sundance-communications.com/forum Forums Other TDM Phone Systems ESI Telephones & Systems Number Exchanges

Starting to deal with more and more customers requesting certain extensions be certain numbers on add/moves. Does anyone else find it cumbersome for the system to have to be idle for this exchange to happen? Dealing with the older Comdial Systems it was not a requirement and I was wondering is that just they way all newer software based systems run or is it an ESI thing?

I find it very cumbersome. ESI is the only system we install that requires the system to be idle. 99% of the time we have to do it after hours. Two years ago ESI had a booth at a convention I attended and one of their lead engineers (Paul I think) told me that the system did not have to be idle only the extensions involved in the exchange. This is not the case. I have tested numerous times since then and called tech support and they still say idle system to this day. We have three ESI systems in which we have done over 150 number exchanges in each one and it can be a huge headache. I wish (and have suggested) that you could look at an extension in programming and see what port of card/system it is on. You have to be on top of your records.

My Blood boils when I have to do this. Esp. for one of our larger clients with like a 100 phone and open 24 hours. GRRRRR!!!

As far as the extension and port JBRAM if you have master tech credentials you can see it that way.

Yeah I have a customer with 300+ phones and is staffed 24/7. No one seems to understand the difficulties of dealing with that. Its always "its easy to do just pull all the cables and that will produce your idle system" well most companies either a. dont want to take 300 phones offline b. dont want to pay OT rates to add a phone c. cannot go down.

Yes, I have MT credentials but our other 5 Techs do not. I meant to state that I wish it could be seen through the phone programming interface so you would not need to whip out the laptop (unless their is a hidden function I do not know about that would allow this through the phone) when doing a simple move--just a simple way to verify all is well. Nortel was one that allowed this through the sets and it was/is great. Nortel and Avaya also allow for number exchanges on the fly. I have been sending this into ESI as a product/feature enhancement for the last 5 years but it is probably not going to happen.

Any of you out there have the need for Centrex over PRI? It is also something is not supported by ESI. I found this out the hard way after installing a 600 with two PRIs 4-5 years ago. A few days before turn-up I was testing and was seriously disappointed.

Point taken, BigJon.

If you've sent in an enhancement lately they've been really good about responding. If so many of you are passionate about this you should all let them know. Assuming the worst only assures that you get what you expected...

The one, huge disappointment with ESI is the limited diagnostics and not having the ability to see what is happening in the system. We were a Mitel shop for 30 years and with the digital and the 2000, a tech could see everything and make changes and corrections on the fly without having to get someone special to do it. ESI's method of having a MT or getting ESI technical involved for such simple matters is ridiculous. Having to idle a system to make a number swap is a real drag, especially if one is trying to do it remotely. If you want to talk nightmare, I have 7 health clinics ESI-Linked together and they all have special number schemes so as to have system-wide numbering. Try and talk an administrator into allowing a tech to idle the system to make a simple number change and you will get "That Look." You know...."The Look." "What kind of POS did you sell me here?

Rcaman

That literally made me laugh out loud as i think we have all gotten that look once or twice. The worse look is when they finish it with "get the hell out of here", like when an unnamed companies tech support (not ESI) starts all support out with, "Default the system to see if the problem is in programming" and you have to go explain to the customer why their 200+ phones will be down for 30+ minutes because one port on the cabinet is acting up.

Correct me if I'm wrong but when you swap extensions thru System Programmer the Voice Mail and buttons don't follow the extension move. I've got one site with a trusted admin that I let swap extensions thru the phone F30. When done thru the phone, everything moves and I think only the extensions involved need to be idle. F30 is under admin password. But yea ESi lacks in this dept, Panasonic shows the slot/port, you re-enter the extensions under the new ports, click apply-done.

JBRAM, if you look at F31 and start at the first extension you are counting down the ports on the cards installed. So you can see which extension is what port, they just didn't number them to make our lives any easier. I guess there's no way to do it from a phone tho 94astro, you're right.. I don't get why 3-0 is any better than doing it in programming, but mailboxes and names don't always seem to follow in programmer..