Virtual Extension

Pardon my ignorance, but this is my first time setting up a FreePBX system. This may be a very basic questions.

We are running Asterisks 2.11.0.9

I am attempting to configure our system that a second extension rings on a group of phones. I am assuming based on other systems I have worked with that this is done via the creation of a Virtual Extension, i.e, I want button two on everyones phone to be programmed to pickup Virtual Extension 150.

I have not been able to get the phone to registser the Virtual Extension. I have set the username as the extnsion number on the phone configuration and password=secret.

Should I be using a virtual extension to achieve this task? If not, can someone suggest a another way? If so, what am I missing?

Any help with this will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Rob

I assume that you want a group of phones to ring if the original extension does not answer? I would create a ring group and put all of the extensions you want to be in this group. Go to the original extension, Follow Me settings, and put the ring group extension in the follow-me list. You can vary the initial ring time and ring time settings to get the desired result.

What I am hoping to do is have the virtual extension ring on the end users phones, i.e., button one their phone is there personal extension and button 2 is the virtual extension.

Do you know if this is possible? This way they will know if the call is ringing directly to them or if someone is calling the virtual extension.

I appreciate your help.

It is not really a virtual extension if your intention is to assign it to a button on a phone.

Use a real extension.

And you can only assign one phone to one extension.

The systems you have worked on are almost certainly what we call key-systems, FreePBX is a PBX (Public Branch Exchange) Please read the wiki to see what a PBX does, there are many posts here as to turn your PBX into a key system, none work very well, just get used to using a PBX maybe?

And from the more things change the more they stay the same. In the day when I was just a young pup in the business we used to install 1A2 key systems in front of the early electronic PBX’s like the Horizon and Dimension. Later key/hybrid systems basically put Merlin station cards in the PBX frame.

The line appearance issue on PBX’s is as old as the hills.

Now watch dicko talk about burnishing contacts on a Stromberg TDX series PBX, these were scaled down step switches for customer premise use, popular in the 60’s. Bell had a similar end user step in the 750 series.

Now you have more power than the entire north american network form that era running in a background process on your PC with Asterisk and FreePBX.

The Merlin system happens to be one of the systems I had worked with in the past.

Is it not possible with a PBX to have a separate trunk line ring on my phone that already has a separate trunk assigned to it? If not, what is the recommended approach to accomplish this goal?

Scenario:

I have a SIP trunk that comes in and rings to my phone and we also have our main line that comes in and is setup for a ring group of which my extension is included. What I would like to happen is that when someone then calls in on the main line that is also rings on my phone even if I am on the phone. This would allow me to place the current call on hold and pick up the main number line as well. Is this not possible? Please pardon me if this is a ridiculous question.

Your help is greatly appreciated.

Rob

I would put a second line appearance (extension) on each phone. Put those extension in another ring group that would be the destination of the inbound route for the main line DID.

Yes, that is my goal. If it were just a regular SIP trunk I probably would have had this connected already, maybe. However, it enters the PBX via an analog card and is configured as a virtual extension currently. Is it possible to configure a phone for a line appearance (extension) and connect to a virtual extension?