Merlin Legend - can you answer a page by lifting a handset? 3

[MerlinRob]

Is it possible to answer a page on the Merlin Legend by just lifting a handset?

One of the features I loved about my Merlin Plus and the Partner systems was that you could just answer a page by picking up any phone.

This was cool in a small office and great in the home.

I love my Merlin Legend and I’m glad to have resurrected it. But I’m realizing that for the most useful thing I need it to be around the house - an easy intercom - it fails at the task.


Is there some way to enable answering a page by just lifting the handset of any phone receiving that page, as is possible on the smaller systems?

Thanks for any info you might have - whether this is possible or not.

 

[TouchToneTommy]

Reading through the Feature Reference, it appears that NO, you can not intercept a group page by lifting the handset on one of the phones that is being paged. So you would need to make your pages say "John Doe, please call extension xxx" and wait to receive the call back.

 

[Jim E]

I found the same issue when I upgraded from the Plus to the Legend (Rel 7); in fact Touch Tone Tommy gave me the same answer a few years back. My workaround which has been somewhat less then ideal, was to add a 2nd button under the Page All button, labelled "Page Answer". This was actually port 804 on my system, which was only a common talk path (similar to the 1A2 intercoms). After I paged, I pressed the Page Reply button and waited for the paged person to pick up on the Page Answer button which was now lit.

Years ago there was a short article in the Technical Monthly on this. It was designed this way because the Legend was for a large business. If every phone when to the page button automatically during every page, many users would be inadvertently connected when they thought they picked up the receiver to make a call. Unfortunately, this was never made a system option.

 

[MerlinRob]

Thanks, Jim and Tommy for the replies!

Jim, that's an interesting work around and something worth considering before I remove this system that I've worked so hard to restore over the past few years!

Before I think about replacing it with a Partner ACS (I recall the earlier Partner systems did this page intercept), Tommy, do you happen to know if Partner ACS still allows you to intercept a page by lifting the handset?

Jim... that's such a creative solution. I think I'm going to give it a shot!

 

[Westi]

Yes, Partner ACS does that. I was 95% sure but looked into the manual to not fail catastrophically on this one.

Simultaneous Paging (I*70)
Use this feature to access the Loudspeaker Paging system if you have one connected to the
system through the PAGE jack on the primary processor module, and all of the idle system
telephones with speakers assigned to Calling Group 1.

■ If someone answers a loudspeaker page from a system telephone in Calling Group 1, the
page becomes an intercom call.

Joe
FHandw, ACSS, ACIS

https://www.millsidetc.com/

 

[Jim E]

Hi, I found this in a Partner ACS manual, Release 7. Feature may be different depending on the release.

 

[MerlinRob]

Thank you all for these helpful replies. I have some thinking to do. These are all great options and I appreciate the time you've taken to reply and share the info. TTT, thanks for confirming what I feared was the case with the Legend.