[Asterisk-Users] SIP and multiple line appearances

[Michael George]

I am learning about SIP phones little by little.  I've been working 
with * for about 2 weeks now with FXS and FXO ports and analog phones, 
but we want to evaluate the utility of going to SIP phones directly 
from here rather than investing in analog phones first.

One of the questions I have is multiple line appearance on phones.  
Since the phone basically acts like a computer, there is no reason that 
any SIP phone couldn't accommodate call waiting, multiple lines, etc.  
And the info I've found on the net indicates that SIP phones *can* 
handle multiple line appearances.

My question is whether it is the normal case that SIP phones would do 
such a thing.  e.g. We are looking at various phones (Snom is one), but 
none of their phones mention multiple line appearances.  I don't know 
if this is because they cannot handle it or because it's an "assumed" 
feature of SIP phones.

-Michael