3CX paging to multiple public address zones

[Mark Phillips]

Does anyone have experience of using 3CX in a public building where public announcement messages are broadcast over the PA system by the user dialling a paging extension and making the announcement via their VoIP telephone?

I'm looking at 4 separate PA zones, each with its own amplifier. Therefore I think I'd need four Snom PA1 or similar.

Then, thinking about paging from 3CX, is it possible to set up various groups, so that I could page the following combinations of zones?

All Zones - 1,2,3,4
Lower Ground Floor Zones - 1, 2
First Floor Zones - 3, 4
Staff Areas only - 2,3
Public Areas only -1,4

Thanks
Mark

 

[dkirk-ads]

I am using a Bogen TAMB2 that was already here

https://www.bogen.com/products/pdfs/telephonepagepdfs/TAMB2m.pdf

with a GrandStream HT801

http://www.grandstream.com/products/gateways-and-atas/analog-telephone-adaptors/product/ht801

to accomplish something similar. The Bogen provides the nice beginning tone that alerts a page is coming. In 3CX the HT801 is fully supported and is a simple extension, so a call to the PA extension will results in an alert tone followed by the message. In your case you would have four extensions and then wrap them in whatever ring-groups you need.The Bogen has some interesting configuration options such as background music; it's a very solid piece of equipment.

 

[JohnS_3CX]

Hi Mark,

The PA1 is end of life (but still works for now). The Fanvil PA2 and iW30 are in the supported models.

You can set up paging numbers and include the devices you want accordingly (from the ring groups section).

 

[Mark Phillips]

I am using a Bogen TAMB2 that was already here

https://www.bogen.com/products/pdfs/telephonepagepdfs/TAMB2m.pdf

with a GrandStream HT801

http://www.grandstream.com/products/gateways-and-atas/analog-telephone-adaptors/product/ht801

to accomplish something similar. The Bogen provides the nice beginning tone that alerts a page is coming. In 3CX the HT801 is fully supported and is a simple extension, so a call to the PA extension will results in an alert tone followed by the message. In your case you would have four extensions and then wrap them in whatever ring-groups you need.The Bogen has some interesting configuration options such as background music; it's a very solid piece of equipment.

Interesting - so you just set the HT801 to auto answer and then the TAMB2 detects the off hook and springs to life?

Any disadvantages to this over using the paging facility?

 

[dkirk-ads]

Exactly, the HT801 is just a simple 3CX extension so it just "answers" the phone as any normal deskphone. There was one setting in the HT801 that needed to be set to tell the Bogen to hang up when the call/page was completed. It was really a 5 minute setup with the HT801 and 3CX built-in support. The Bogen handles the initial audible tone before the page, and it's been a fine solution. In your case, just wrap a few of these extensions around a ring group when you want more than one. In your case the HT814 might work perfectly, although I'm not familiar with how the four ports are addressed.

 

[Mark Phillips]

Any other experiences out there?

 

[SweetAction]

Any other experiences out there?

At one site I use a Bogen UT1 with a Cisco SPA112 to do the exact same thing...
https://www.bogen.com/products/pdfs/selfamplifiedpdfs/UTI1s.pdf - single zone though

It boils down to what you already have (for the paging controllers and amps) and how many zones.

If buying fresh, just go pure IP with something like the PA1 or similar from cyberdata or fanvil, etc.

 

[dkirk-ads]

Just stumbled across this company that is offering some very interesting SIP products, including a four zone paging SIP device: https://www.cyberdata.net/collections/sip/products/011171