[asterisk-users] Odd bug in Siemens C460IP ?

[Robert Lister]

On Sun, Nov 25, 2007 at 01:10:08PM +0100, Olivier wrote:
> 
> Could you get from Siemens some kind of commitment to fully support
> Alert-Info or at least, to ignore Alert-Info data in incoming INVITEs ?

Siemens responded to my initial query yesterday with a rather unhelpful:
'It is an asterisk issue, and we don't support asterisk' type response.

But they did point me to a link:

http://www.voip-info.org/wiki/view/Siemens+Gigaset+C450IP

On this page, somebody suggests a workaround:

"EDIT: Actually, there is a way to have alert_info work with other phones 
 and still have the C450IP work with the same configuration. Even though the 
 C450IP will not have a distinctive ring. Just make sure that you set your 
 alert_info variable in the following way: 
 
 exten => s,1,SetVar(_ALERT_INFO=<something>). 
 
 Note the < and > in the command. The C450IP will still ring, and at least 
 the other phones I have tried with will accept that syntax."

I have not tried this so I don't know if it works yet, as not sure yet if it 
will break other things or which is valid syntax for the SIP header.

I have a sneaky feeling that this method of "SetVar(_ALERT_INFO" is replaced 
with SIPAddHeader() only in asterisk 1.4 anyway?

My experience with Siemens in the past is that they will probably not fix a 
bug like this unless you are negotiating a large contract and it becomes a 
critical item for them to address in order for them to get the business.

Individual joe-users usually don't count for much.

Otherwise they just seem to stall and stall, and then eventually phase out 
the particular model of handset and replace it with a completely different 
model, usually with many of the same bugs and foibles.

They *do* seem to have addressed one pet hate I had of all the Siemens DECT 
phones though, in that finally the Red and Green call answer/hangup buttons 
are positioned with the green button on the left, and the red button on the 
right, and not the other way round, like pretty much every other 
mobile/cordless handset on the planet. (the times I went from Nokia handset 
to Siemens handset and out of habit rejected calls instead of answering 
them!!)

Rob


-- 
Robert Lister     - London Internet Exchange - http://www.linx.net/
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