Hosted Voice IP Phone Paging Guide - EarthLink/media/244fde8b636d439... · By Scott Yelton, business technology expert and author of EarthLink Insights Hosted Voice Paging Groups

By Scott Yelton, business technology expert and author of EarthLink Insights

Hosted VoicePaging Groups

© 2014 EarthLink. Trademarks are property of their respective owners. All rights reserved. 1071-07467

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Paging GroupsDescription A paging group is a set of phones that will receive a paging call, much like a public

announcement system. At the press of a button, all the phones in a paging group will

activate the speakerphone allowing the caller to make an announcement to all within

earshot of the phones in the paging group.

Overview

When a page is initiated the phone begins streaming audio traffic to the Page Group.

Any phones that are configured in the page group will receive the page via the

speakerphone while the others will silently ignore it. Paging is a one-way transmission

and the recipients cannot respond during an active page.

Phone-to-phone paging transmits the audio traffic via an IP Multicast on the local

network. The voice traffic does need to be sent to the EarthLink network and does

not use any internet bandwidth. As a result, a page will not be transmitted to users at

other sites.

Note: Paging is manufacturer specific, meaning Polycom phones cannot Page Aastra

phones and vice versa. If you have phones from more than one manufacturer deployed

paging will only work between other phones from the same manufacture. At this time

Paging is supported for the Polycom and Aastra phones only.

Paging Configuration for Business Group Administrators Paging group configuration is mostly restricted to Business Group Administrators.

There are three areas of settings related to paging groups, and all need configuring for

paging groups to work.

• Paging group configuration

• Paging group membership

• Paging group keys


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In this section you will learn how to enable Paging for your phones. This step will be needed for each

phone model that needs Paging.

1. From the Business Group Administrator portal, click on the Phones tab and then ‘manage your phone

profiles’ to open the Phone Profile Configurator.

2. You will see icons for each of the phone models provisioned on your Business Group. Select Edit from the dropdown under the phone model.

Paging Group Configuration


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3. Press the Table View button

4. Expand the menus in the table to access the Paging Group settings and check the boxes to enable or

disable the needed paging groups.

Aastra Phones Polycom Phones

Network > IP > Paging Groups > Paging Group 1-5 Network > IP > Polycom Paging and PTT > Paging

Group 1-5

5. Press the Save Changes button on the lower left corner.


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Paging Group Membership and Key Assignment You now need to make the phones members of the Page Groups and assign a key to access the Paging

feature.

Depending on your phone manufacture, the steps to complete this will vary.

AastraSubscribe to Page Groups1. Expand the menu to User > Call Services > Paging Group Membership.

2. Select the appropriate Page Group from the dropdown next to the Paging Group Membership field.



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Assign a Page Group to a Key1. Click Phone View icon.

2. Click on a configurable key and select Page Group from the dropdown list. Choose the appropriate

group and enter a label that will show on the phone display. When completed click OK.



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Aastra Specific Configuration Barge-In: This features allows you to control the behavior when your phone receives a page while you

are on a call. If enabled, when you are on an existing call and a page comes in, your call will be placed on

hold and you will receive the page. After the page completes, you will not be placed back on the call.

This feature can be disabled so incoming pages are ignored if you are on the phone by going to “Table View” Phone Profile > User > Preferences > Allow Group Page/Intercom Barge in.

PolycomSubscribe to Page Groups1. Expand the menu to User > Call Services > Polycom Paging Group Membership > Subscription

and place a check next to the appropriate Page Group.

2. If the phones should be allowed to transmit on the page group check the appropriate box in the

Transmission Permissions section.


Assign a Page Group to a KeyPolycom phones do not require a step to provision the Paging key on the phone. The softkey is

automatically added to one of the bottom softkeys. If there are features on all the keys, they will

move to the next screen automatically.

Polycom Specific ConfigurationTransmission Permissions: Polycom phones allow you to prevent some users from sending pages in a

page group but still receive them. Transmission Permissions settings are located in the “Table View” under

User > Call Services > Polycom Paging Group Membership > Subscription


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Group Paging for UsersAastra1. Press the Paging softkey and wait a few seconds.

By default the key is labeled Group1 but this may be different for your company. If you are

unsure what the paging key is labeled as contact your Business Group Administrator.

2. Begin speaking.

3. Press the Drop key when you have finished your message.

Polycom1. Press the Paging softkey.

2. Scroll to the group you wish to page.

3. Press Page and wait a few seconds.

4. Begin speaking.

5. Press End Page when you have finished your message.

FAQQ: Can I incorporate the phone paging with my overhead paging system?A: No. Phone Paging uses IP Multicast packets within the network to provide paging and

only works with other phones from the same manufacture.

Q: Pages keep putting my calls on hold. Can I stop this from happening?A: Yes. Disable Barge In via the Phone Configuration on the CommPortal.

Q: If I am on Do Not Disturb, will I still receive pages?A: No.

Q: If my line is forwarded, will the page get forwarded too?A: No.

Documents

Hosted Voice IP Phone Paging Guide - EarthLink/media/244fde8b636d439... · By Scott Yelton, business technology expert and author of EarthLink Insights Hosted Voice Paging Groups