asterisk users - Jan 2004 - Hold and transfer problem

I got a Cisco 7960 phone recently, and have downloaded and set up
Asterisk version 0.5.0.  Very nice!

I've set up the software on a test box for now and have configured
the system to route calls that start with 7 to FWD.  Once I'm happy
with my various tests, I will set this all up on a dedicated box,
will get a couple of POTS interface cards and will set up some
proper routes etc.

Anyway, the FWD stuff works as expected, as does the answering machine.
The problem I have is when I put a call on hold, or attempt to transfer
a call (same issue, I expect).  Once the call is put on hold, I can't
resume it and, after a couple of seconds, I get a "Maximum retries
exceeded" error (verbose mode).  

If I put a call on hold and just leave it that way then I get the same
message and, of course, am unable to resume the call.

I suspect that the Cisco 7960 configuration is at fault here, and am
wondering if anyone has any advice.  I have searched around with
Google but have not found any answers, although I have found a few
similar (and unanswered) questions.

I have tried the latest Asterisk version from CVS but that doesn't
seem to like my phone at all.  For instance, the voicemail application
won't read the DTMF tones and so won't allow me to enter a password.

I suspect that there's some silly little Cisco configuration value that
I've overlooked, but I just can't seem to find it.

Thanks for any help that can be offered with this.  I can live with
version 0.5.0 and just not use hold/transfer, but I'd prefer to find
a solution.

-- 
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  _/_/_/   _/_/      _/    _/    _/    _/_/  _/   K e v i n   W a l s h
 _/ _/    _/          _/ _/     _/    _/  _/_/    kevin@cursor.biz
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Hi!
> The problem I have is when I put a call on hold, or attempt to transfer
> a call (same issue, I expect).  Once the call is put on hold, I can't
> resume it and, after a couple of seconds, I get a "Maximum retries
> exceeded" error (verbose mode).  
> ...
> I suspect that the Cisco 7960 configuration is at fault here, and am
> wondering if anyone has any advice.
> ...
> I have tried the latest Asterisk version from CVS but that doesn't
> seem to like my phone at all.  For instance, the voicemail application
> won't read the DTMF tones and so won't allow me to enter a
password.
> ...
> Thanks for any help that can be offered with this.  I can live with
> version 0.5.0 and just not use hold/transfer, but I'd prefer to find
> a solution.
I assume you are using SIP instead of Skinny for your Cisco? If yes, then 
make sure to add
   disallow=all
   allow=ulaw
   allow=alaw
to each of your sip.conf users when using the CVS Asterisk instead of the 
truly old 0.5.0 version. Add any other codecs besides the g.711 
(=ulaw/alaw) you desire with additional allow= statements.

Read about Skinny (or sccp) on this list if you haven't switched to SIP - 
there is only minimal support for that protocal in Asterisk. And please 
do search the list archive as well as the Wiki for 7960 - you will find 
tons of postings (I don't own one of those, so I can't help here).

Cheers, Philipp