adding a trunk with immediate answer and assigning trunk group ...

[mrdom]

hi everyone - I added a 5th co trunk to assist with outdialing for follow me, etc. i'd also like this 5th trunk to be a number that our users can call in to check voice mail, etc. i'd like the 5th trunk to answer immediately when called, but am not entirely show how to do this. I thought about creating a ring group and have it answer after 1 second and set the destination to our main IVR. I can't leave the extension listing blank though, so i'm not sure what I would put in there for the brief 1 second ring. a virtual extension? i'm sure there's a simpler way to do this.

the other thing i want to do is to create an outbound route for follow me and other outdialing that the phone system would need to do. i only want the system to use outbound trunks 4 or 5 for this purpose. could i duplicate the 9_outside outbound route, change the 9 to an 8, and use only trunks 4 and 5 for the allowed trunks?

to program follow-me settings and for the system to dial external numbers, how would i put the number in? would i do <prefix(8)> XXXXXXX to send it to the outbound route for outdialing?

thanks again for the help!

 

[theislandtech]

The 8 is not the first position of the match pattern. It goes in the prefix field
The channel dialing to voip and the DID in the inbound route must match. The inbound route destination can be an IVR, Ring Group, ext, announcement, etc.

 

[mrdom]

ok! so it sounds like you're saying that I need to update those channels to the DID numbers. how do I know if I enter the number as 1-XXX-XXXXXXX or XXX-XXX-XXXX? it looks like the video had the 1 in it.

that's what I thought with regard to the 8, and I was putting it in the prefix field. but as soon as I put that number in the prefix field, I can only dial a seven-digit number, even with the X. dial pattern that should allow it. perhaps another grandstream setting that needs tweaking?

 

[mrdom]

i THINK i may have solved the problem!!

this is what i did:

1. i went into the grandstream and entered in the full number for channels 4 and 5 (1-XXX-XXXX).

2. i then went into the inbound routes for lines 4 and 5 (corresponding to the channels) and set the DID to the same number (1-XXX-XXXX) I put in the channel on the grandstream.

3. to test, i sent line 4 to the IVR and line 5 to voice mail service. i called both lines to test, and it worked!!

but ...

the line appearances still weren't working. at this point, the shared calls tag was still set to scg1 on both inbound routes.

then:

1. i changed the shared calls tag to scg4 in the inbound route for line 4.

2. i changed the shared calls tag to scg5 in the inbound route for line 5.

3. i reprogrammed the two buttons on a phone for these lines to read: SCA:1@SCG4 and SCA:1@SCG5

With those changes, the line appearances appeared as they should when i made test calls!!

I then programmed another extension with the same settings, made another test call, answered from one extension, put the call on hold, and was able to pick up from the other extension! that's what i was trying to accomplish!

Does that seem to be the right way to set it up? It seems to be working!

One more issue I have to figure out now: There is one extension that's not in the ring group, and it shouldn't be because the phone is in a private workroom. This extension does have the line buttons programmed, however, and it would be nice to answer calls using that phone from time to time. When a call comes in on the ring group and I want to answer it from that workroom phone, I cannot. I can take a call that's on hold, but cannot answer. The UCx instructions clearly stated that for the SCA to work, I needed to have the extension in the ring group. Can I do a directed call pickup to a ring group and answer the call that way? Or is the only way I can do this is by having that extension in the ring group?

thanks to everyone for their continued help!

 

[mrdom]

outbound dialing isn't working still, however. I tried to create an outbound route using the simple rule of X. I did not put in a prefix. I told the route to use Line 4, and put SCG4 on the shared calls tag field in the route. when I tried to place a call using 1-XXX-XXXX, the call went through, but the route selected line 5, not line 4. this is the only route I've got programmed right now, so i'm not sure why line 5 would be selected ... can't figure out what's telling the system to use that line and not the line I've specified.

 

[theislandtech]

ensure that the workroom phone and the ring group phones are in the same call group and pickup group (Extensions->Nortel)
program a button on the workroom phone for call pickup (F75). From the workroom, if they hear the ring group or see the flashing line the call can be answered with the pickup button

 

[theislandtech]

this Link might help. It is for older firmware. Newer firmware (1.4.1.4) has the same entries but are scattered in different locations. Took me days to get it setup using this and many other examples found through Google searches. Hang in there, work on one trouble or feature at a time until you get the desired results.

 

[mrdom]

thanks for the continued help, islandtech ... we're getting there! I read your post and a wiki article from freepbx about setting up the grandstream. of particular interest were the round robin settings. the grandstream was set to rr:1-8, and from what I read, in that mode, the system will select the highest numbered line first and always send the calls to that trunk, regardless of what's set in freepbx/UCx. I changed the round robin settings to specify rr:1;rr:2;rr:3;rr:4;rr:5 in hopes that i'll then be able to specify in the outbound route which line goes to which route. i'll try it this evening!

 

[mrdom]

Today was a very good day! I read a post on FreePBX's Wiki about making separate trunks for each line on the GrandStream. This is what I did:

IN THE GRANDSTREAM:

1. I went to "channels". Under "phone number settings", I typed:

channel sip user id authenticate id authen password
----------------------------------------------------------------------
4 Line4-XXXXXXXXXX BLANK BLANK
5 Line5-XXXXXXXXXX BLANK BLANK

2. In "port scheduling schema" / round robin field, I entered:
rr:1;rr:2;rr:3;rr:4;rr:5;rr:6;rr:7-8;

3. Saved and rebooted the GrandStream.

IN THE UCX

1. I went to trunks and edited the trunk settings for Lines 4 and 5 (my 2 current test lines).

2. Under "outgoing settings", I used the same name for the trunk as the sip user id on the GrandStream.

3. In peer details, I used the following:

host=XXX.XX.X.XX
type=friend
qualify=yes
insecure=invite
context=from-trunk
port=5066
dtmfmode=rfc2833
canreinvite=no
disallow=all
allow=ulaw

The directions gave Line 1 as port 5060, Line 2 as 5062, Line 3 as 5064, etc. Not sure where those port numbers come from, but I used 5066 for Line 4 and 5068 for Line 5, following the scheme.

4. I verified the inbound route - didn't really change anything here. For testing purposes, I set line 4 to go to IVR and line 5 to go to Voice Mail Service. After placing test calls, both answered appropriately and the correct SCA buttons appeared on the display. Hurray!!

5. I went into the outbound routes. Line 4 is a regular business line from the cable company, so I set up a dialing pattern to handle local, 7-digit numbers and long distance numbers:

(prepend)) + prefix | [1NXXNXXXXXX/CallerID]
(prepend)) + prefix | [NXXXXXX/CallerID]
(prepend)) + prefix | [match pattern/CallerID]

6. After applying the changes, I set up an outbound route for Line 5. Line 5 is the MagicJack adapter, so it requires only long distance service, so the dial pattern looks like this:

(prepend)) + prefix | [1NXXNXXXXXX/CallerID]
(prepend)) + prefix | [match pattern/CallerID]

7. After applying the changes, Line 4 was the first route, and Line 5 was the second. I dialed a seven-digit number, and the call went through on Line 4 ... worked! I dialed a long-distance number, and that went out on Line 4 as well (as it should, because Line 4 was the first route that matched the pattern) ... worked!

8. Then, to further test, I switched the route order and placed Line 5 first and Line 4 second. I dialed a long-distance number, and this time, the call went out on Line 5 as it should ... worked! I dialed a 7-digit number, and it went out on Line 4 ... worked!! Great!!

The final piece of the puzzle is this: I'm going to be getting another MagicJack adapter (for Line 6). Lines 5 and 6 will be used for outdialing. How do I create an outbound route that will use only Lines 5 and 6 when the system needs to dial out? In other words, I don't want the system using the four main lines ... the system should be restricted to use only Lines 5 and 6. If I can figure this out, I'm home free!! I'm not entirely sure how to make this work, though.

I tried editing Line 5's dialing pattern to be:

(prepend)) + 8 | [1NXXNXXXXXX/CallerID]

I added an "8" in the prefix field. At the phone's keypad, I dial 8-1XX-XXX-XXXXX. When I do that, I can only enter 7 digits. The call gets sent to Line 4, and it begins to ring. For some reason, the system thinks the 8 I'm dialing isn't a prefix - it's a real number and doesn't drop it. It's treating that 8 as the first digit in a 7-digit number, and thus, doesn't wait for the other digits.

What do I need to modify to make the prefix work so I can specify that an 8 will select either Line 5 or Line 6?

Thanks for the continued help!

 

[mrdom]

I mentioned above that the directions gave Line 1 as port 5060, Line 2 as 5062, etc.

On the GrandStream, under the FXO Lines tab, there is a setting called "Sip Destination Port" under
"Channel Dialing to VoIP". Right now, the setting is: ch1-8:5060;

Is this where I assign the port numbers? Should this field be changed to:
ch1:5060;ch2:5062;ch3:5064;ch4:5066;ch5:5068;ch6:5070

I'm assuming these ports are all open on the UCx?

 

[ucxguy]

If you want to use one SIP trunk for each channel on the Grandstream gateway, you would specify the ports as you described. You should probably add channel 7 and 8 to the list (even if you don't use them).

These are ports on the Grandstream gateway - as such, they have nothing to do with the UCx server - UCx will just receive traffic from these gateway ports. In other words, it's irrelevant if these ports are used on the UCx server or not.

 

[mrdom]

Thanks for the clarification, ucxguy. I made those port numbers as above.

AND ...

I think I figured out the final clue!

I read another Wiki on FreePBX with regard to outbound routes, and this particular sentence jumped out at me:

Note:
You can use variations of the above trunk to force a particular Caller ID, or allow your users to choose to use a particular line, or trunk. Just change the Route CID, change *67 in the Dial Patterns to whatever prefix you want to use (i.e., *81 for line 1, *82 for line 2, and so on), and then whatever Trunk sequence you prefer.

The prefixes used here in the note began with a *! I checked the feature codes and chose a combination that wasn't in use (I used *50).

I then went into the outbound route for Line 5, and modified the dial pattern to read:

(prepend)) + *50 | [NXXNXXXXXX/CallerID]

I took the 1 off for the area code so the pattern matches (area code) + XXX-XXXX. MagicJack does not require a 1 to dial a long-distance number. I applied the change, dialed *50XXX-XXX-XXXX and the call went through!! Hurray! When I get my second MagicJack and connect it, I should be able to use this same rule and simply add Line 6 to the list of outbound trunks. Then, for my outdialing, I'll prefix all outdialed/follow-me numbers with *50 and only use (area code) + XXX-XXXX.

This should not affect the other outbound routes for the regular lines because I don't have a pattern for NXXNXXXXXX, so those routes will simply pass on the number as they don't have a pattern for it. The only route that will have a pattern is the outbound route for the MagicJack adapter!!

WOW ... could it be that I finally figured this out?!?! Will do some additional experimenting tonight. Thanks to everyone for their help!

 

[atdjr123]

Glad it all worked out for you. Sometimes we need to dive in ourselves to figure things out. Great persistence bro.

http://www.voiceconnectplus.com

Voice Connect Plus, Inc.
have a great day and a better tomorrow

 

[mrdom]

Thanks atdjr - persistence pays off, along with good helpers!! Thanks to everybody again who helped getting things tweaked!