Softphone and Hardphone Same Extension

[jfilary]

When using the Avaya IP Softphone for Communications Manager a user can login to their softphone with the same extension number as their desk set. The system then logs the user out of the desk set while the softphone is in use. Is there a way to duplicate this on the IPO, or does each device have to have a unique extension number?

 

[dphoneguy24]

You might try to make the user a "Hotdesk" user. I have never tried this with a user set up as a Softphone user, but it might work. You will not be able to have 2 extension ports under the Extensions tab have the same number just as you can't have 2 users with the same extension number.

dphoneguy24

 

[IPGuru]

To the best of my knowledge it is not possible to have a softphone & a Hard phone share the same extn number.

You "Might" be able to use twinning from V3.1 or V3.2 to work arround this issue (IIRC Twinning is not available in the US)

 

[IPOUK]

Twinning is rubbish to use it in that way - it is diffucult to get access to your own mailbox, only 2 Call appearances etc

A way to do it as suggested above. You need to make them a hotdesk a user and they can't login with the SoftPhone if the extn is already logged in (sometimes it does log the hardphone out though!)

So set the user up as a hotdesk user, and what I have done for some clients is a login idle period, so if they have gone straight home from a meeting, the phone will log out at least. Make sure they are logging on top of a base extn number

Now the only problem is SoftPhone doesn't like (well it doesn't work) if the user has a actual login code. So, to get round this is to tick force login on the user, and no login code. Softphone will now login. To log the user in, create a short code of:-

ShortCode: #[Extn number]
Tel No: [Extn number]*
Feature: Extn Login

This shprtcode allows the user to type #[Extn number] from anywhere and it DOES log the phone in, even without a login code, so they are "hotdesking" - I don't know if that's not meant to work, but it does, and it allows the SoftPhone to login.

There are other ways to do this with Extn Login/Logout, but if the user reboots his PC for example, the phone will logout which is rubbish.

I had a case logged for this for about 6 months, and Avaya didn't even come up with the method above - even with the client going legal etc as Sales guys promise things. They really should clarify the situation regarding Hard/Softphone same extns as it can really confuse people.

It was a lot of messing about and expermimenting that I cam up with the solution and the client is happy with it.

Wrote this really quickly as I'm very busy at the moment so if anything doesn't make sense, I'll send a reply later.

 

[jfilary]

Sounds like a nice solution. Thank you for the advice. I will give it a shot, and let you know what happens. Thanks Again.