Configure Hotline
The hotline feature extends the Private Line Automatic Ringdown (PLAR) feature, which allows you to configure a phone so that when the user goes off hook (or the NewCall softkey or line key gets pressed), the phone immediately dials a preconfigured number. The hotline feature adds the additional restriction that hotline devices that receive calls will only receive calls from other hotline devices, and will reject non-hotline callers.
Hotline phones typically have a restricted feature set. You can restrict the features on a hotline phone by applying a softkey template to the phone. You can configure a hotline phone to originate calls only, terminate calls only, or originate and terminate calls.
Hotline uses route class signalling to allow hotline phones to receive calls only from other hotline phones. Hotline also provides configurable call screening based on caller ID, which allows a receiving hotline phone to screen calls and allow only callers in the screening list to connect.
Perform the following steps to configure hotline in your network.
Procedure
Step 1 |
Configure hotline service parameters. |
Step 2 |
Configure PLAR, which makes a phone dial a preset number when it goes offhook. |
Step 3 |
Check the Hotline Device check box in the Phone Configuration window. |
Step 4 |
Configure translation patterns or route patterns to assign a route class to inbound T1 CAS calls and strip off the corresponding prefix digit. |
Step 5 |
Configure the call and receive settings for the phone. This is only necessary if you want to restrict a hotline phone to only originating calls or only terminating calls. |
Step 6 |
Create a softkey template that blocks unwanted features and apply it to the phone. |
Step 7 |
Configure SIP trunks to support hotline by checking the Route Class Signaling Enabled check box. |
Step 8 |
Configure MGCP PRI gateways to support hotline by checking the Route Class Signaling Enabled check box. |
Step 9 |
Configure MGCP T1/CAS gateways to support hotline by checking the Route Class Signaling Enabled check box, and optionally, configure the Encode Voice Route Class parameter. |
Step 10 |
Configure call screening based on caller ID. |