Hi,

I'm the IT dept at a small firm, and we have a ESI-100 system with approximately 20 VOIP phones in remote offices. We are having a terrible time with our reseller and I've been tasked with trying to correct some strange problems with the system that they are unable to fix. Our reseller has given me the ESI System Programmer (I haven't been able to get Administrator to work on my 32 bit Windows 7 machine, even with DEP turned off) and password; I've connected successfully and made several changes that have resolved some of the issues but I'm not able to find where to alter the number of rings it takes to go to the automated message that has been set up. I'd like to make it 7 rings instead of 5.

I have experience with Asterisk servers but this is about the most confusing interface I've seen in a along time. Can anyone help point me in the right direction?

If the calls ring a dept. , then its the F152, If using analog lines check F211

Thanks Steve, I'll have a look.

EDIT: 152 did the trick. I appreciate the timely reply.

That Interface is one of the Best out there ! The ESI system is very Easy to program, Did you also notice up at the Top, The Complete Installers manual is there ( searchable too )( although, it might not be " up to date " But, the Basics are there.

Hi Brian,

Forgive the late reply, I am looking for info regarding another change we'd like to make and I stumbled upon this thread again.

I have to disagree on the ease of use with the interface. While the basics are simple, like voice mail greetings, more advanced things are very non-intuitive.

For instance, I am simply trying to have a DID ring a department instead of an extension but I can't for the life of me figure out where to do this. It seems as though it would be in F31, Defs and Routing, but I can't tell what I would do. I have the Server Admin guide from ESI and it completely skips F31! I fact, I can't seem to find anywhere in the system to even add a DID, let alone tell it where to go.

I also tried to figure out where to get the Installer Manual you're referring to, but after spending a good 20 minutes going through all the links at the top of this page I only found a link to the ESI page with the same guide I already have.

So anyway, I wish I could agree with you but unfortunately I can't! Maybe more experience will change my mind, or if I can have it explained better?

Keep in mind that any of us who are answering your questions spent a week in training learning all this stuff ..... this stuff is not simple and it isn't realistic that someone who had not been through training would find it intuitive.

Phone systems are not like computers ..... each brand is dramatically different and even if you know phones inside and out it isn't practical to try and learn and support multiple brands.

One of the reasons you are not finding things is you are not looking at installer level programming ...... as a general rule admins and end users should not be in installer programming ... you could literally shut a business down if you do something wrong.

If you are not happy with your reseller you should contact ESI for an alternative.

Just to add one more thing...

I have been exposed to many different brands of equipment over the years and the ESI is without a doubt one of the most intuitive, simple systems to program and administer.

I work on four different brands of phone systems, and like upstate said, ESI is the easiest.