Hi all! Having stuck my neck out and going for [*] for our new sales office, (instead of upgrading a Meridian-Nortel key system), one of the main concerns remains the support (or lack thereof) of paging / intercom functionality. Maybe I am just missing somthing elementary? Here goes: After perusing the list archives, I am more & more concerned about the 'paging' 'voice call' 'intercom' scenario. Quoted below is a message from John Todd (sometime last year) on the list: <quote> This is not an explicit answer to all of your questions, but... 1) There is currently no intercom functionality supported by Asterisk as an "in-band" method of communicating with phones. There is the ability to make audio on a phone call appear out of the sound-out port on a soundcard, which may be what you're after if you have a PA system of some sort. 2) You can do everything you're looking for with Asterisk. Spend a bit of money on some hardphones (Cisco ATA-186 is my personal bias, since they have 2 lines and they're cheap) and get an X100P analog adapter. Everything you've mentioned can be demo'ed with that configuraion. JT </quote> Let's see if I got this right: (a) single line SIP phones (e.g. GS-BT100) not likely to provide "auto answer" on demand, i.e. allow a 'page' to come through (b) multi line SIP phones: configure an extension for "auto answer". [*] may support all-page by sending voice to all non-busy phones at the same time (c) use ATA-186 - or similar - adapter, and inexpensive ANALOG (2 line?) phone to provide the intercom / pageing functionality For a deployment where there is a relatively large number of phones, the cost-per-phone evidently becomes a principal driver. Here's the user classes: (1) regular user: inexpensive GS BT100 may work. (2) power user / manager (3) shared phones in public areas: i.e. kitchen, computer room (4) attendant Using an old-style paging system is out of the question. Paging must be supported through the hard phones. Any ideas?
> Having stuck my neck out and going for [*] for our new > sales office, (instead of upgrading a > Meridian-Nortel key system), one of the main concerns > remains the support (or lack thereof) of paging / > intercom functionality. Maybe I am just missing somthing > elementary? Here goes:<snip>> Here's the user classes: > (1) regular user: inexpensive GS BT100 may work. > (2) power user / manager > (3) shared phones in public areas: i.e. kitchen, computer > room > (4) attendant > > Using an old-style paging system is out of the question. > Paging must be supported through the hard phones. > Any ideas?Sounds like you've done a fair amount of research on the topic. Comments: 1. broadcast intercom functions at the phone are typically associated with key systems, and not so much on pbx's. (There are several key system functions that don't translate nicely into pbx use.) 2. old-style overhead paging can be accomidated through several mechanisms including sound card, add-on modules, hard phone patched into a PA system with audio cable, etc. 3. Cisco 7960's running v6 sip code does support an elementary 2-way intercom function (really just an extn with auto-answer), but don't think it works if the user is on the phone already. Its fairly obvious where each of those options tend to fit. But, I don't know of any practical way to config * to do a one-way page to 30 hard phones (as an example only) simultanously. Given more detailed specifics, there probably is a way to address just about anything one would want through AGI scripts, solid-state FIFO voice recorders, add-on modules, etc, etc.
Cisco 7940/7960 will do what you want. They're not cheap but, then again, they're not much more than "comparable" phones for my Nortel system cost. You then set up a "main" extension (regular calls will be sent here), an "intercom" extension for intercom and a "paging/voicecall" extension (autoanswer) on each phone. Line 1 = 100 Line 2 = 4100 (Intercom 100) Line 3 = 7100 (Page/Voicecall 100) On a 7940, this leaves one spare line and on a 7960, it leaves 3. For "allcall" paging, use a "normal" paging system and have an extension (7000?) that causes the call to go out the soundcard of the * server to the PA. John
Polycom 600 phones will do this. They're about $300, including the power supply. I wrote a little how-to at http://www.voip-info.org/wiki-Polycom+auto-answer+config I also wrote an all-call script for system wide paging which you're welcome to, if you decide to use these phones. John willy@yponeinc.com wrote:>Hi all! >Having stuck my neck out and going for [*] for our new >sales office, (instead of upgrading a >Meridian-Nortel key system), one of the main concerns >remains the support (or lack thereof) of paging / >intercom functionality. Maybe I am just missing somthing >elementary? Here goes: >After perusing the list archives, I am more & more concerned >about the 'paging' 'voice call' 'intercom' scenario. > >Quoted below is a message from John Todd (sometime last >year) on the list: ><quote> >This is not an explicit answer to all of your questions, >but... > >1) There is currently no intercom functionality supported by >Asterisk as an "in-band" method of communicating with >phones. There is the ability to make audio on a phone call >appear out of the sound-out port on a soundcard, which may >be what you're after if you have a PA system of some sort. > >2) You can do everything you're looking for with Asterisk. >Spend a bit of money on some hardphones (Cisco ATA-186 is my >personal bias, since they have 2 lines and they're cheap) >and get an X100P analog adapter. Everything you've mentioned >can be demo'ed with that configuraion. > >JT ></quote> > >Let's see if I got this right: >(a) single line SIP phones (e.g. GS-BT100) not likely to >provide "auto answer" on demand, i.e. allow a 'page' to come >through >(b) multi line SIP phones: configure an extension for "auto >answer". [*] may support all-page by sending voice to all >non-busy phones at the same time >(c) use ATA-186 - or similar - adapter, and inexpensive >ANALOG (2 line?) phone to provide the intercom / pageing >functionality > >For a deployment where there is a relatively large number of >phones, the cost-per-phone evidently becomes a principal >driver. > >Here's the user classes: >(1) regular user: inexpensive GS BT100 may work. >(2) power user / manager >(3) shared phones in public areas: i.e. kitchen, computer >room >(4) attendant > >Using an old-style paging system is out of the question. >Paging must be supported through the hard phones. >Any ideas? > >_______________________________________________ >Asterisk-Users mailing list >Asterisk-Users@lists.digium.com >http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users >To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit: > http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users > > > >
>1. broadcast intercom functions at the phone are typically associated >with key systems, and not so much on pbx's. (There are several >key system functions that don't translate nicely into pbx use.)Rich, you will find most pabx's support all handset pages (at least all of the fujitsu's and nec's I've worked with did , however because on a key system there is a pre-programmed key on the handset people use it, because on a pabx it is a 3 or 4 didgit code, people don't use this (or most other) function. Cheers, Dean