All right. It would appear that I am not the only one interested in shared line appearances. Many others have stated that they wish for the key-system-like feature of the blinking lights. Quite frankly, I don't think it's a good thing, but the people who use these systems are very resistant to change. I set up call queues, pickup groups, 1-touch transfers, and still nothing seems to placate them. If I could, I would just replace the users... I mainly use Polycom SoundPoint IP phones: some 300s and some 600s. Bottom line is that if I am going to be able to finish the rollout of the phone system, and switch away from having 2 PBXs vying for power (Asterisk and the Nortel NorStar MICS system), I am going to have to get this feature working. I have received authorization to offer a bounty to get it working in Asterisk, and to then contribute the source to the project. As I have studied the issue, I'm not sure it is within the "master plan" for asterisk. Searching the archives, it seems we only expect Asterisk to be a "clever UA". The people asking were advised to get a real SIP proxy. In passing, someone asked if chan_sip2 would support it, but I found no response. Many references to SER have been made. I have installed SER successfully. I then tried to make the feature work, but have been unsuccessful. Both lines will ring, but the first person to answer the call gets it, and the other phone's lights are as dark as can be. SER does not seem to do any better with "line-seize" than Asterisk. At least Asterisk has the hint to allow the lights to work (I have not yet implemented this, but since it does not meet the requirements, it does not really matter)... but neither system will allow the caller to press the blinking light on a call that was placed on hold to answer it. I am now looking at other SIP proxies. I am in the process of installing sipXpbx, which includes many different pieces of the Pingtel sipExpress system that have been open-sourced. I am not sure which pieces I will need specifically, so I will install the whole shooting match and see if the feature even works. If it does, I'll remove packages and try to reintegrate with Asterisk. Has anyone gotten shared line appearances to work with Polycom Soundpoint IP phones? Not just blinking lights, but the whole shebang: lights, pressing the button to seize the line, shared registrations, etc. Is it best to work with a 3rd party SIP proxy/router/whatever, or should we pool resources and get the feature integrated into Asterisk somehow? Looking forward to your thoughts, David Gomillion -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.digium.com/pipermail/asterisk-users/attachments/20041119/a4a56071/attachment.htm
I don't think the nature of these phones would allow for such a thing. It was designed for transfers and such, to be a real PBX, not like having 4 phone lines from BellSouth and multiple 4 line phones. I couldn't imagine SER/Asterisk/any SIP proxy or program doing what is needed. The only idea I had to get asterisk to do it would be have the calling party thrown into a conference room right away, and then have it ring all the other phones. Whoever answers it would then be put into the conference room with the calling party. But I think the trick is, whenever a person calls in, they get thrown put into a conference room, and then the PolyCom's all have to auto-answer and place the calls on silent hold, so that everybody is thrown into the conference room. That shouldn't be TOO hard to rig, but how do you get all the phones to ring as well until somebody picks up, so that there is at least 1 active person in the conference with the calling party. Then any other phone should be able to bust in simply by taking that line off of hold. Good luck with that :-) _____ From: asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com [mailto:asterisk-users-bounces@lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of David Gomillion Sent: Friday, November 19, 2004 12:19 PM To: asterisk-users@lists.digium.com Subject: [Asterisk-Users] Shared line appearances All right. It would appear that I am not the only one interested in shared line appearances. Many others have stated that they wish for the key-system-like feature of the blinking lights. Quite frankly, I don't think it's a good thing, but the people who use these systems are very resistant to change. I set up call queues, pickup groups, 1-touch transfers, and still nothing seems to placate them. If I could, I would just replace the users... I mainly use Polycom SoundPoint IP phones: some 300s and some 600s. Bottom line is that if I am going to be able to finish the rollout of the phone system, and switch away from having 2 PBXs vying for power (Asterisk and the Nortel NorStar MICS system), I am going to have to get this feature working. I have received authorization to offer a bounty to get it working in Asterisk, and to then contribute the source to the project. As I have studied the issue, I'm not sure it is within the "master plan" for asterisk. Searching the archives, it seems we only expect Asterisk to be a "clever UA". The people asking were advised to get a real SIP proxy. In passing, someone asked if chan_sip2 would support it, but I found no response. Many references to SER have been made. I have installed SER successfully. I then tried to make the feature work, but have been unsuccessful. Both lines will ring, but the first person to answer the call gets it, and the other phone's lights are as dark as can be. SER does not seem to do any better with "line-seize" than Asterisk. At least Asterisk has the hint to allow the lights to work (I have not yet implemented this, but since it does not meet the requirements, it does not really matter)... but neither system will allow the caller to press the blinking light on a call that was placed on hold to answer it. I am now looking at other SIP proxies. I am in the process of installing sipXpbx, which includes many different pieces of the Pingtel sipExpress system that have been open-sourced. I am not sure which pieces I will need specifically, so I will install the whole shooting match and see if the feature even works. If it does, I'll remove packages and try to reintegrate with Asterisk. Has anyone gotten shared line appearances to work with Polycom Soundpoint IP phones? Not just blinking lights, but the whole shebang: lights, pressing the button to seize the line, shared registrations, etc. Is it best to work with a 3rd party SIP proxy/router/whatever, or should we pool resources and get the feature integrated into Asterisk somehow? Looking forward to your thoughts, David Gomillion -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.digium.com/pipermail/asterisk-users/attachments/20041119/99cfccc3/attachment.htm
> "Paul Rodan" wrote: > > I don't think the nature of these phones would allow for such > a thing. It was designed for transfers and such, to be a real > PBX, not like having 4 phone lines from BellSouth and > multiple 4 line phones.According to the admin manual, the phone supports "shared call appearances (SCA) using the SUBSCRIBE-NOTIFY method in the 'SIP Specific Event Notification' framework (RFC 3265). The events used are: - 'call-info' for call appearance state notification - 'line-seize' for the phone to ask to seive the line" (Polycom Administrator manual, version 1.3.0, page 135) The trick is that we don't offer shared lines, per se, but shared extensions. So, if there are 2 phones in the same office, they can share the same 2 extensions, allowing transfers without transferring, if that makes any sense. Only one party can have the call at a time, but any phone can see the status, and seize the line if the call is on hold or ringing.> > I couldn't imagine SER/Asterisk/any SIP proxy or program > doing what is needed. >This behavior is available from Cisco's Call Manager.> > The only idea I had to get asterisk to do it would be have > the calling party thrown into a conference room right away, > and then have it ring all the other phones. Whoever answers > it would then be put into the conference room with the > calling party. But I think the trick is, whenever a person > calls in, they get thrown put into a conference room, and > then the PolyCom's all have to auto-answer and place the > calls on silent hold, so that everybody is thrown into the > conference room. That shouldn't be TOO hard to rig, but how > do you get all the phones to ring as well until somebody > picks up, so that there is at least 1 active person in the > conference with the calling party. Then any other phone > should be able to bust in simply by taking that line off of hold. >That might work, but there has to be a more elegant solution.> > > Good luck with that :-) > >