sundance-communications.com/forum Forums TDM Business Telephone Systems Toshiba Telephones & Systems IP - SIP phones, multiple extensions...

Hello all!

SIP PHONES
I would like to ask everyone's opinions on SIP phones. How well do they work (I'm considering them for remote/home users)? How easy/difficult to setup?

The functions I care about most are call transfer, call forward, and being able to directly call other extensions. I thought that I could just do speed dials for call forward (#60119<number to call>#) and <#6051>. But I don't know if the system will even be able to recognize a <conf> button command from a SIP phone.

But again, what is your opinion on SIP phones?


MULTIPLE EXTENSIONS
Aside from that, since I'm now starting to deploy home IP phones in earnest, how do I deal with users that have IP phones at home and a phone at the office? Usually the office phone is a digital phone. I would like users to be able to have 1 extension that they're responsible for even if/when they have 2 phones.


Just in case this thread gets lengthy - hopefully not - it may be easier to follow this thread if answers point to the topic they're for.

Thanks so much!

SIP phones are fine for the home users. it will keep your expenses down quite a bit too. Before you start buying SIP phones though you may want to look at X-lite made by Counter path. It is a SIP softphone that is free. Just download and configure. As far as ringing in the office and at home, I would use a multiple call group with the office phone and SIP phone in it and set the VMID to the desk phone extension number. TaDa you are done.

Thanks Tadiran. I admit I've not done SIP before so I'll be doing some research to see how to set it up. On first glance the Counter path phone looks SO MUCH better than the Toshiba phone. Can it support 729a, or just 711?

About the multiple phones: it was suggested to me to do a secondary DN on the IP phone, and then do a secondary DN VM msg light. That sounds like it may work. I'm leery of using a MCG as people's actual phone number - it just seems unnatural to me. Like I may lose some functionality of experience some other problems.

Anyone have other suggestion?

I was doing some testing today with the Counterpath SIP softphone. It seems that the Wireless SIP phones I have configured stop working when I try to make a call from the XLite. I think its a bug. Xlite is supposed to be open standard SIP but there may be some incompatibility. Just remember you dont have as many features on SIP like you do a full IP phone so try to keep the setup simple for the user and yourself. It will save a lot of hardache on your part in the long run.

What I did for a second Extension to look like the first:

Create the second extension. Remove all buttons from the second extension, includings it's PDN key. Copy all buttons from first, including the PDN, to make a secondary appearance. Set VMID of second phone to first. Set an addional MSG lite on/off in the notification on the voicemail to turn on/off MSG light on second extension.

Only tried it once, without the add notify in VM. Seemed to work ok. Calls to main ext will ring both phones. Not sure if changing display DN field did anything. Also have not used it in an IP phone, but it should work the same

newtecky: I was doing some research on this forum and saw your post about that elsewhere . I'll give that a shot. I'll even let you know how it goes - though it may be a big before I can get back to you.

At the moment I'm trying to get SIP phones to work...

Tadiran, I sent you an email.