atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums VOIP Phones & IP PBX VoIP & Cloud Phones, Hosted PBX, General IP Phones Why don't IP phones have universal many DSS buttons like digital system phones?

Why don't IP phones have universal many DSS buttons like digital system phones?

Please let me know if you guy agree with me or not.

I find it very annoying and strange that IP phone don't have very many (if any) DSS buttons that you can program almost a shortcut for calling another extension or have a feature programmed on it?

Is the concept that these buttons are replaced with a LCD interfacing that lets you scroll through options?

I know on my phone system, I have a button programmed for each employee at my company, buttons to tell me when certain trunks are in use, voicemail message button, voicemail transfer button, regular transfer button, speed dials, conference button, DND, last number dialed, park Orbit(0-9 possible orbits) buttons, etc. You get the idea. I think each phone in my office has 28 universal DSS buttons that you can program to do whatever you want. There is a list of about 100 different features or shortcuts you can use.

I have never used Asterisks before but I do have a lot of experience with regular PBX systems and I very confused why the IP phones don't have the same number of universal DSS buttons that normal digital phones have.

Please let me know what your take on this is.

Thanks.

For the most part the typical shortcomings such as lask of DSS keys, DND buttons, mulitple intercom paths present in IP systems comes from the lack of an everyday telecom background in the R & D Process. Call routing and handling patterns vary so much from install to install and business to business that it really takes years of being involved on a daily basis to learn all of the nuances of the telcom and interconnect business. If this background isn't there during R&D something simple will end up missing.

You will also see with the newer IP systems for small business that other features are not there yet either. For instance, call hold and pickup (must transfer the call) no handsfree intercom, no line appearances. We as delers get adds every day for new IP products that are far from ready for prime time. The IT groups rushing to get into the IP phone business are more interested in this stuff at this point.

Funny, my NEC and Tadiran IP phones have DSS keys and work just like a regular phone.

The esi IP phones have DSS keys and direct line keys also. But like upstate said a lack of Telco background.... NEC, Tadiran and esi all have been in the Telco business for years.

ESI 30 programmable keys plus a 60 button DSS. i think they expect you to use the PC call managers like a receptionist

For the most part the typical shortcomings... present in IP systems comes from the lack of an everyday telecom background in the R & D Process. Call routing and handling patterns vary so much from install to install and business to business that it really takes years of being involved on a daily basis to learn all of the nuances of the telcom and interconnect business.

Right. I think we should start recognizing IP systems for what they really are- computer simulations of real phone systems, and the old computer axiom applies- garbage in= garbage out.

The "programmers" and computer geeks who designed them only know telephone from their own limited and sheltered experience so this is what you have. Because of their egos they decided to reinvent the wheel for their own gain.

-Hal

How about the simple fact that Asterisk is a PBX, not a key system? Most all of asterisk's operation is inbound. Outbound dialing is mostly limited to dialing 9, to get an "outside line". (or whatever number's setup in the dialing plans)

There's no standard for DSS keys in IP, and likely won't be for a while. There are speed-dials, which may be as close as you get. Grandstream has a "4-line" IP phone, but that doesn't mean it shows you 4 CO lines. It means you can "pick up" a "dial tone" from one of four buttons on the top of the unit, and put them all on hold and directly retrieve them at will. But if I put a call on hold with one button, no one else can retrieve it that way.

ESI's IP phone, and I'm sure most others are proprietary, and the signaling to make the DSS keys work is not encapsulated with the VoIP traffic, it's a separate data stream.

Allworx 6 and 10 units can be used as either a key system with standard phone system features, or a pbx like everyone else's systems.
The larger phone has 12 programmable buttons

I've also wondered the same thing and have concluded that IP systems with few or no univeral buttons are useless for both key system and PBX installations. It seems the IT industry thinks that a PC based call manager or large screen phone takes the place of buttons. I disagree. They have not accounted for the down sides. If I was using a GUI interface for example, I would not be able access phone features right now without minimizing my data application or having a dual monitor. Large screen phones with softkeys also can't take the place of feature buttons because they cannot indicate the status of a feature/s at a glance.