Converged Phones Replaced By Additional Phones in 6.6

In Switchvox version 6.6, to make it more convenient and economical for phone-users who have converged Digium IP Phones or Switchvox Softphones, each of their authorized Converged Phones is converted to a new-style "Additional Phone" and attached to the user’s Main extension. So instead of converging two SIP Phone extensions, you create and attach them as Additional Phones to a phone-user’s Main extension. Such additional Phones do not require extra User Licenses: it is now one User License for one phone-user who can attach up to five additional desktop Digium IP Phones or Switchvox Softphones to his/her Main extension.

Additional Phones are not displayed in Contacts, and they cannot be added to features such as Queues. In 6.6, Additional Phones are only used in personal call rules and phone assignments.

Third-party phones, analog extensions, and virtual extensions which are Converged at the time of the update to version 6.6 are converted to separate Main extensions during the update to 6.6 (or later).

Before you Update to 6.6

Before updating to 6.6, make sure the converged phones you have are Authorized, and have a desktop Digium IP Phone (line 1) or a Switchvox Softphone assigned. These steps will ensure that the new Additional Phones will be the same extension as the Converged Phones were. After the update, if you want to use an existing extension number as an Additional Phone, that’s possible but you just have to delete that existing extension first.

NOTE for Switchvox premises administrators: do not update to version 6.6.0.1 or 6.6.0.2. They require that your Converged Phone be assigned to line 1 on a desktop Digium Phone, and will not work with secondary lines. Versions 6.6.0.3 and later do not have this requirement.

Other things to consider before you update:

• Additional Phones do not have their own settings or permissions. An Additional Phone inherits the details of its Main extension. For example, an Additional Phone has the same Outgoing Call Rules for dialing, and the same permissions to record or monitor another extension. (Important scenario for consideration: If a user has Converged Phones at different physical locations which have been using different Outgoing Call Rules [e.g. to provide different Caller ID when dialing 911], then the update of these phones to Additional Phones will remove that differentiation. If maintaining different Outgoing Call Rules is critical in your implementation, then it is recommended to separate the Converged phone before the update so that the extension will remain unchanged as an independent Main phone.)

• 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. In 6.6, 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.

• 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.

What the 6.6 Update Does

Any Converged extension that is not assigned to line 1 of a Digium phone (not a Digium IP Phone or a Switchvox Softphone) will no longer be Converged. Any unauthorized phone will no longer be Converged. Those SIP extensions will still exist as normal, but they will no longer be Converged. 

The admin permission Converged Phones is now called Additional Phones, and it's listed right under Manage. This is just a change to the name of the permission, the permissions on each of your admins do not change in the update.

Additional Phone SIP extensions

• Forward all calls to the Main extension. During the update to 6.6, any other call rules defined for a Converged Phone are removed before converting to Additional Phone. Remember: All Additional Phones have only one call rule: Forward all calls to the Main extension.

• Do not have their own settings or permissions. They use the details of their Main extension. 

• Are no longer counted in the number of User Extensions Switchvox is currently using, as shown on the Server > Updates page. 

Additional Phone SIP extensions are replaced with the Main extension in other Switchvox functional areas:

• If an Additional Phone extension is included in a feature such as an Extension Group or Queue, then that feature will contain (only) the Main extension. The Additional Phone extension is removed.

• If an extension’s personal call rules contain someone else’s Additional Phone extension, it’s replaced with the related Main extension.  

• If any extension's Rapid Dial List contains an Additional Phone extension, it’s replaced with its Main extension.

What Happens to Non-Digium Phones in Version 6.6?

External Numbers that are converged to a Main Phone are not changed in the update. However, phone-users can no longer change an Additional Phone external number, or create a new one. Only Switchvox administrators can manage Additional Phone external numbers.

Prior to 6.6, a Converged phone could have a non-Digium phone attached (a desktop Digium IP Phone, or a Switchvox Softphone). In 6.6, an Additional Phone cannot.

So, if you are using an extension that was a Converged phone, with a 3rd party phone attached, you’ll experience the following changes:

• The internal caller ID that your coworkers see is now the extension number for that 3rd party phone. The caller ID is no longer your Main extension when you make calls from that 3rd party phone, because it’s no longer related to that Main extension.

• The Status and phone-state from that 3rd party phone are now separate from the Main extension. If you are on the 3rd party phone, that Main extension no longer appears busy (and vice versa).

• Depending on how your call rules were set up, that Main extension could continue to ring instead of the 3rd party phone. It’s likely that all of your voicemail will continue to go to that Main extension’s voicemail, but that 3rd party phone no longer has a message-waiting indicator.

These things are not affected by the update to 6.6, even though the 3rd party phone is no longer converged to the Main:

• Your call rules on that 3rd party phone continue to work as they did prior to 6.6 and, unless you made changes, all calls are Forwarded to that Main extension. (That Forward call rule was automatically created when the phones were Converged.)

• Your call rules on that Main extension continue to work as they did prior to 6.6. If your callers use that Main extension to reach you, and you have a Ring All or Cascade call rule set up to ring that 3rd party phone, those rules will still work and your callers will go to that Main extension’s voicemail if you don’t answer any phone.

How to Manage Additional Phones in 6.6

Switchvox administrators can create Additional Phones for a SIP Phone extension. Additional Phones are internal extensions (with a desktop Digium IP Phone or a Switchvox Softphone) or an external phone number. (There is no longer a way to converge two separate, existing SIP extensions.)

Administrators and phone-users do not need to edit the extension settings for an Additional Phone. (The Main extension's settings are used for each Additional Phone.) Phone-users can't manage their own Additional Phone numbers (or phone assignments). But, a phone-user can change the InCall Menu settings on their own Additional Phones.

Switchvox functional areas that allow Additional Phone extensions are

• Call Rule actions Ringall and Cascade, for Main SIP Extensions. (The Forward action does not allow Additional Phones, so that a call does not get into a forwarding loop.)

• Assignment  of a desktop Digium Phone or a Switchvox Softphone App.

• Record Over Phone tools that let you create sounds by phone (Sound Manager, and Voicemail greetings).