Switchvox Cloud 6.6 Release Notes- Converged Phones feature replaced by Additional Phones Feature
Converged Phones are becoming Additional Phones
The Converged Phones concept in Switchvox is being replaced with the Additional Phones feature. With the Additional Phones feature, up to 5 Digium Phones or Switchvox Softphones (mobile app) can be attached to one of your user extensions so that one user can have multiple devices. While maintaining similar behavior to Converged Phones, your Switchvox Cloud admin can now add and manage these Additional Phones to any of your extensions (under Setup -> Extensions -> Manage in the admin web interface).
During the upgrade, converged Digium phones and Switchvox Softphones (mobile app) will become Additional Phones automatically. Converged non-digium 3rd party SIP devices will be converted to normal extensions and you’ll want to review the changes in detail. While these devices will become normal extensions after the upgrade, there will continue to be no additional charge for these devices that were previously used as converged extensions.
Actions Required Before the Upgrade to Switchvox 6.6
If you do not currently have any configured Converged Phones, and do not have Switchvox Softphones (mobile app) configured on extensions that were planned to be converged in the future, then no action is required before the upgrade. Otherwise, please review the paragraphs below for important steps to take prior to the upgrade. You should also review the MAIN-FEATURES-ADDITIONAL-PHONES (6.6) document for more details.
If you have configured Converged Phones used at different physical locations which have been using different Outgoing Call Rules, such as setting different outgoing caller ID when dialing 911, the update to Additional Phones will remove the differentiated outgoing call rules, because Additional Phones inherit the details of the Main extension they are attached to. If maintaining different outgoing call rules is critical in your implementation, it is necessary to separate the Converged Phone before the update so that its extension will remain unchanged during the update, and continue as an independent main phone in Switchvox 6.6.
If you have any Switchvox Softphones (mobile app) that you have not converged yet but were planning on converging, these extensions should be converged before the upgrade to ensure a seamless experience.
By default, calls to the internal extension for a Converged Phone are forwarded to the Main Extension they were converged with. If you have modified the personal call rules for a Converged Extension from this default, those rule changes will be replaced with the default behavior during the upgrade. This default behavior is to forward incoming calls to the associated Main extension. These personal call rules are configured in the Features -> Call Rules menu when you are logged in as the Converged Extension. Following the 6.6 upgrade, all incoming calls to an Additional Phone extension will first be Forwarded to the associated Main Extension, whose Call Rules will be processed. Additional Phones do not have their own settings and permissions and you won’t need to or be able to login as that extension. Phone-users always log into the Switchvox Extension Suite for the Main extension, not an Additional Phone extension.
If you have any Converged Phones that are non-Digium 3rd party SIP devices, they will be unconverged and become their own normal Main extensions with the following changes:
The extension will no longer be converged and will become a Main extension.
If you have call rules set up to Cascade or to ring this Converged phone, this should continue after the upgrade.
The internal caller ID that your coworkers see is now the extension number for that non-Digium 3rd party phone. The caller ID is no longer your Main extension when you make calls from that non-Digium 3rd party phone, because it’s no longer related to that Main extension.
The Status and phone-state from the non-Digium 3rd party phone are now separate from the Main extension. If you are on the non-Digium 3rd party phone, that Main extension no longer appears busy (and vice versa).
It's likely that all of your voicemail will continue to go to that Main extension’s voicemail (depending on how your call rules are set up), but that non-Digium 3rd party phone no longer has a message-waiting indicator.
Your subscription will still account for this special extension by listing “DCS Converged Phone Extension with Zero Minutes” at no additional charge.
If you have external numbers that are converged to a main phone, they are not changed by the update. However, phone-users can no longer change an Additional Phone external number or create a new one. Only Switchvox Cloud administrators can now make these changes.
Key Information for Users regarding Additional Phone Changes
Make sure that your Call Rules for each Main extension are set up with Ring All or Cascade actions so that incoming calls ring the Additional Phones as expected. After the upgrade, an Additional Phone only has one call rule: All calls are Forwarded to the Main phone. The Main phone is not allowed to Forward calls to itself, or its own Additional Phones. To reach the Additional Phones, the Main phone Call Rules must use a Cascade or Ring All.
Phone-users always log into the Switchvox Extension Suite for the Main phone, not an Additional Phone.
Converged Phones with a non-Digium phone attached will no longer be Converged, so your users will need to be aware of the changes.
For additional details, you should consult the Converged Phones Replaced By Additional Phones in 6.6 document. Please note this document is for Switchvox in general and not specific to Switchvox Cloud.
If you have questions about these changes, or encounter any problems with your service after the maintenance period, please contact Digium Technical Support toll-free at 1-877-392-4005.