Shared Line Appearance with Grandstream 2124 Phone

[SummitCTG]

I was hoping to see if someone could help me with setting up shared line appearance for Grandstream 2124 Phones.

I have a new client we recently installed that is running 2 company's off of the same phone system.

Lines 1-3 are used for company A
Line 4 is used for company B

They need the ability to select which line they use to make outbound calls for caller ID reasons and it would also be nice to see the line light up on the phone for inbound calls-just like a PBX/Key system. So the customer would manually press the line key on their phone to make an outbound call.

If this is not possible, is there a way that they can press 9 for an access code to select lines 1-3 and press 8 to select line 4, just like an outbound line group on a PBX system.
This way they can still choose which line they are calling out on. I could then convince them how great shared park is as opposed to the physical line being on system wide hold, which they are used to.

Specifications on system:
3CX version 11 11.0.27588.780
Grandstream 2124 Version 1.0.4.23
Patton 4114 Gateway
All lines reside on this gateway- They are 4 analog lines-no SIP trunks

 

[lneblett]

On the GXW4114, you can set-up outbound rules in conjunction with the following to get what you want:
Prefix to specify Port(1 stage dialing method)
Default is 99.
Syntax to USE this feature: prefix# (that is 99) + ch# (could be anything from 1 to 8)
+ dialing# will result in this call forwarded to FXO port (ch#) immediately.

So, set a rule that calls for the extensions or group associated to company A to use a rule that prepends 991 (plus the dialed number) for route 1, 992 for route 2, 993 for route 3. Then establish a second rule for company B that sends their calls to 994.

The 99 indicates that you want to specify a specific line, the # after the 99 specifies which line and then the number of interest. Use the outbound rules so that it is transparent to the user. BY stating the extensions or group associated to the rule in need, no one need know that you are prepending the 99X and then there is no reason to even dial a 9 or something else for an outbound route.

 

[SummitCTG]

Thank you for the reply. The issue is that all 6 phones on the system select different lines depending on what they are doing.
So, it is not split, 3 extensions company a and 3 extensions company b. All extensions work for both company's

 

[SummitCTG]

Also, it is a Patton in place, not a Grandstream Gateway for the CO lines

I am working on trying to set the first 4 line keys as shared line keys 1-4 by using the physical Gui interface of the Grandstream 2124, not the 3CX provisioning- Have you ever done or tried that before?

Thanks

 

[SummitCTG]

Does anyone have any ideas for this by any chance.

Thanks

 

[leejor]

Outbound rules can be set-up to apply to specific extension numbers. In this way any extension can dial the same prefix (9?), for an outside line, but, can be made to route out over different trunks, if desired.

 

[SummitCTG]

Thank You Leejor. I had actually pulled up one of your previous posts and followed the instructions on setting up the 4 port FXO Patton gateway, then deleting it and setting it up with 4 individual Gateways using the same ID and password to manipulate Outbound Trunk selection(Using 8 for line 4 and 9 for Lines 1-3)
Pure genius. I was beating my head against the wall for countless hours trying to get that to work. I have deployed 3 CX on previous occasions and just assumed that it worked because of how flexible the system was, but shouldnt of assumed so quickly.

Have you come across a way to have individual trunk keys programmed on the phone. Actually Line 1,2,3,4, just like a Key/PBX system. This way employees there can select which line they want to call out on and easily put calls on hold and pick them up at another location.

I know 3CX's point of view is why, but with small businesses that are coming off of a Key/PBX system their question is why can't you do this. I run into a lot of instances where there may be multiple company's running off of the same phone system. This would be easy if Company A had 5 employees and Company B had 5 employees and they were just sharing an office space. But in these instances there may be 5 employees that actually work for both companies so it would be great if they could select the line(company) they want to call out on and have a line key light up when a call comes in for that company-IE Line 1,2,3, or 4.

Thanks again for all of your assistance.

 

[leejor]

The trick to simulating a key system isn't call routing, that can be accomplished in 3CX. the hard part is getting the line keys to display the status properly. Keeping in mid that I have not had the need to set one up myself (I'm sure that someone else has), some sets, as i understand it are better than others. You want the same key on all sets to light when the line is in use, flash on an incoming call (easy part) and wink (or change colour), when on hold. You also want a fairly easy method of putting a call on hold, something akin to a key system.

The routing part is easy. If you have four trunks groups 1 to 4, and four extension numbers that each appear on a number of sets, you can create a set of outbound rules that only apply to each extension number. So, for example, if the first key, extension 101 dialled a 9+ (outside number, there could be a rule that applied only to extension 101 to route that call out on trunk 1, and so on. Trunk 1 inbound calls would only ring in to extension 101, trunk 2 to extension 102, and so on.

To make this scenario work, means that no one else has access to those trunks. If trunk 1 were busy on a call from an extension other than 101, then 101 would not be able to place a call, if you gave it a second route then there would be no guarantee that a call made by extension 101 always went out on trunk 1.