everybody is
thrown into the conference room. That shouldn't be TOO hard to rig, but how
do you get all the phones to ring as well until somebody picks up, so that
there is at least 1 active person in the conference with the calling party.
Then any other phone should be able to bust in simply by taking that line
off of hold. 

 

Good luck with that :-)

 

 

  _____  

From: asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com
[mailto:asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of David
Gomillion
Sent: Friday, November 19, 2004 12:19 PM
To: asterisk-users at lists.digium.com
Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Shared line appearances

 

All right.  It would appear that I am not the only one interested in shared
line appearances.  Many others have stated that they wish for the
key-system-like feature of the blinking lights.  Quite frankly, I don't
think it's a good thing, but the people who use these systems are very
resistant to change.  I set up call queues, pickup groups, 1-touch
transfers, and still nothing seems to placate them.  If I could, I would
just replace the users...

 

I mainly use Polycom SoundPoint IP phones: some 300s and some 600s.  Bottom
line is that if I am going to be able to finish the rollout of the phone
system, and switch away from having 2 PBXs vying for power (Asterisk and the
Nortel NorStar MICS system), I am going to have to get this feature working.
I have received authorization to offer a bounty to get it working in
Asterisk, and to then contribute the source to the project.

 

As I have studied the issue, I'm not sure it is within the "master plan" for
asterisk.  Searching the archives, it seems we only expect Asterisk to be a
"clever UA".  The people asking were advised to get a real SIP proxy.  In
passing, someone asked if chan_sip2 would support it, but I found no
response.

 

Many references to SER have been made.  I have installed SER successfully.
I then tried to make the feature work, but have been unsuccessful.  Both
lines will ring, but the first person to answer the call gets it, and the
other phone's lights are as dark as can be.  SER does not seem to do any
better with "line-seize" than Asterisk.  At least Asterisk has the hint to
allow the lights to work (I have not yet implemented this, but since it does
not meet the requirements, it does not really matter)... but neither system
will allow the caller to press the blinking light on a call that was placed
on hold to answer it.

 

I am now looking at other SIP proxies.  I am in the process of installing
sipXpbx, which includes many different pieces of the Pingtel sipExpress
system that have been open-sourced.  I am not sure which pieces I will need
specifically, so I will install the whole shooting match and see if the
feature even works.  If it does, I'll remove packages and try to reintegrate
with Asterisk.

 

Has anyone gotten shared line appearances to work with Polycom Soundpoint IP
phones?  Not just blinking lights, but the whole shebang: lights, pressing
the button to seize the line, shared registrations, etc.  Is it best to work
with a 3rd party SIP proxy/router/whatever, or should we pool resources and
get the feature integrated into Asterisk somehow?

 

Looking forward to your thoughts,

David Gomillion

 

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