I am using a Yealink T41P that has a voicemail button that does not illuminate when I have a message. I would like to use one of the soft keys as a BLF to see when I have a message.
I’ve read and have successfully set up a BLF to show message status but only get it to work by setting the key as a BLF with a value of *98200 (200 is the extension number). This works correctly; the BLF is green when I don’t have any messages and red when I do. However, this setup requires my Voicemail password which I would rather not have to enter every time I check messaged. If I set the BLF value to *97 so I don’t have to enter my password, the BLF turns off.
Is there a way to setup the BLF to show if I have a message or not without having to enter my Voicemail password?
I’m not sure you’re looking in the right place in the system for this information. There are “hints” in the system that maintain the status of your inbox and those hints are what your phone should be subscribed to. These won’t require a password, since they don’t actually interact with the voicemail component.
Voicemail hints are activated in my Advanced Settings. The tutorial in FreePBX’s help guide about setting up BLF’s for mailbox status even has it set up so you have to enter your password. Is there another setting elsewhere so the password is not required?
Here is the tutorial I was looking at. Note the last sentence that still says you’ll need your password:
My experience with BLFs is largely with Cisco phones running on a Skinny protocol, so the specifics of your phone are likely different. On the Ciscos, the BLF monitors the hint, and the “press action” (a second field) actually dials the code to access the function you are watching. This allows you to do things like monitor a parking lot (watching the status of *71) and then picking up whatever call is first in the lot (using the feature code for picking up a phone).
So, my idea runs to a two-part setup like this: “*98200,*97”.
Failing that (like your phone doesn’t work that way) it seems to me there’s a setting in your VM configuration that allows you to access voicemail without a password if you are calling from the phone the VM is associated with. This, also, is a feature I don’t use, since I don’t want people picking up my voicemail “for me”.
If you use the line button as a Messages button, then using the password would likely be a required step. The real Messages button, though, should be programmable as ‘*97’ which should do what it sounds like you want to do.
Of course, I could be completely missing the point on this.
Actually, upon reading cynjut’s message again, it made more sense. That is what I have done. My BLF key is set to *98200 and the Voicemail hard key on the phone (that doesn’t have a lamp in it) is coded to *97.
This way I can see if I have a message with the BLF key and go straight to my voicemail with the hard key without a password.
I’m still wondering if there’s a way to set up the BLF key so it goes to my inbox without a password or have the BLF key only light up when there is a message. It’s currently always on (green for no message, red for message).
At this point, your question is a “deep magic” question for Yealink. I’d think there should be a work-around for this, but I don’t use Yealink phones (of any model) so the best I can offer is “yup, there should be a way …”.
My only problem with that is that I don’t know how to enter a pause for the softkey. Otherwise, the softkey is trying to dial the string including the password all at once before voicemail is able to pick it up.