asterisk users - Jan 2005 - Silly question: Why multiple lines on SIP phones?

This is probably going to sound really silly and I must be confused about
it.  Maybe someone can set me straight.

I've been tinkering for a while with * and a number of different FXO/FXS
cards, SIP phones, and ATAs trying to get a feel for what works and what
doesn't.  In the SIP phone group, I have a Cisco 7940G, a Polycom 500, and
now an SPA-841.  Each of these allow me to configure at least 2
"lines".
What I'm wrestling with is what to do with the second lines.  With the
cisco and the polycom, I have only one line configured and can
successfully conference and transfer calls.  When I'm on the phone and a
new call comes in, they display the second call and controls for switching
between them.  (hmmm... what happens when the third comes along?)  The
Sipura appears to be unable to do this without configuring a second
extension.  (anybody got any insight on that?)  My question is basically,
assuming all I want is the same kind of service I get on a traditional
analog line with respect to call waiting and 3-way, do I need a multi-line
phone?

Back to the Sipura... If I configure it to only register the first line,
it seems it cannot conference or transfer calls.  With my current configs,
a second incoming call to the extension dumps straight to "busy" voice
mail.  I guess I could setup my dial plan to roll to the phone's line 2
but that seems like a mess.  It's not needed with the cisco or polycom so
it's possible, right?

Curious,

Paul

--
Paul A. Dugas                    Dugas Enterprises, LLC
paul@dugasenterprises.com        1711 Indian Ridge Drive
p:404-932-1355  f:770-516-4841   Woodstock, GA 30189-6856 USA

Hi Paul,
I have the Cisco 7960 which has 6 lines. You can configure the other lines with
different extension numbers if you wish and then set your dialplan so that
calls coming in over different circuits, FWD, POTS etc come in different
buttons on your phone.
I'm sure there are lots of other uses including having several
outgoing/incoming calls
at the same time and switching between them.

Mike



On Sat, 29 Jan 2005 21:17:56 -0500 (EST), Paul Dugas
<paul@dugasenterprises.com> wrote:
> This is probably going to sound really silly and I must be confused about
> it.  Maybe someone can set me straight.
> 
> I've been tinkering for a while with * and a number of different
FXO/FXS
> cards, SIP phones, and ATAs trying to get a feel for what works and what
> doesn't.  In the SIP phone group, I have a Cisco 7940G, a Polycom 500,
and
> now an SPA-841.  Each of these allow me to configure at least 2
"lines".
> What I'm wrestling with is what to do with the second lines.  With the
> cisco and the polycom, I have only one line configured and can
> successfully conference and transfer calls.  When I'm on the phone and
a
> new call comes in, they display the second call and controls for switching
> between them.  (hmmm... what happens when the third comes along?)  The
> Sipura appears to be unable to do this without configuring a second
> extension.  (anybody got any insight on that?)  My question is basically,
> assuming all I want is the same kind of service I get on a traditional
> analog line with respect to call waiting and 3-way, do I need a multi-line
> phone?
> 
> Back to the Sipura... If I configure it to only register the first line,
> it seems it cannot conference or transfer calls.  With my current configs,
> a second incoming call to the extension dumps straight to "busy"
voice
> mail.  I guess I could setup my dial plan to roll to the phone's line 2
> but that seems like a mess.  It's not needed with the cisco or polycom
so
> it's possible, right?
> 
> Curious,
> 
> Paul
> 
> --
> Paul A. Dugas                    Dugas Enterprises, LLC
> paul@dugasenterprises.com        1711 Indian Ridge Drive
> p:404-932-1355  f:770-516-4841   Woodstock, GA 30189-6856 USA
> _______________________________________________
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On Sat, 29 Jan 2005 21:17:56 -0500 (EST), Paul Dugas wrote:
>This is probably going to sound really silly and I must be confused about
>it.  Maybe someone can set me straight.
>
>I've been tinkering for a while with * and a number of different FXO/FXS
>cards, SIP phones, and ATAs trying to get a feel for what works and what
>doesn't.  In the SIP phone group, I have a Cisco 7940G, a Polycom 500,
and
>now an SPA-841.  Each of these allow me to configure at least 2
"lines".
>What I'm wrestling with is what to do with the second lines.  With the
>cisco and the polycom, I have only one line configured and can
>successfully conference and transfer calls.  When I'm on the phone and a
>new call comes in, they display the second call and controls for switching
>between them.  (hmmm... what happens when the third comes along?)  The
>Sipura appears to be unable to do this without configuring a second
>extension.  (anybody got any insight on that?)  My question is basically,
>assuming all I want is the same kind of service I get on a traditional
>analog line with respect to call waiting and 3-way, do I need a multi-line
>phone?
>
>Back to the Sipura... If I configure it to only register the first line,
>it seems it cannot conference or transfer calls.  With my current configs,
>a second incoming call to the extension dumps straight to "busy"
voice
>mail.  I guess I could setup my dial plan to roll to the phone's line 2
>but that seems like a mess.  It's not needed with the cisco or polycom
so
>it's possible, right?
Some phones don't support multiple lines at all. The Zultys 4x4 and 4x5
phones provide 4 "call appearances" but only one registration. That
means that the phone is one extension, one line. However, a second,
third or fourth call incomming/outgoing uses another call appearance.
This acts sort of like a local hunt group...and has turned out to be
very natural to use. There's less administrative and dialplan overhead
than with my Polycom phones.

I started out with three extensions programmed in my Polycom IP600
phones, but eventually knocked them back to only 1. With each extension
having two call appearancs on the IP600 it's more than a mere mortal
can do to manage all the possible call activity.

Michael

--
Michael Graves                           mgraves@pixelpower.com
Sr. Product Specialist                          www.pixelpower.com
Pixel Power Inc.                                 mgraves@mstvp.com

o713-861-4005
o800-905-6412
c713-201-1262