Configuring phones and extensions separately

[CaseySparks]

I previously stumbled upon a setting that would unlink the Phones settings page from the Extensions settings page, such that a phone could be added without assigning an extension.
I skipped over it as I didn't have a need at the time, but now configuring phones and extensions separately would save me a lot of time and hassle.
Where can I find that setting?

To clarify, I'm not referring to hotdesking. I'm also aware that this is not a recommended practice.

 

[leejor]

configuring phones and extensions separately would save me a lot of time and hassle.

Using auto-provisioning, I'm not clear on how this would save you time. Perhaps you could elaborate.

 

[CaseySparks]

Auto-provisioning requires a phone to be linked to an extension before it can be added. If a phone were to switch extensions, it would have to be deleted from one extension and then added to another. What I'm seeking to do would be to remove the phone from the extension without removing fully removing the object from the 3CX interface so that it can be added to another extension without having to re-enter the MAC address, local SIP port, etc.

The phone would still auto-provision once attached to an extension, but the work of configuring it would go from little to none. Additionally, it would allow me to add all company phones to the 3CX interface and connect them to an extension at a later date without having to provision the phone again.

 

[JohnS_3CX]

Hi Casey

Are these local or STUN phones? The system generates the provisioning link based on MAC address so you would still have to assign a phone MAC to an extension before the provisioning file is even generated.

I don't consider our way to be hard or time consuming, but it you really must shave off those precious seconds or want to preconfig all devices, you can use HotDesking. All phones are perpetually allocated and pre-provisioned but without a user account assigned. Once a user logs into it, the phone automatically loads their account on the spot and stays that way until such time as they log out. Wanna assign this device to another user? Simply log out and give the phone to someone else.

 

[CaseySparks]

Hi Casey

Are these local or STUN phones? The system generates the provisioning link based on MAC address so you would still have to assign a phone MAC to an extension before the provisioning file is even generated.

I don't consider our way to be hard or time consuming, but it you really must shave off those precious seconds or want to preconfig all devices, you can use HotDesking. All phones are perpetually allocated and pre-provisioned but without a user account assigned. Once a user logs into it, the phone automatically loads their account on the spot and stays that way until such time as they log out. Wanna assign this device to another user? Simply log out and give the phone to someone else.

These are STUN phones as they're on a separate VLAN.
I feel like I'm going crazy here. Does this option just not exist? I swear I saw it somewhere in the General Settings when I first set up the server...