Objective

The Cisco IP Phone 7800 and 8800 Series Multiplatform Phones provide voice communication over an Internet Protocol (IP) network. You can configure multicast paging so that users can page all the phones on the network at once, or page a group of phones without involving a server. In multicast paging, the phones are programmed to listen to a broadcast address.

Guidelines:

- Your network must support multicasting so that all devices in the same paging group are able to join the corresponding multicast group.

- If the phone is on an active call when a group page starts, the incoming page is ignored. When the call ends, the incoming page is answered, if the page is active.

- Group paging is one way and uses the G711 codec. The paged phone can only listen to the call from the originator.

- Incoming pages are ignored when Do Not Disturb (DND) is enabled.

- When multiple pages occur, the pages are answered in chronological order. Until the active page ends, the next page is not answered.

This article aims to show you how to configure multicast paging on the Cisco IP Phone 7800 Series or 8800 Series Multiplatform Phone.

Applicable Devices

- 7800 Series

- 8800 Series

Software Version

- 11.0.1

Configure Multicast Paging

Step 1. Log in to the web-based utility of the phone and click Admin Login > advanced.

Step 2. Click Voice > Phone.

Step 3. Under Supplementary Services, choose Yesfrom the Paging Serv drop-down list.

Note: The default value is Yes.

Step 4. In the Multiple Paging Group Parameters area, enter a string in the Group Paging Script field containing the following values.

- Multicast Address — This is the Multicast IP address of the phone that listens for and receives pages. In this example, 224.168.168.168 is the address used.

- Port — This is the Port on which to page. you must use a different port for each paging group. In this example, port 34560 is used.

- Name (Optional) — xxxx is the name of the paging group. Replace xxxx with a name. The name can be a maximum of 64 characters. In this example, the name value is set to All.

- Num — yyy is a unique number that the user dials to access the paging group. Replace yyy with a number. The number can be anywhere from 1024 to 32767. In this example, the num value is set to 800.

- Listen — indicates whether the phone listens on the page group. Only the first two groups with listen set to Yes listen to group pages. If the field is not defined, the default value is No. In this example, the value is set to yes.

Step 5. (Optional) Add paging groups by appending to the configuration string. For example:

This example creates four paging groups: All, GroupA, GroupB, and GroupC. Users dial 500 to send pages to all phones, 501 to send pages to phones configured as part of the GroupA group, 502 to send pages to phones configured as part of the GroupB group, and 503 to send pages to phones configured as part of the GroupC group. The configured phone receives pages directed to the groups All and GroupA.

Step 6. Click Submit All Changes.

Verify that the Page Feature is Working

Note: A device may be configured up to five groups and listen to a maximum of two of those with listen=yes value.

Step 1. On the phone, dial the number to access the paging group.

Note: In this example, 800 is entered.

Step 2. Press the Call soft key.

Step 3. Verify that the phones on the page group are ringing.

You should now have successfully configured multicast paging on your Cisco 7800 or 8800 Series Multiplatform Phone.