04-11-2017, 03:09 AM
(03-27-2017 07:32 PM)jolouis Wrote: [ -> ]Your scenario is kind of backwards from what most deployments typically see. In your setup, you are trying to have:I told about these disadvantages to my colleague right off the bat when he said he needs this feature. It's not a very big problem, because during working hours he's always in the office near the desktop phone. And these direct cell calls which he needs to transfer are not frequent, this is more like a "nice to have" feature. And, btw, all (cell/landline) incoming calls are free in Europe (they don't count against your plan minutes).
1) External caller -> Cell phone --> Desk Phone (--> PBX --> some other desk phone)
A few downsides to that approach:
1) As you have found, just finding hardware to support it is difficult.
2) Have not done it myself, but I would guess even with at VP-49G or any of the others people have mentioned, I suspect you would not be able to get the second part (Transfer from desk phone to somebody else's phone in the office) to work.
3) If somehow you could get #2 to work, the entire call is still relying on the cell phone to operate, so a) you're using cell minutes b) you're keeping that original cell phone busy until the call is done. c) If the person walks away with their cell while the call is happening, if it went out of Bluetooth range it'd drop.
(03-27-2017 07:32 PM)jolouis Wrote: [ -> ]To avoid all these issues the typical suggestion is to take the idea and turn it upside down, so you end up with a much more typical call flow:Yes I understand, this would be the most applicable solution, but these direct cell calls are more of sort "immediate response" requiring calls, and we are a small business which don't require such sophistication, simple VoIP system plus cell phones (as backup/alternative) is more than enough.
1) External Caller -> Office PBX -> Desk Phone -> Call Forward or Follow-me -> Cell phone
Basically instead of having people call the cell direct, they call a dedicated number on the office PBX that is assigned to the specific desk phone. In the PBX you program things so that the system generates a second call from the PBX out to the cell phone (you can do this using follow-me, or call forwarding). If you're not sure, you can do it directly on the desk phone itself by using the Call Forward feature, and putting in the cell phone # as the "forward to" value.
Thank you all for your answers/suggestions. Sorry I took it so long to respond.