Thanks for the suggestions, and making me feel less clueless, okay, actually a tiny bit proud that my attempts thus far are similar to what an actual telephone guy would do!
Re. lighted keys set as msg keys: Same problem as with the dedicated "message" button. New messages, the button works. No new messages, the button doesn't do anything, just gets a reorder tone. Tried "VM for another extension" option, has same problem.
So making an elaborate speed dial key is a great idea. I was headed down that path but unfortunately discovered a s.d. key can only spew out a number string of my choosing IF I am on a CO line. On the intercom, the system will only allow strings involving specific numbers, like extension #'s or CO access codes. So your idea might work on some Pana systems, but not the 824.
But this led to another idea: Loop an extension port into a CO port. Place that CO in an unused port group. Now I can create a s.d. key to grab the CO, dial the TVA50 port via the new extension port, and spew a string that gets the user all the way to first message playback.
Current vers. of this (spaces for clarity): 88 165 P #6*123# PP1P1
-grab special CO, in group 8
-dial vm extension 165 for vm access
-pause for TVA50 to answer
-during vm prompt, switch to subscriber mode & access mailbox 123 (no login pw for this test; s.d. keys can hold 24 digitis, so hiding a pw in a string might be a struggle))
-provide string with pauses (to allow subscriber to hear aural vm cues such as "you have 5 messages"), selects "new messages" and starts new messages to play.
I tried a test of this today, and so far so good. Other nice thing is that this scheme could be enabled on multiple keys on the main household phone, so everyone could get to their own mbox if you've got enough speedy keys. Wonder if it would work with system-wide s.d. commands. Then it wouldn't matter what phone a person was in front of; they could still use their special vm.
This is all pretty cool simply because I can, with a little help from my friends, get the 824+TVA50 experience to be tolerably intuitive and logical for my users, who just want stuff to work.
