I have a quick question to FreePBX/Asterisk expert how to join person to conference call.
Let’s say, Alex and Bob was on a call, and they decided to bring Chris and David to join a call for discussion. Is there any way to convert regular phone call to conference call, or Alex blind transfer the call to conference bridge (without password) and call Chris and David individually and forward them to the conference bridge?
Just curious how people manage to invite people to conference call… Of course easiest way is to send all party email, announcing them to call on conference bridge extension, but I am wondering is there any way to invite individuals on the fly.
Thank you, we are not deploying Conf. Pro module yet.
My user wants to invite people to conference bridge from phone terminal rather than workstation environment, I am thinking whether FreePBX / Asterisk can automatically forward the call to conference extension as soon as the person picks up the call…
Many (most) SIP phones have a built-in conference bridge that will let you join three or four calls or more right on the handset. You don’t need to use Asterisk’s conference bridge at all.
Our phone is Avaya 9630 and yes it has a conference button (soft-key)
Issue is this 3-way call will not start unless the person pick up the call, (For example, Alex was chatting with Bob, and they decided to include Chris on board, so Alex pressed “conference” key. But Chris was not at the desk, so Chris’ phone was ringing for a while (eventually sent into voicemail) and during that time, Bob had to wait on hold either Chris picked up the handset and start 3-way conferencing or Alex gave up a call to Chris and went back to Bob’s line.
Also this feature is limited to 3 person conference call, and David can’t be invited while 3 guys are already talking.
Ideally speaking, Alex and Bob prefer continuing talking after Alex send invitation to Chris or David, I am guessing I need to write some macro to call Chris and David so that when they pick up the call, Asterisk automatically forward the call to conference room where Alex and Bob are waiting. (I am not Asterisk expert so I don’t know how to write those custom setting… )
We recently removed old Avaya PBX, and converted all Avaya phones to SIP firmware from H.323. User noticed conference button difference, they were able to invite other parties with conference key and immediately create conference session by pressing join key. (regardless Chris is available or not, call between Alex and Bob are converted to conference call, and Avaya PBX was inviting Chris to call into their call session.)
As long as people are aware of conferencing ahead of time, FreePBX Conferences module is great, and people are using the feature without issue, I was just wondering what if user wanted to make a quick conference with multiple people without informing in advance.
I know this is an old thread but I’ve been trying to do the same thing and I was wondering if you figured it out or have any ideas on how to do this?
I am new to Asterisk.
I’ve been able to set it up such that when a user enters a specific phone number they enter a conference room and when any other user enters in the same number they enter the conference room as well. What I want to do is when 2 users are in the conference room, one user can invite a 3rd user rather than the 3rd user dialling in to the conference.
And in my extensions.conf I have:
;conference
exten => 8572435810,1,ConfBridge(1,default_bridge,default_user)
All I want to do is when a user in the conference types in 0, they can add someone to the call.
I understand this may be a simple task but I’ve explored a lot of documentation and examples online and I’m unsure how they apply to my specific circumstance. If someone could provide any guidance/assistance I would greatly appreciate it!
Sorry for belated reply. After all, I began test different phones, and noticed some phone offers n-way conference feature, and it was working in our environment. For example, the phone I evaluated was GXP2170, and you can create conference call just by hitting conference call button and the number of participant is determined by the number of “lines” configured on the phone. (For example, if you define 6 lines on GXP2170, the phone can make 6 concurrent sessions so you can add up to 6 participants for quick conferencing)
I am interested in evaluating Polycom VVX601, but this phone is limiting quick conference feature to 3 person, so you can add only one person in the conference call and that is about it.
In terms of usage, so far our people are just adjusted to the feature limitation and I see people blasting email message to join in the conference bridge in case if they need a quick chat with multiple participants.
Thank you for getting back to me! My Panasonic KX-TPA50 has a built-in n-way conference feature as well and I was able to get 3-way calling working using that feature. However, I am still unable to get the system to prompt the user to add a number to the conference when they press 0, which is my ultimate goal. I did find this link that seemed resourceful:
I haven’t been successful yet in implementing it but it looks promising and I think it may be useful for your circumstance as well.
Perhaps you could take a look and see if it is a feasible solution to our problem.
)