Call Pickup on Cisco 7942

[dk-peter]

I'm working on migrating our phone system to 3CX for our smallish nonprofit. So far things are going alright, but for the life of me I can't get call pickup working on our old cisco 7962/7942 phones. I can't find a lot of information on this either on both google, this forum, and voip-info.org (which has helped me a lot so far). We're quite limited in our resources, so while replacing all our phones with something more recent is on our todo list, it will take a couple of years before we can replace the last 7942.

I got the pickup softkey on the phone (event id 17, which seems to be correct from what I can find), but if you press it you just hear the busy signal. You can enter an extension number but it doesn't do anything. I also tried dialing *20*<extension> as I've read somewhere that this should work with 3cx but alas, just a busy tone as well. I can however pickup calls using the webclient, so 3cx itself seems to be fine.

Could someone point me in the right direction? Any help is appreciated.

Some information: we're running the standard license on linux on a local VM (vmware). The phones are configured using the guide on the 3cx site (with the firmware for our models). Used a custom softkey xml file to get the pickup key on the display.

 

[JohnS_3CX]

Hi Peter,

Those specific models are not supported by 3CX so I would not expect them to work properly. Maybe just for basic calls at best, but not for more functions, and at least not without quirks I would think.. We only support Cisco 7940, 7941, 7960, 7961, and this is was added a while back just as legacy support to help with migration of older systems.

In addition, call forwarding cannot be done by the endpoints. It is handled by the PBX on the extension's level so you either need to do it from one of the many 3CX clients we have available (web, windows, Android or iOS) or directly from the management console. If you can * 20 * from the webclient and it works, while using the same extension as the one you have on the cisco, then you have confirmed at least that the extension setting and rights are allowing this. If the phone is failing to do it then try plain * 20 * while another extension is ringing and give it a shot.

I think your best bet will be to take a look at our supported models range, and plan on upgrading as soon as possible, even if it's with used phones (which may be more affordable than new in the specific case). https://www.3cx.com/sip-phones/

 

[dk-peter]

Hi John,

I couldn't agree more concerning the physical phones. We're looking into it. For now, sadly, we'll have to make do since more users demand/need a physical phone than we can provide new ones for.

Using *20* works just fine though and is more than enough for what we need! Thank you, really appreciate your quick and helpful reply.

 

[JohnS_3CX]

Glad to help! By the way you might want to start introducing users to the 3CX clients (mobile, desktop or browser) because since you are getting 3CX, why not also enjoy the extra benefits of having calls without physical phones?

There's always some users that want a physical device, but there's also users that have grown tired of it or want the freedom to take calls away from the desk (especially if remote working).

 

[dk-peter]

We're pushing that as much as possible! Luckily there are some users who are really happy with the clients 3cx provides (especially being able to use it on their cellphone) and don't require a new physical phone.