Polycom Park Button

[ErikU]

I have a polycom IP330 and am trying to create a park button where the line two button usually is. I am able to remap that key to a speed dial.

During a call I can press #70 to park a call just fine. I created a speed dial of #70, and mapped it to that button. It appears to dial, but I just get a fast busy and it doesn't park.

Any ideas on how to do this?

 

[jroper]

Hi

In theory, what you have done should work. What does the Asterisk CLI show you when you press the button, it may give you some clues.

Joe

 

[jroper]

Have you got t and T in the Asterisk dial command options in General.

Joe

 

[ErikU]

Yes, I do have the T and the t in the command options in general.

If I manually press #70 on the called phone it parks as normal. If I use the speed dial button that dials #70 I get a fast busy and it just puts the call on hold.

By Asterisk CLI, I assume you mean the log file from the tools tab? Here is what I get when it doesn't work:

NOTICE[2878] chan_sip.c: Call from '101' to extension '%2370' rejected because extension not found

I have no idea why it would say extension 2370, when the phone cleary shows it dialed #70.

Does anyone have a polycom phone that they have mapped a park button on?

 

[ErikU]

Ok, I think I know what is going on...

When I hit the speed dial button, I think it is placing my first call on hold, and trying to dial #70 as a new call. That would explain why my first call is placed on hold and I get a fast busy.

So it looks like I can't use a speed dial to park a call? How can I create a button on a polycom phone to park a call?

 

[jeremywillden]

I haven't figured out yet how to get Polycoms to speed dial feature codes this way (and I use a lot of Polycoms, it just hasn't been a priority for me).

I do have a clue for you, though:
The Hexadecimal version of the ASCII code for # is 23. It looks like the Polycom has translated the # symbol into %23 (just like the URL-encoding your web browser does: ever see %20 in a URL? That's an encoded space!)

I wonder if there's an escape character required when configuring the speed dial to include a non-printable character. Or possibly, if you disable the "dial by URL" (or whatever that function is called in the Polycom config files) if it won't try to convert your dial string into a URL-encoded string.

 

[therock112]

Has anyone got this to work properly??

 

[ErikU]

Not that I know of. I have emailed Polycom a few times about this and get a non-answer answer. I am crossing my fingers this will be supported soon in a firmware release.

I REALLY need this to work!!

 

[Fortel]

I have this working- albeit on a Polycom 601. It should work on any model I belive.

Instead of dialing #70 for the parking lot, I stuck with the default of 70. So to park a call, I transfer it to 70.

After seeing your post, I mapped a speed dial (Directories / Contact Directory -> add new) and named it Call Park, with 70 as the contact number.

So the process to park is to press Transfer followed by the Call Park speed dial key - in your case it would be the line two button.

 

[ErikU]

I now also have a Polycom 550 to test this on,.. but the same issue comes up.

I understand the multi step process of pressing transfer, then the speed dial, but it's not what I want. I want to press one button to park a call.

Coming from the world of a standard office PBX, it's the only thing my end users would find acceptable. Let's face it, most end users have no clue how to reliably transfer a call. However, the can put a call on hold, or park a call with a traditional PBX (one button press).

 

[wardmundy]

If you want single button parking, you'll want some Aastra's.

 

[therock112]

Aastra makes some great products but unfortunately those who already forked out cash to get non-aastra phones (polycoms in particular) dont want to seem "stuck".....I am sure there must be some way to mimic a single button park functionality that some of us could come up with, assuming of course we all contribute a bit towards this issue.....

at the end of the day, piaf would have a fair chance of becoming more minstream than "others" if we could address and possibly come up solutions to common problems that some of us run into....especially when we run into a proprietary pbx "evangelist" out there...

agreed at this point in time, plug and play with polycom and piaf may not be possible...matter of fact a plug and play with piaf and aastra phones may not be a viable option in a small business environment either...as no IT admin is going to consider allowing a pbx to hand out ip address etc etc, especially if the IT admin hasnt a clue about linux and dhcpd.conf manipulation

 

[ErikU]

Believe me, I have researched this to death. Until Polycom makes a minor change to allow multi digital key presses mapped to a button, it wont work. Very frustrating.

UPDATE:

This was just posted on the polycom site. Though it has an old date, I know it wasn't there before.

http://knowledgebase.polycom.com/kb/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=EndUser-TechAlerts-Audio-EnhancedFeatureKeysTB37551RevApdf&sliceId=pdfPage_1&dialogID=5822452&stateId=1%200%205820197

I need to take a closer look, but it imples that it could be done. It also implies that I need to pay to use the feature!! I can find no details about how to buy that feature. The enhanced feature keys are overkill for what I want to do. I just want to dial "#70" while on a call!

 

[jroper]

at the end of the day, piaf would have a fair chance of becoming more minstream than "others" if we could address and possibly come up solutions to common problems that some of us run into....especially when we run into a proprietary pbx "evangelist" out there...

Hi

PiaF has only been out for about six months. We are not supported or sponsored, unlike others, nor do we have anyone on salary fulltime, we cannot afford that, and we all have to do day jobs. With that in mind, I think we have done OK, coming up with a system that is reliable, reasonably secure, and by default we do not expose the name, extension number and status of every phone on the PBX to anyone who cares to look.

Therefore given the resources that we have, we have chosen the Aastra 5i range of phones to concentrate on, and try and provide functionality to that phone really well, rather than try and support every different type of phone out there. Fortunately we were able to get a 57i cheap at the recent FreePBX training to play with.

If you are going to adopt PiaF as your PBX to resell, then I suggest that you steer your customers towards the Aastra 5i series of phone - from my experience, they are quality, will not let you down, and at least you have a greater source of knowledge, support and information of other peoples experience with them here.

If you do prefer the Polycoms, Grandstreams et al, then that is fine too, just bear in mind that you may have to work out how to implement your own features yourself.

Joe

 

[therock112]

Hi

PiaF has only been out for about six months. We are not supported or sponsored, unlike others, nor do we have anyone on salary fulltime, we cannot afford that, and we all have to do day jobs. With that in mind, I think we have done OK, coming up with a system that is reliable, reasonably secure, and by default we do not expose the name, extension number and status of every phone on the PBX to anyone who cares to look.

Therefore given the resources that we have, we have chosen the Aastra 5i range of phones to concentrate on, and try and provide functionality to that phone really well, rather than try and support every different type of phone out there. Fortunately we were able to get a 57i cheap at the recent FreePBX training to play with.

If you are going to adopt PiaF as your PBX to resell, then I suggest that you steer your customers towards the Aastra 5i series of phone - from my experience, they are quality, will not let you down, and at least you have a greater source of knowledge, support and information of other peoples experience with them here.

If you do prefer the Polycoms, Grandstreams et al, then that is fine too, just bear in mind that you may have to work out how to implement your own features yourself.

Joe

Joe, there is absolutely no doubt that piaf has done exceedingly abundantly well for being little known out there......you guys have put a lot into it and i would like it to see overtake a certain other "release" out there.

I made the comment with the full knowledge that all of this is purely a labour of love..what I would love to see is some major company or whatever sponsor you all in some way, maybe have the team on salary to churn out even better stuff....dont get me wrong, you have already put out the best, but imagine what else could be possible if this were to be your day job.....!!! and you dont have to do this in the evenings, weekends and actually spent that time socializing/with family etc etc etc.....

any new installs based on piaf will definitely be aastra, but I am referring to those who already have invested in polycoms and are looking for those extras which make this setup comparable on all points with a proprietary system!! thats where we need polycom to cooperate and release the needed patch or updated firmware/documentation etc etc

the next system that I resell, I will be here donating a portion of it.

thanks for all the hard work for a load click type pbx!!

 

[wardmundy]

There is loads of material on Polycoms floating around on the net. Start with this article from SureTeq and this one. Kerry Garrison's tutorial and Robert Perkins' tutorial also are terrific. And Voip-info, trixbox, Whirlpool, and Voxilla all have huge collections of information pertaining to Polycom configuration. Interestingly, Polycom only offers a Configuration White Paper, but it is excellent. Many of their resellers have loads of tips. For example, I found this IP650 installation tutorial with Google in less than a minute.

I've never seen anyone mention single-button parking with Polycoms. That's not an Asterisk defect. It's a Polycom design and engineering choice.

So... if Polycom's are your thing or if you or your customers already have them, that's fine. You'll just have to scratch around a little harder to find the pieces. Once you find them, it would be immensely helpful to other users here if you would share your booty with everyone else.

 

[therock112]

There is loads of material on Polycoms floating around on the net. Start with this article from SureTeq and this one. Kerry Garrison's tutorial and Robert Perkins' tutorial also are terrific. And Voip-info, trixbox, Whirlpool, and Voxilla all have huge collections of information pertaining to Polycom configuration. Interestingly, Polycom only offers a Configuration White Paper, but it is excellent. Many of their resellers have loads of tips. For example, I found this IP650 installation tutorial with Google in less than a minute.

I have seen most of them while googling, matter of fact I have been using polycoms with a@h for couple of years and have visited those sites and contributed at others the knowledge gained thru trial and error, like may of us here. I can live without a dedicatd part button, but not those who have already invested in a polycom few years ago and use it in an office environment everyday. I am sure you will understand that going back to them and asking them to ditch almost perfectly working phone and switch to aastra may not be the safest thing to suggest.

I've never seen anyone mention single-button parking with Polycoms. That's not an Asterisk defect. It's a Polycom design and engineering choice.

this whole thread started out by ErikU is about single button park with polycoms and asterisk. We know this isnt an issue with asterisk per se.....there is no doubt this falls right in the polycoms engineering department.....I am not even hingting this is a problem with freepbx or piaf for that matter.

So... if Polycom's are your thing or if you or your customers already have them, that's fine. You'll just have to scratch around a little harder to find the pieces. Once you find them, it would be immensely helpful to other users here if you would share your booty with everyone else.

scratch around is eactly what I am trying to do. appears that ErikU might have found an article that shows some promise.....I will try that and if anyone is interested, post config files here for others benefit.

 

[therock112]

Believe me, I have researched this to death. Until Polycom makes a minor change to allow multi digital key presses mapped to a button, it wont work. Very frustrating.

UPDATE:

This was just posted on the polycom site. Though it has an old date, I know it wasn't there before.

http://knowledgebase.polycom.com/kb...dfPage_1&dialogID=5822452&stateId=1 0 5820197

I need to take a closer look, but it imples that it could be done. It also implies that I need to pay to use the feature!! I can find no details about how to buy that feature. The enhanced feature keys are overkill for what I want to do. I just want to dial "#70" while on a call!

ErikU,

this looks promising, I will try this and see how it works. Thanks you for posting it here.

 

[therock112]

Came across this interesting pdf about polycom phones and their proposed future firmwares...

http://track.sipfoundry.org/secure/attachment/14481/SIP+3+0+Technical+Training+-+Partner+080107.pdf

 

[therock112]

seems like the sip 3.x series of polyom firmware now has the ability to program macros and softkeys to create park custom keys etc.

no license is needed (polycom had a change of heart) but you will need to use the newer 3.x series of firmware preferably the 3.1 series is ideal. the 3.1 series of firmware is not publicly available, only from authorized resellers.

I have tried a park softkey in 3.1 on a polycom 550 and it works flawlessly with the latest piaf version 32bit.