[Asterisk-Users] detecting extensions in use

[Eric "Skippy" Hope]

Hi all,

We've got a department that has 5 phones using a * 1.0.9 box.  They need 
to have an extension that rings all 5 phones at the same time.  Getting 
all of the phones to ring isn't a problem, but they are running into a 
problem with the phones ringing in their ears when they are already on a 
call.

Example:
Caller one calls the queue, all of the phones rings, and employee one 
picks up.
Caller two calls the queue, all of the phones ring including the one 
that Employee one is talking on, and both Caller one and Employee one 
are distracted.

We're locked into using the current softphones, and there doesn't seem 
to be a way to limit them to just one line.

We've tried both a true queue with the strategy set to ringall and just 
having the exten => Dial(SIP/ext1&SIP/ext2&etc).  We also tried using 
SetGroup and CheckGroup(1), but that resulted in only one call reaching 
the phones at a time, even though the other 4 were free.

What we really want to have happen is for all 5 phones to ring at once, 
except the ones that are already in use.  It seems like there should be 
an easy way to do this, but I'm not seeing it.  Anyone got any hints?

Skippy