RingRx Paging

With RingRx there are 4 common permutations of paging each with unique upsides and limitations.  This article will explain all 4 types of provide a general overview of what is required.

Intercom This is a one to one page event that can be accomplished by dialing an extension with a prefix of *99, example would be *99101.  This will call the dialed extension and that users phone will automatically answer on speaker phone.  This feature can be initiated from deskphones, mobile apps and softphones but only deskphones can be the recipients of the intercom event.

Page Group This is a one to many page feature. First a group needs to be configured and set to a type of Announcement-B and the desired members need to be added.  When the group extension is dialed the deskphones of all the group members will automatically answer on speaker and muted and the user who initiated the dialogue.  This feature can be initiated from deskphones, mobile apps and softphones but only deskphones can be the recipients of the page group call.  

Overhead Paging There are a variety of options that involve overhead paging speakers.  Typically, these systems are already installed in a facility, and RingRx just needs to build a bridge so our phones can be used to send page transmissions to.  Most of these will require the use of a RingRx ATA to interface with an analogue paging amplifier.  Some other solutions have VoIP/SIP enabled units that will register with the RingRx network.  Due to the numerous makes/models of paging amplifiers there is no step by step guide or requirements.  Generally if you are using an older analog system you will need someone on location who has familiarity with low voltage systems. 

Mutlicast Paging This is a one to many page feature and and it requires that the target phones be a member of the page group.  This is done through the device configuration.  To engage the feature press the page button on the phone this will transmit audio to the local multicast address and broadcast that out to the other phones on the network.  Any phone that is a member of the page group will auto answer on mute.  The upside to this feature is that it can work when the Internet is down as it just relies on the local network equipment unlike the other methods which require that all devices involved have access to the Internet. This feature requires that all the phones be on the same network with the same multicast address.  While it can be setup with devices across different subnets and VLANs it commonly will not work if this is the case.  This is a deskphone only feature and all of the deskphones need to be the same series.  For instance you can't comingle Poly VVX devices with Poly Edge devices.