Will "Enable Multicast Paging Ring Group provisioning" return?

[TigerTech]

We upgraded our on-prem from v18 to v20 U1 and were disappointed to see that the "Enable Multicast Paging Ring Group provisioning" option that we had been using for our IP phones had apparently been removed. Would someone from 3CX please address whether we may expect this option to return, and if you are able to speak to it, when that might be? Thank you.

 

[TheodorosG_3CX]

Are you referring to the below options?

 

[TigerTech]

Thank you for your reply. I'm referring to the option that used to exist on the IP phone provisioning page. There's a screenshot of it in this thread: https://www.3cx.com/community/threads/paging-multicast-yealinkt42g.57334/ where the poster highlighted the option in yellow.

 

[TheodorosG_3CX]

Can you please let me know the model of the ip phone?

 

[TigerTech]

We use these Yealink phones: T31G, T40G, T46S, T46U.

 

[TheodorosG_3CX]

This option is no longer there.
You need to add the extension to the Paging Group and not assign to the phone provisioning tab.

 

[TigerTech]

It does not appear to be possible to add an extension to a multicast paging group where you suggest. For comparison, here's a screenshot when creating a new ring group with ring strategy "Paging":



Here's a screenshot when using ring strategy "Paging Multicast", which is what we require:


As you can see, "Users" is missing here. So while we can create a multicast paging group, the 3CX GUI no longer appears to have a way to assign either users/extensions or phones to it. Unless I'm missing something, this still appears to be a loss of functionality from v18. Please advise.

 

[TigerTech]

As it's been a week now I wanted to check in again to see whether you can kindly confirm that the configuration I've described cannot be modified as of 3CX v20u1 and to ask whether we can expect it to return and when. Thank you for your continued assistance.

 

[Phone systems NZ]

I would like to know about this one as well, I have a lot of schools that use the multicast option from the phone template for lockdown, and safety messages to play out the phones

 

[TigerTech]

For the record, the option is still missing in V20 U2.

 

[TigerTech]

It's now been over two weeks since we've heard from @TheodorosG_3CX, and unless he's been on vacation it looks like he may have turned his attention elsewhere. @Phone systems NZ , as a 3CX partner do you have any more direct avenues of communication that may provide us with an answer?

 

[IT-Steve]

I would like to know as well. We don't have paging since upgrading to V20.

 

[NicholasP_3CX]

Multicast paging is in the PBX under the Ring Groups.

The option to assign the Multicast group to the IP Phones is no longer in the provisioning templates.

The configuration on the phones can either be done manually, or *GASP* with a customised template.

 

[IT-Steve]

Multicast paging is in the PBX under the Ring Groups.

The option to assign the Multicast group to the IP Phones is no longer in the provisioning templates.

The configuration on the phones can either be done manually, or *GASP* with a customised template.

I have a ring group set up with Multicast paging. I have v18 customized templates for the phones. I cannot find instructions for v20 multicast paging setup.

 

[NicholasP_3CX]

This shouldnt be 3CX version specific as the multicast group is configured on the phones themselves with their own variables.

 

[IT-Steve]

This shouldnt be 3CX version specific as the multicast group is configured on the phones themselves with their own variables.

I see. It may be something else in the change from v18 to v20.

When we press the BLF button on the phone, it shows *118100 and the call fails.

*11 is the dial code for paging. Is it the same for Multicast paging?

Thanks for the quick reply.

 

[NicholasP_3CX]

*11 is the dial code for the parking orbit.

Paging groups do NOT require that you dial the paging dial code. Just the extension number assigned to the ring group.

The paging dial code is only used when intercomming to a single extension. This is the way the PBX can differentiate if you want to call the person normall or scare the living daylights out of them with an intercom.

 

[TigerTech]

The option to assign the Multicast group to the IP Phones is no longer in the provisioning templates.

Returning to my original question in this thread, would you please address whether this option is like some others - a temporarily lost option in v20 that is expected to return in the foreseeable future, or has a decision been made to remove it permanently?

 

[lgray]

I'd also like to know the answer to this question. We've deployed several schools systems that rely on the multicast paging. Support says our options are to manually configure the phone or use a custom template. My understanding is that manually configuring the phone will get rewritten if the 3CX refreshes provisioning to the phone. And custom templates aren't supported, so not sure why that would be a suggestion.

 

[TigerTech]

I do not understand why 3CX has thus far not answered the question about whether this feature will return. I can only assume that it isn't an priority for them at this time. I hope that I'll be pleasantly surprised and that it will return in some future update. However, with our new school year having just started, I couldn't wait and had to make adjustments to deal with the lost functionality.

@Igray and anyone else dealing with this issue :

I understand your concerns about custom phone templates, but if it's any consolation, we've been using them for the several years that we've been using 3CX. There are certain multicast paging capabilities, BLF programming, and other functionality that we require that have never been configurable through the 3CX interface, and with as many phones as we have it's not practical to program each phone individually. When we began with 3CX there was no "Enable Multicast Paging Ring Group provisioning" option in the interface, so we had to have five separate custom templates - one for each zone with its own paging requirements. Several years later we were thrilled when the option was introduced as it allowed us to consolidate our five templates into one. Now that the option has been removed in v20, we have had to return to five separate templates.

As far as manually configuring paging zones on the phones themselves, I could be wrong, but I think this could work, perhaps depending on your phones. With respect to support for custom templates, where this could come into play is that if you're having problems and need support from 3CX, you would need to temporarily configure the phone(s) with a standard template before they would assist. This has not been an issue for us yet.

I hope this helps some people. It seems to me that somewhere in the forums is a wish list or feature request area, but I'm not sure where.