[Asterisk-Users] More Polycom IP501 questions

[Jerry Jones]

On Feb 10, 2006, at 12:15 PM, Andrew Kohlsmith wrote:

> I am starting to get the hang of this, I think.  These are more
> implementation questions; "is this a proper/good way of using/doing  
> this"
> kind of questions.
>
> The IP501 has three line appearances.  I have learned that shared line
> appearances cannot place calls, only receive them.  They're  
> indicated by the
> "half telephone" icon beside the button.  Private line appearances  
> can both
> place and take calls, and they show up as a "full telephone" icon.
>
> (where in the world is the manual that describes this stuff?)
>
> So, I figure that for a typical business setup you want to have two  
> shared
> appearances (for the main #, for example) and then a private  
> appearance so
> you can actually place calls.  It seems kind of silly to "waste"  
> 33% of my
> line appearances for my own extension, so that is the first  
> question: Is a
> private line appearance required in order to place calls?
>
> Or do you simply not use the shared appearances for this, and let  
> Asterisk
> handle it through ringing groups and pickup groups?
Do not use shared.
Yes let asterisk dial multiple phones, works great. Monitoring a LINE  
can be problematic though. Remeber asterisk is a pbx, not a key system.
>
> I've set up the first two buttons to be the shared appearance for  
> the "Main"
> line, and then the third for my own extension.  However...  When I  
> go to use
> the live keypad to dial, I can enter the number and hit the "Dial"  
> soft
> button, but the phone picks the shared appearance.  Since the  
> shared line
> appearance can't place calls, it fails.  However, if I dial the  
> number and
> hit the private line appearance it dials out just fine.
>
> This is telling me one of two things.  Either the phone's kind of  
> dumb because
> it is choosing the first available line even though it can't place  
> a call out
> of it (unlikely) or I'm just doing this in a dumb way (far more  
> likely).
>
> How do all of y'all out in asterisk-users land set these phones up,  
> and why
> did you choose to do it the way you did?  Were there nifty features  
> you
> discovered through your particular configuration, are they set up to
> specifically avoid problems, or is it a mix of the two?
>
> I haven't even started to play with the mini browser; that looks  
> like it is
> going to have some serious potential, too.
>
> Now for a side note: kxmleditor *rocks* for editing these damn  
> Polycom XML
> configuration files!  It almost makes me feel a little queasy, like  
> I'm
> editing the Windows Registry.  :-)
>
> -A.
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