Using the Asterisk PBX system in the Rutgers Physics Department

Introduction

We have installed a PBX system in the Physics Department using the open-source "Asterisk" system running on Linux PC's. The system uses "VOIP" (Voice Over Internet Protocol) phones which are connected to the local area network. Most of the phones we have installed are made by the SNOM corporation, their model 300.

The phone is ready to use as soon as it is installed in your office without any further action on your part. However, it is recommened that you record your name for the system. This recording is used in two places:

1. In the automated directory assistance service. Your name recording will be played back in responses to queries.
2. At the beginning of the default voice mail greeting to provide a minimal level of customization.

Note that you can also completely customize the voicemail greetings with our own recordings. See the instructiions for "Record your unavailable message" and "Record your busy message" in the "Changing voicemail defaults over the phone" section.

Incoming calls

All incoming calls from outside of the department are called using the number 732-445-5500. This is actually a collection of lines which are shared for all incoming and outgoing calls to allow for multiple simultaneous calls. Callers will receive a greeting identifying us as the Rutgers Department of Physics and Astronomy, followed by the instruction to enter the desired extension, or "#" for the automated directory service. (There are further instructions on using the automated directory service in the "outgoing calls" section.)

Outgoing calls

• Calling other extensions in the Physics Department. Enter just the 4 digit extension number.
• Calling numbers in the 732-445 exchange. Enter 5 plus the 4 digit extension.
• Calling numbers in the 732-932 exchange. Enter 2 plus the 4 digit extension.
• Calling outside of Rutgers.
  • For calls within the 732 area code: Enter 9732XXXYYYY. Note that after entering "9732" you must enter at least one more digit within three seconds, otherwise the system will attempt to call local extension 9732. If that happens, you will get a recorded message telling you that the call could not be completed. Hang up and start over.
  • For calls outside of the 732 area code: Enter 91AAAXXXYYYY.
• Making international calls. Enter 9011 followed by the country code and the phone number. The following considerations apply:
  • After entering "9011" you must enter at least one more digit within three seconds, otherwise the system will attempt to call local extension 9011. Please see the comment regarding this sitatution in the previous section.
  • After entering one more digit after 9011, if you pause for more than a few seconds while entering digits the phone will display "OK?", asking you if you have finished entering the number. If you have, press the check button (the one to the right of the big silver button) and the call will proceed. If you haven't finished entering the number, just ignore the "OK?" prompt and continue entering digits.
  • After you have entered the entire number, either wait for the phone to prompt "OK?" and then press the check button, or simply press the check button immediately without waiting for the "OK?". In either case, the call will be placed.
• Using the automated directory. You can access the automated directory by entering 411. (Outside callers can reach the automated directory by entering "#" after the initial greeting.) To use the directory, simply key in the first three letters of the surname of the person you wish to call. For example, for "Jones" enter 5-6-6. If there is more than one entry in the directory for the three digit code entered, the system will offer a choice of these.
• Emergency calls and calls to Rutgers operator. Enter "0" to call the Rutgers operator. Enter 911 to place an emergency 911 call. Please note that the 911 system will see your call as coming from 445-550N, and will not automatically receive any other information regarding your location. Therefore, you must make certain to tell the 911 operator your location.

Keypad mode on the SNOM 300 phone

The keypad on the SNOM 300 can be set to interpret the keys in three modes, numeric, lower case letters, and upper case letters. To see which mode is active, lift the receiver and look at the lower right of the LCD display panel. This will show either "123", "abc", or "ABC", and it must be set to "123" to place calls. To change the active mode, lift the receiver and press the "down arrow" on the large silver button.

Billing for outgoing calls

The system places outgoing calls on a normal phone line, so the usual long distance charges will apply. You will receive a periodic summary of your billed calls from the Business Office. The system supports using alternate long distance providers, and we hope at some point in the future to be able to make use of this to reduce the cost of long distance calls.

Placing calls on hold and dealing with two simultaneous calls

The SNOM phone is effectively a two-line phone, with the two "lines" controlled by the L1 and L2 buttons on the phone. The first call on the phone (either incoming or outgoing) uses "line" L1. While a call is active on line L1 pressing the L1 button will put that call on hold. Press L1 again to continue the call. (While on hold the other party hears "music-on-hold".) Pressing L2 will put the first call on hold and then provide a dial tone, after which you can establish a second call. During the second call, pressing L2 will put the second call on hold. Alternately press L1 & L2 to move between the two calls. (See also the "three way conference" feature below.)

Call waiting

This is on by default. Turn it off by entering "*70" and turn it on again by entering "*71". If call waiting is active when you are using the phone and a second call comes in, you will hear a beep to alert you and the L2 light will flash. Press L2 to answer the second call -- this will also automatically place the first call on hold. Alternately press L1 & L2 to move between the two calls. (See also the "three way conference" feature below.)

If you don't answer the second incoming call, that caller hears "The user at extension NNNN is on the phone. Please leave your message after the tone."

Do not disturb

This is off by default. Turn it on by entering "*78", and turn it off again by entering "*79". When on, callers instantly get the message "The person at extension NNNN is on the phone" and are dropped into voicemail.

Three way conference calls

Press L2 during the first call. This will put that call on hold and provide a new dial tone. Place the second call, and note the "Cnf.On" indication on the phone display after the second call is answered. At that point, press the "check" button to initiate 3 way conference mode. This can also be done if you have call waiting enabled and a second call comes in while an earlier call is still in progress.

Redialing

Press the "redial" button and the display will show the number of the last outgoing call. Press the "check" button for details on that call, or press the "up" and "down" buttons to cycle through other outgoing calls. Press the "right" or "left" buttons to select "clear" or "dial" instead of "details". Press the "check" button to "clear" (that is, remove the number from the memory of previous calls) or "dial" (to automatically dial that number).

Storing numbers in the directory

• Press the "Directory" button.
• Press the "down" arrow (on the large silver button) until the display reads "New Item", then press the "check" button.
• Enter the desired name using the keypad. Quickly pressing a key multiple times will step through the letters assigned to that key. Pressing the "*" key selects lower case, upper case, or numbers. Press the "check" button when done.
• Enter the number associated with the name just entered. Press the "check" button when done.

Calling numbers in the directory

• Press the "Directory" button.
• Press the "down" arrow until you reach the entry you wish to call.
• Press the "check" button.

Deleting entries from the directory

• Press the "Directory" button.
• Press the "down" arrow until you reach the entry you wish to delete.
• Press the "right" arrow until the display reads "Clear".
• Press the "check" button, and then press it a second time when the display shows "are you sure?".

Microphone mute

Press the "mute" button to mute the microphone during speakerphone mode.

Transferring calls

There are three options to transfer a call.

• Press the "transfer" button on the phone, followed by the number to which you wish to tranfser the call. You will be disconnected and the original caller will hear the new number ringing.
• Press "##". The system will say "transfer" and give you a dial tone. After the dial tone begins, enter the number to which you want to tranfser the call. You are then disconnected and the original caller hears the new number ringing.
• Call parking. Press "##", and after the system says "transfer" and gives you a dial tone, enter "70". The system will "park" the current call (the caller hears "music-on-hold") and speaks a number to you, which will be 71 if this is the first parked call, up to 79 (the system is configured for maximum of 9 parked calls). Any Asterisk connected phone in the department can pick up the parked call by entering the parked number (71, etc.). (Note that for users of the Snom 300 phone, that it is necessary to press the "check" button to the right of the large silver button after entering the 2 digit parking number.) If the call remains "parked" for 45 seconds and is not picked up from another phone, the system will automatically call your number and reconnect the call to you.

Call history

The system keeps a log of all outgoing and incoming calls. Incoming calls are logged regardless of whether the call is answered or not. There are two ways to access this log: via the phone itself, and via the web interface. There are further instructions on retrieving the log via the web in the section below titled "Web interface to Voicemail".

• Press the up button, which will select "Call History".
• Press the left and right buttons to step through the three options, "missed" (calls you did not answer), "received" (calls you did answer) and "dialed" (calls you placed yourself). When the desired category is reached, press the "check" key to the right of the silver button.
• Press the up and down buttons to step through the calls of the just selected type. For any call listed, press the left and right buttons to step through the options "details", "clear" (to delete the entry), and "dial". Press the "check" key to the right of the silver button to perform the selected function.
• When done, press the "X" key to the left of the silver button.

Missed calls

Voicemail

All extensions have voicemail, with access controled by a password. The password can be changed from the phone and via a web interface. (See the "Web interface to Voicemail" section below.)

If you have waiting voicemail the phone will display "VMail", the "Message" light will flash, and the normal dial tone will be preceeded by a "stutter" dial tone when you pick up the phone to make a new call.

Once you have retrieved waiting voicmail messages the "VMail" indication will change to "Missed: N". To clear this, press the "X" key to the left of the silver button.

Retrieving voicemail

• From your own phone: Enter "*97". You will be asked for your password, then a menu of options for reading, saving, deleting, etc., will be given.
• From another SNOM phone in the Physics Department: Enter your 4 digit extension. After voice mail answers the call, enter "*". Note that you must enter "*" during the voicemail greeting -- do not wait for the greeting to complete. The system will ask for your password, then will continue with the options menu, exactly as for access from your phone.
• From any other phone: Call 732-445-5500. Wait for the greeting message and then enter "*" followed by your 4 digit extension. This will send your call immediately to your voice mail. After voice mail answers the call, enter "*". Note that you must enter "*" during the voicemail greeting -- do not wait for the greeting to complete. The system will ask for your password, then will continue with the options menu, exactly as for access from your phone.

Changing voicemail defaults over the phone

• Record your unavailable message. This is the message that the system plays for incoming callers if you do not answer the phone. If you do not record a message, this defaults to "The person at extension NNNN is unavailable."
• Record your busy message. This is the message that the system plays for incoming callers if you are already on the phone at the time of the the new call. If you do not record a message, this defaults to "The person at extension NNNN is on the phone."
• Record your name. This recording is used in two places. First, if you have not recorded your own unavailable and busy messages, but have recorded your name, the default messages for unavailable and busy become "[system plays your recorded name] is unavailable/on the phone." The second use is in the system directory. Incoming callers to the general number are given the option of entering an extension number, or if they do not know the extension they may enter the first three characters of your surname to do a directory search. Matching entries in the directory are spoken letter by letter if you have not recorded a name. If you have recorded a name, that recording is played insted.
• Record a temporary message. This option is useful for recording an alternate voicemail greeting to use while you are on vacation. The temporary message will be used instead of "The person at extension NNNN is unavailable" part of the voicemail message. To delete your temporary message, follow the same steps used to record the temporary message. When the system sees that you already have a temporary message recorded, it will offer you the option of deleting that messages.
• Change your password.

Web interface to Voicemail

Direct your web browser to http://voicemail.physics.rutgers.edu. This site uses an SSL certificate to encrypt the connection, and as our certificate is not signed by an official signing agency you will receive a warning from your browser when you connect. You can either confirm to your browser that you wish to connect anyway, or you can pre-install our signing certificate. To preinstall the certificate, follow these steps:

For Internet Explorer:

• First, click here.
• Click on the "open" button.
• Click on the "install certficate" button, which will open the install certificate wizard.
• Click on the "next" button.
• Leave the "automatically select the certificate store" button selected and click on "finish".
• Click on "yes" when you are warned that you are installing an untrusted certificate.

For Firefox/Mozilla:

• First, click here.
• Select "Trust this CA to identify web sites" and click "OK".

Once conected to voicemail.physics.rutgers.edu, enter your extension and password. Use the links on the left to select the following options:

• Voicemail: Provides access to new and old voicemail messages. Messages can be played, moved to folders, etc.
• Call Monitor: Shows you details of all your calls. (Note: you can't delete things from this list, even though the web interface seems to show that you can.)
• Phone Features: Check boxes allow enabling and disabling "call waiting" and "do not disturb". (This is the same functionality as provided by *70, *71, *78, and *79 on the phone keypad.)
• Call Forwarding: Incoming calls can be automatically forwarded to another number by entering the number here and checking the "enable" box. Three options are available to control to details of when forwarding occurs:
  • Unconditional: Always forward the call. If the forwarded call is not answered, send the call to voicemail.
  • Unavailable: Ring your office phone as usual, but instead of going to voicemail if the call is not answered, first try forwarding the call. If the forwarded call is not answsered, then the call is sent to voicemail.
  • Busy: Forward the call only if you are already on the phone. If the forwarded call is not answered, then the call is sent to voicemail.
• Follow Me: If the "enable" box is checked, the system can call a list of numbers if you don't answer your phone. Put the numbers to call in the "follow me list", one number per line. Set the number of seconds to ring your number and the number of seconds to ring the follow me numbers. If none of the numbers answers, the call is sent to voicemail. You can include your own extension in the follow me list to keep ringing it after the initial time-out has elapsed. The initial time-out can be set to zero seconds to start ringing the follow me list immediately.
  Use confirmation: If checked, the system will require outside lines in the follow me list to enter a "1" to receive the call after answering. This is to prevent answering machines on outside lines from taking the call.
• Settings: BE CAREFULL when making changes on this page to make certain the "Audio Format" remains set at "Best Quality (.wav)"
  • Password: Enter and confirm a new password to change your voicemail password.
  • Enable email notification: Check this box to send an email message when a voicemail message is left. The email message can be in a short format suitable for receipt on pagers, or a longer format suitable for regular email. The longer format can include the actual voicemail message as an audio file attachment, with the option to delete the voicemail after it has been emailed.
  • Call Monitor Settings: Not operational on our system.

Additional Instructions for Linksys ATA users

Placing a call on hold:

Call waiting:

Three-way conference calling: