Multiple phones with same extension, but only one rings when called.

[Anonymous]

We have setup a few SIP users with multiple phones (some multiple hard phones and others one hard and one softphone).  We are noticing that only one of the phones ring when called.  It's not always the same one that rings either, sometime one rings and then sometimes the other rings.  How can this be resolved so that all instances of the extension ring at the same time?

As a side note, is there a supported softphone?  I see that the Adtran IP SoftPhone hasn't been updated since 2009, so I wasn't sure if that went end-of-life or not.

Thanks!

[jayh · Accepted solution]

If the multiple phones all are set up with the same SIP credentials (sip-identity, auth-username, and auth-password), then each will register periodically to the PBX.  Each registration will come from the IP of that specific phone.

The PBX will use the IP address of the last valid registration as the location of the phone and send calls there. It will "forget" the older ones.  So semi-randomly only one will ring, the last to register.

This is not the way you want to do it.

Assign each phone a separate identity so that they all stay registered.  Create a simultaneous ring hunt group on the PBX to ring all of the registered extensions when the common number is dialed.  You may, if desired, also ring each phone individually with its own unique number.

[Anonymous]

Good points Jay!

Yeah what you are looking for is a feature called Bridged Extension. We currently don't support it but looking to add it.

What Jay described is a good solution. Have users with different extensions and part of a ring group. To help make it look more like a Bridged extension you can do some extra things to trick the users. One thins if you go into the user's phone configs, you can change their button label to say the number of the ring group, so they think that is their number. Also if you go to User Accounts and then the User Config tab you can edit their Internal/External Caller ID Number to show the ring group also. This will help when they call another person, and they do a redial, it will go back to the ring group and not their direct hidden extension.

Hope that extra helps.

[Anonymous]

We definitely want to see the Bridged Extension feature when it's ready!

We went through the steps that you both suggested and we have the caller-id and voicemail numbers sorted out, but we still see one shortcoming.  The users are used to being able to put the call on hold and then picking it up on their other phone. How can we give them back this experience when each phone has it's own unique extension?

Thanks for your assistance with this!

[Anonymous]

There is a "held call pickup feature", though not the ideal solution you may be looking for, but its verstality helps in many use cases. With proper Class of Service permissions, a call held anywhere on the system, can be picked up from a phone using SPRE codes *78xxxx where xxxx is the extension number or paging zone on which the call is held. This feature was added in R10.6. Refer release notes . https://supportforums.adtran.com/docs/DOC-5907. You can even assign additional button keys on phones, for one touch pickup, of calls held on frequently used phones.

This feature was primarily designed for users who have to move between locations but who may not want to hang up the call or Park the call on a paging zone. The user can simply put the call on hold, walk over to his/her destination, and use any other phone to pick up the held call. However, this feature has been found to be verstaile and can be used for "Boss-Executive Assistant" scenario's, a "A shared workgroup", where a group of people answer calls for each other, and some others.

That said, and taking one step back here, you may also consider using a totally different construct in the 7100, Shared Call Appearance, to get a similar, if not exact functionality of "Bridged Call Appearance". https://supportforums.adtran.com/docs/DOC-2333 .

Thanks,

[Anonymous]

@gouc, thanks for the suggestion regarding SCA's.  I tried it out and it didn't quite work the same way as a SIP user, so in this case I will go with Ring Groups.  It's several extra steps, but it get's me 90% there.  As I said, Bridged Extensions will be a welcome addition once they are released.