Yealink BLF when presence DND

[jonpennell]

Good morning,

I have purchased two Yealink T48 handsets as part of a test/prototype demo of 3cx - and the results have been mixed.

One the plus side, if you select DND on the Yealink, the presence on all 3cx soft devices changes to DND - way better than I expected. If you select DND/available on the soft device, the Yealink switches DND on/off as appropriate. Another plus

However, the downside - the other Yealink extension doesn't indicate the DND state of the first extension on it's BLF.

Posts here lead me to believe that this is "the way it is". If this is the case, is it technically possible for 3cx to "correct" this behaviour or is it the way it will always be?

Do ANY supported 3cx handsets behave in a more suitable way? It seems crazy that if extension 10 changes state on the soft client to DND, a Yealink registered to 10 also shows DND but a Yealink on extension 11 which has a BLF on 10 doesn't change the BLF state to indicate 10 is unavailable...

 

[phonemaster]

Good morning,

I have purchased two Yealink T48 handsets as part of a test/prototype demo of 3cx - and the results have been mixed.

One the plus side, if you select DND on the Yealink, the presence on all 3cx soft devices changes to DND - way better than I expected. If you select DND/available on the soft device, the Yealink switches DND on/off as appropriate. Another plus

However, the downside - the other Yealink extension doesn't indicate the DND state of the first extension on it's BLF.

Posts here lead me to believe that this is "the way it is". If this is the case, is it technically possible for 3cx to "correct" this behaviour or is it the way it will always be?

Do ANY supported 3cx handsets behave in a more suitable way? It seems crazy that if extension 10 changes state on the soft client to DND, a Yealink registered to 10 also shows DND but a Yealink on extension 11 which has a BLF on 10 doesn't change the BLF state to indicate 10 is unavailable...

Hi,
I had the same idea, but after a long research I understood that this is the limitation coming from the phones - they can't subscribe to the DND status. They can just subscribe to the phone status - idle, ringing and busy (they don't have DND status). If 3CX will send one of the existed statuses when DND is enabled, then we will not understand is this phone is "in call" or "in DND", or is it "ringing" or "in DND"....
So, unfortunately, yes this is "the way it is"...
My customers are using the 3CX clients to see the actual status of the other extension.

 

[jonpennell]

If this is a "limitation coming from the phones", does this problem only affect the Yealink devices?

Do *any* approved IP phones correctly reflect the available/do-not-disturb presence status of other phones via BLF?

 

[YiannisH_3CX]

This is something affecting all phones. If you want to be able to monitor the status of the extensions you will need to use a 3CX client. 3CX clients can be used to also control supported devices and add functionality to them.

 

[jonpennell]

"This is something affecting all phones"... I assume this means it's a 3cx "problem".

It's not that "all phones" cannot update the BLF to indicate a DND (or even busy if necessary) status, it's that 3cx doesn't notify all subscribers that an extension state has changed to DND.

 

[phonemaster]

"This is something affecting all phones"... I assume this means it's a 3cx "problem".

It's not that "all phones" cannot update the BLF to indicate a DND (or even busy if necessary) status, it's that 3cx doesn't notify all subscribers that an extension state has changed to DND.

Hi jonpennell,
As I already wrote this is the phones limitation and not the PBX.
I'll be more technical:
Even if the PBX will send the SIP NOTIFY with "<state>dnd_on</state>" or "<state>dnd_off</state>", no any of my known phones will understand this.
If PBX will send the "<state>confirmed</state>" which now used to show that the phone is busy, we (customers) will not understand does this means that the phone is in "DND" or in the "call".

 

[jonpennell]

Wow thanks for your "more technical" response "phonemaster".

Of course, Asterisk users must be hopelessly confused - you know, since all their customers BLFs *DO* show busy when a handset has gone DND.

Perhaps rather than assuming it would be better if 3cx gave installers/customers the option of whether subscribers should be sent an inuse notification when presence is set to DND.

Incidentally, although not supported by 3cx, I seem to remember (although its been a while since I deployed any) that some Digium 'phones support a dnd-style notification and display a kind-of "no entry" sign beside extensions in that state.

Perhaps if there was a PBX setting "Notify subscribers when busy" it would make sense - it would allow the customer to decide. Although they wouldn't know if a busy extension was DND or actually on the phone, it makes very little difference - they'd still know not to try and transfer a call to that extension.

 

[jonpennell]

The fact that 'phones don't indicate based on a DND notification is a 'phone problem. The fact that 3cx doesn't attempt to notify any subscribers of the status is a 3cx issue - we should have the choice to notify subscribers with a "busy" when an extension goes DND

 

[AramS_3CX]

The fact that 'phones don't indicate based on a DND notification is a 'phone problem. The fact that 3cx doesn't attempt to notify any subscribers of the status is a 3cx issue - we should have the choice to notify subscribers with a "busy" when an extension goes DND

Hi jonpennell,
I understand your point, and it's good that you agreed that "The fact that 'phones don't indicate based on a DND notification is a 'phone problem", but you also need to understand that some people will not like your idea to equalize the "in_call" state to the "dnd_on" state.
Example: Queue manager will like to see does his guy is in the call and busy, or pressed DND and went for the coffee break.

I'll suggest you to open a new thread in 3CX-Ideas and we will see how popular your idea will be there.

 

[jonpennell]

but you also need to understand that some people will not like your idea to equalize the "in_call" state to the "dnd_on" state.

… which is why I said

Perhaps if there was a PBX setting "Notify subscribers when busy" it would make sense - it would allow the customer to decide

as it would be OPTIONAL not a change to existing installations

 

[AramS_3CX]

… which is why I said as it would be OPTIONAL not a change to existing installations

So, open the thread in 3CX Ideas and we will see how many other customers need it.

 

[phonemaster]

Hi guys,
In addition - we need to understand where is the "issue" and where is the "feature request".
If 3CX have some functionality and it's broken - this is the issue.
If 3CX don't have it (like here) - this is the feature request...

@jonpennell
I like your idea and I'll vote for it if you open it, but it's a "feature request" and not the "issue"....
You can also try to open the "feature requests" on the phone manufacturers forums and ask them to add the support for the "DND status indication for the BLF buttons". Probably they will implement it faster .

 

[jonpennell]

I think before I open a feature request in Ideas, I'll run a wireshark trace. My guess is that 3cx is not sending any kind of notification to the subscribers when a handset goes to DND - rather than it being the case that 3cx is sending a notify message but the phone is ignoring it because it doesn't accept/understand the DND status update.

If this is the case, I'd be looking to raise a suggestion in ideas for the addition of a "send subscribers DND notification", perhaps allowing for "DND", "Busy" or "Custom" to be selected. That way if a handset manufacturer starts to support a DND message there would be no need for further changes and customers could decide if they wanted a BLF to show busy when handset was in DND.