Ability to see an extensions DND status with BLF's

[equarvdw]

Hello,

i would like to request a feature on behalf of one of our customers.

His old PBX, which we replaced with a nice 3CX system, had the ability to see an extensions DND status with the BLF on other phones. When an employee is not available he or she hits the DND button (or *60 / *61 with 3CX), at that point the BLF light for that extension starts to blink red or stays solid red on other phones. Other employees are able to see that his or her colleague is unavailable at that moment.

Best regards,

Roel

 

[DFP]

+1 Yealink T4X

 

[DFP]

1+

 

[mxg]

+1

 

[Block5]

+1
as of right 11/12/2020, the 3CX website indicates that BLFs should work the way we all want them to in this regard: https://www.3cx.com/pbx/blf-function-keys



I have been converting my customers away from asterisk to 3CX and, while better in just about every way, one of the only downsides I've seen so far is this problem.

With asterisk/freepbx, BLFs were always red when someone was on DND. if they were on the phone, the word 'talking' would show up. I have a few customers asking why this feature is broken now. I've had to direct them to the webclient (which is AMAZING and I use it all the time). But, I too wish I could just look at my phone and trust that GREEN means available. maybe soon the incredible 3CX engineers will find a way to make this work. Go 3CX! you can do it!!

We love you

 

[PPS01]

Our phones can see it momentarily when I use *61 to set DND. It goes red but then reverts back to green. VERY disappointed with this system. I fear we have made a big mistake changing to 3CX. Unless this is resolved we will change providers when our contract ends or maybe even before. Does anyone know of any other systems that show DND status of other users on Yealink handsets?

 

[Evolute IT]

A lot of systems do, but you'll trade-off features for features. If you need to see statuses, there's the Webclient, the browser extension, the Windows app and the mobile apps. I think that's pretty good already, and it shows way more than "red".

DND on BLF is not available on 3CX because they have their own Presence instead of using Asterisk in the background.

I never understand why 1 feature like this can cause someone to say "I hate this", but anyway.

 

[jeffharlan]

3CX is a company trying to be all things to all people and you have to understand that they cannot be expected to do everything. I can tell you from experience that it is a love or hate relationship with 3CX just like it is with Microsoft and many other big players in the software space. IF you are providing just phones and no software interface to users then I can see the frustration. However if you are taking 3CX as it designed to be used which is in combination then for the price and features it is pretty hard to beat.

This request has been out there for quite some time and I do not think it is one of the BIG items that is going to be dealt with any time soon or ever.

 

[PPS01]

Thanks for the comments. I appreciate that for many the 3CX system will be grea and they do a whole load of things well for a lot of people. I guess our issue is that we have worked a certain way for eons which includes phones in the warehouse and other areas that do not have a PC for the webclient use. We have tried using mobiles but they end up being left lying around and lost. We are used to a quick glance at the desk phone, without stopping what we are doing to see if someone is free, whereas with the webclient it means taking your attention away from what you are doing, opening up the window with the webclient and then returning back to what you were doing when you see the person is not available. I am just surprised that what I always thought was a basic function, isn't a standard feature across the industry.

 

[Evolute IT]

Thanks for the comments. I appreciate that for many the 3CX system will be grea and they do a whole load of things well for a lot of people. I guess our issue is that we have worked a certain way for eons which includes phones in the warehouse and other areas that do not have a PC for the webclient use. We have tried using mobiles but they end up being left lying around and lost. We are used to a quick glance at the desk phone, without stopping what we are doing to see if someone is free, whereas with the webclient it means taking your attention away from what you are doing, opening up the window with the webclient and then returning back to what you were doing when you see the person is not available. I am just surprised that what I always thought was a basic function, isn't a standard feature across the industry.

The red light already works if the person is on a call. Just not for DND.

And I don't think that anybody using a deskphone where there is no PC need a BLF for DND. Just call and you'll see quickly that the person is in DND since it goes directly to voicemail.

 

[PPS01]

The red light already works if the person is on a call. Just not for DND.

And I don't think that anybody using a deskphone where there is no PC need a BLF for DND. Just call and you'll see quickly that the person is in DND since it goes directly to voicemail.

Yes...that's not frustrating at all, having to call every few minutes to see if they are still on DND.

 

[Evolute IT]

Yes...that's not frustrating at all, having to call every few minutes to see if they are still on DND.

Well, if you need to call someone quickly and they are in DND, you can intercom to bypass it or have an always-on monitor on the Webclient so they quickly see everyone.

There's always a way and hating because "I want my red light for DND" is not a solution.

 

[PPS01]

@
Frederick Marcoux

Sure there are work arounds for everything but it puzzles me why this needs to be the case with what has always been a standard feature on phone systems going back several decades. I haven't ever used words like "hate*" in my message, those are words of your choosing. As someone who is an "advanced certified affiliate" I would have expected a more professional approach than to use that type of language / approach. I wonder if you have ever accepted any criticism of any aspect of 3CX...or whether you just regard all criticism as hate? These are my last comments here as I do not wish to engage any further in conversation with someone who is so blinkered in their views.

 

[Evolute IT]

@
Frederick Marcoux

Sure there are work arounds for everything but it puzzles me why this needs to be the case with what has always been a standard feature on phone systems going back several decades. I haven't ever used words like "hate*" in my message, those are words of your choosing. As someone who is an "advanced certified affiliate" I would have expected a more professional approach than to use that type of language / approach. I wonder if you have ever accepted any criticism of any aspect of 3CX...or whether you just regard all criticism as hate? These are my last comments here as I do not wish to engage any further in conversation with someone who is so blinkered in their views.

This sounds like hate to me:

It goes red but then reverts back to green. VERY disappointed with this system. I fear we have made a big mistake changing to 3CX. Unless this is resolved we will change providers when our contract ends or maybe even before.

I do know that 3CX has missing features, and they implement new ones based on votes. Not how much you regret your move. It's not a way to get things moving.

As an Advanced Certified, I propose workarounds to help. If all you really want is a red light for DND, then 3CX is not the right solution for your enterprise, and your provider is to blame, not 3CX.

 

[VoIPTools]

Depending on your phones (make and model), it may be possible to do what you want. There are a bunch of dependencies, but it may be possible to write a service that monitors the presence setting and send a http request to the phone to turn on / off the BLF.

 

[Colorian]

I agree, this would be rather helpful and we get asked this question regularly!

In fact, 3CX is the only system I know that shows a "green" (available) BLF status even when an extension is not registered anywhere, no mobile phone configured, etc. Usually, an unregistered extension means "red" (unavailable). But DND, of course, would mean the same.

Something to look at perhaps, after 5 years of this thread?