Shared Parking functionality

[Matood]

Hi All,

I'm new to 3CX, this is my first post on these forums so be gentle with me :lol:

My question is relating to call parking, in particular, the shared parking feature. I have an understanding of call parking, and how to use it from years working on IP PBX appliances.
I have been playing in the 3cx server trying to get a button on the handsets (Yealink T46G) to act as a shared parking button with BLF indication.

Here's what i have done currently....
I have an instance of the 3cxphone for windows running on my desktop. Adding a shared park key to this is simple as no doubt everyone is aware.
I also have 2 Yealink T46G handsets to test with. Under the Handsets tab in 3cx server manager, in the BLF programming for the Yealink handset I can drop down shared parking buttons, but I guess this is only applicable for Yealinks' with an add on DSS console as it doesn't change the keys on the T46G handset....
So, what I did was....
On one T46G, I have programmed a DSS key to speed dial "SP0" to access shared parking bin 0. This works no dramas.
The 2nd Yealink, I have a button speed dialing to a phantom extension number. I have this "forwarded to my mobile" and I have set the mobile number to be SP0 in all forwarding rules. Again this works.

All three methods will interact with the shared parking location 0 fine. Again, no real ground breaking stuff here.

The thing that is doing my head in is there is no visual indication/ BLF on any of the 3 methods to show there there is a call parked in shared bin 0. I would have expected the light to come on/ change color to show the parking location is already in use so the next person doesn't attempt parking in the same spot. As I found out, if this happens, the 2nd call attempted to be parked just recalls back and you need to park the call again in the next spot (SP1) assuming it is not in use also.
I understand that with the 2 methods I'm trying on the Yealink's that BLF is probably not possible, but I would have thought the SP0 button on the 3cx Soft Phone for Windows wouldn't have been a stretch?

Here's why this is a problem for me. We are looking at 3CX as a multi tenant platform to reside in our data centre for hosted comms. Many of my existing clients currently on various other on premise phone platforms currently have ISDN (E1/T1) or SIP trunks running up to 30 channels. They all use Call parking to moving the bulk of calls around with 5 or so Parking bin buttons on each handset.
Now, I'm not the most only comms guy in the world making the change from on premise IP systems to soft switch systems, but most of my colleagues maintaining large systems with high call volume also have clients making heavy use of call parking rather than only running screened transfers.
I can see the complaints now from reception/ co-ordination staff about how painful it is to not have BLF/ visual presence on the shared parking location keys.

If I am missing something really obvious with this, please let me know and accept my humblest apologies, but for love nor money I can't see it.

Thanks muchly in advance.

 

[craigreilly]

Looking at the Template - BLF1 in the Console should coincide with Button 3 on the T46. Do you see the phone in the Phones section and does it get rebooted when you reprovision? Do you see the Config File URL in the phone GUI?

As far as BLF's on Parking, perhaps an issue with the License? I haven't had any issues with Yealinks not showing the status. 3cx does a decent job reviewing the Yealink firmware before releasing it to the updates.

 

[Matood]

Hi Craig,
Thanks for the reply.

Looking at the Template - BLF1 in the Console should coincide with Button 3 on the T46. Do you see the phone in the Phones section and does it get rebooted when you reprovision? Do you see the Config File URL in the phone GUI?

As far as BLF's on Parking, perhaps an issue with the License? I haven't had any issues with Yealinks not showing the status. 3cx does a decent job reviewing the Yealink firmware before releasing it to the updates.

Yes, the phone appears in the Phones section, it rebooted on auto provision and it does have the URL in the auto provision field of the Yealink gui.

The license i have is just a free, 2 call lic. at the moment. I Wouldn't have thought the license type would have an effect on BLF function?

 

[lneblett]

There may be an issue with the feature set, but it could depend on which version you are running. In versions prior to V14 there were a free version and a demo version. The free version was deprecated on various functions as it was more of an effort to get people to at least take a look and kick the tires a little. If they liked what they saw then they could request a demo key and test further. I do not recall the features that were affected. The demo version was a full featured version which allowed all features to function but limited the number of simultaneous call that could be accommodated to 2. You could look at the system extension status and see if certain extensions are not registered and if so, then likely the free.

Of course, there is also the issue that perhaps the phone is in need of a firmware upgrade.

You might also look at:
http://www.3cx.com/blog/releases/v14-virtual-pbx/

 

[NickD_3CX]

Initially even in the Free Version the BLF Indicator should work, it is no a limitation of the Free Version.

Also, if the Shared Parking is added through the Management Console -> Extensions -> extension settings -> BLF tab, and the Default Template is being used, the SPx BLF should show up on the phone and work.

By reading through the you description I believe you have entered the incorrect type of DSS key and that is why the status is not showing up.
If you want to add the Share Parking DSS manually, under the DSS key option in the Yealink UI you must enter:
- Type: Call Park (from your description you have selected Speed Dial)
- Value: SP0
- Label: The default value from the template is SP0 but you can put whatever you want.

Also sometimes Yealink phones can be a bit temperamental if on certain firmware versions so I would recommend going for the 28.73.0.50 for the T46 (not the V80).

 

[Matood]

I ended up reloading the 3cx software (v14) and restoring a backup and hey presto, shared parking blf works.

Thanks for the info and suggestions.