Merlin Messaging Version Upgrade

[brianz24]

I'm actually a career IT tech guy, not a phone guy. I work for a very small company and we just installed a merlin legend phone system with merlin messaging R1.1.

Is it possible to upgrade to R4? Can I upgrade to R4 directly, or do I have to perform earlier releases first? Assuming that I have to buy something, what is the best place to look and what kind of cost will be associated?

Thanks!

Brian

 

[Dexman]

Although I am not a CPE installer and have never upgraded a voicemail from one revision to another, my suggestion would be to simply purchase an R4 from a dealer.

 

[dagwoodsystems]

You must have at least Merlin Messaging release 2.5 to upgrade all the way up to 4.0. You can pick up a 2.5 fairly inexpensively, have Tom Daugirdas throw some love at it, then be on your merry way with a release 4.0.

I fully expect him to chime in on this one.

Tim Alberstein

http://www.dagwoodsystems.com

 

[tdaugirdas]

You CANNOT upgrade the R1.1 to any higher version. However - it is not a bad messaging module and offers several advantages over the 007 MLM. Only Merlin Messagings of R2.5 and above - can be upgraded to R4.0

Tom Daugirdas,
President
STCG, Inc.
stcg.com

 

[brianz24]

Thank you for your response. Ok, that's what I wanted to know.

Are there any compelling reasons to upgrade to 2.5+? We just picked up this system, which is a big step up from what we had. I was trying to keep costs as low as possible.

One thing I would like is the ability to enter names longer than 4 characters for the dial-by-name (*2).

We are currently @ 2 ports and i'd like to upgrade to 4 or 6. if I buy the upgrade license card, is additional programming required or is it plug and play?

thanks again!

 

[tdaugirdas]

You cannot enter names larger than the 1st 4 characters in the Messaging module version you have. If you buy a port license card to add extra ports - you will need to add those additional ports as "members" in your voicemail calling group (usually Calling Group 770).

Tom Daugirdas,
President
STCG, Inc.
stcg.com

 

[brianz24]

Tom --

It looks like I will be adding a license card to bump our VM from 2 to 6 ports.

Our voicemail calling group is 770. Can you tell me what steps I have to take to add the additional ports? I am definitely in a bit above my head with this phone system. We are using the MLX-20D for programming, I do not have SPM setup yet.

Thanks again!

Brian

 

[tdaugirdas]

If you are "bumping up" your messaging to 6 ports - you also need to make sure that your system has at leat 6 TTRs (touchtone receivers available). The Messaging module has only 2. PLease provide a list of your other intalled modules - to see if you enough. If not - you will need to purchase and install a module with 4 TTRs.

Tom Daugirdas,
President
STCG, Inc.
stcg.com

 

[brianz24]

On our current system we Have:

3 408 GLS/LS-MLX which supports 8 digital phones each
1 016 W/RingGen (16-Basic telephone set, analog card)
1 merlin legend processor
1 Merlin Messaging R1 voicemail

 

[tdaugirdas]

OK - then you have 6 TTR's in your system - so you should be OK - assuming all are working. The messaging has 2 and the 016 module has 4 TTRs.

To add the extra ports (once the 6-port license card is installed): press menu, system program, start/exit, extentions, more, group calling, members, 770 enter, - now add the additional 4 port extention numbers, press inspect to make sure all are there.

You also need to "rotary enable" the additional ports - so press menu, system program, start/exit, extentions, more, more, rotary enable, - enter the additional 4 port extention numbers and press inspect to make sure all are there.

Tom Daugirdas,
President
STCG, Inc.
stcg.com

 

[Avayatech713]

We have sent a few Merlin Messaging R2.0 voice mails to Drew Telecom Group in Michigan for repair and they have upgraded them to R3.0 and R4.0 for them. They also have the port license cards we needed. Got them back in a week and have worked fine at our customer sites for over a year.