PBXDUDE

Whats the pros and cons of EC500. why wouldnt you just forward your calls to your cell phone.. Just wondering what all the Hype is.

ahays

You can, but EC500 essentially makes your cell phone an extension of your PBX. Many Avaya folks call me from their cell phones all the time but I get their PBX caller ID because they're using EC500 to make the call. I've not used EC500 in a long time (essentially for the same reason that you alluded to ... forward your phone to your cell and forget the RTU costs). However, many PBX features are carried forward to the EC500 extension. The full EC500 documentation is located here: http://support.avaya.com/elmodocs2/c...100700_8_1.pdf

regs,

.al.

__________________
Al Hays, ACE, MCSE, CCNA
Homepage: http://www.jeral.com/
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Blah

here is why:

1) when you call other people in the office via cell phone, they see your desk EXT--not your cell phone number. To these people you are in the office.

2) When you use EC500, if you do not answer your cell phone, the calls bounce back to your work voice mail (Avaya voice mail).

3) if you program remote EXts and features, you can merely dial an EC500 activate number, and de-activate number.. this means, using your cell phone, you can call into your PBX and remotely activate and de-activate your EC500.. wonderful setup. No passcodes.. the system gets the ANI from your cell phone and knows it's you everytime.

4) Cons are higher costs associated with cellular airtime (your phone is used more, of course).

6) When office people call you, if programmed corectly, their 4,5,6 digit extension comes up on your cell phone (no name).. that way you know the call's internal. If you are DCSed or IPed to other offices, same deal.. their extensions come across the phone.

The hype is the application is very simple and effective.. and you can tailor this app remotely. It's similar to IP softphone, but without the need to be connected via LAN real-time. Whoever designed this is a genius. I have researched other vendor's applications for cellular.. some are better, but in the end are much much more complex. For the end-users EC500 is simple to use, and easy to control.

liquidvw

I have a follow up question.

I have EC500 set up for my extension. If you call my extension, my cell phone rings. If I call to my office my extension + name is shown. But, if I call my other offices from my cell phone (these are all DCS'ed together via IP or P2P) they see my cellular CID. Any ideas?

Blah

unsure, but you should have it mapped as follows:

Station Application Dial Phone Number Trunk Configuration
Extension Prefix Selection Set
80xx EC500 011 - 32498xxx ars 1


CONFIGURATION SET: 1

Configuration Set Description: EC500
Calling Number Style: network
CDR for Origination: phone-number
CDR for Calls to EC500 Destination? y
Fast Connect on Origination? n
Post Connect Dialing Options: dtmf
Cellular Voice Mail Detection: none
Barge-in Tone? n

I hope this helps.

Blah

display off-pbx-telephone station-mapping

display off-pbx-telephone configuration-set 1

If the other offices see your name and EXT when you call from your desk, the same applies for EC500, or should.

PBXtech.info

 

OctelWarrior

To add one to this; if you are on a call at your desk phone you can call in on your cell phone, and take control of the call, and walk out of the office.

Similarly, if you take a call on your cell and you get to your office, you can takeover the call at your desk.


Concerns about EC500:

Cell phone provider's VM 'answering' the calls (Avaya has a couple tweaks to help avoid this)
Cell phone minutes (not a big deal to the 'executives' you roll this out to and not the peons)
Your boss can get a hold of you.

I love unified communication... with speach access.

PBXDUDE

All right thanks for all of your input.. now you can only do this on a Ip phone right?

liquidvw

Nope. I did it with a 6408D+ and a 2410. IP works also, I used a 4610SW.

8410D did not work however.

OctelWarrior

Which version of EC500 are you using? ver5 is incredibly easy to use and to my knowledge works with any type of digital or IP phone.

liquidvw

Not sure how you tell the verison of Ec500. I was testing on a G3 w/ CM2.1

PBXDUDE

thanks for all of your inputs i will have to try it a 6416 thanks....

khobbie

Hi Telecom Tech,
The advantage of EC500 over call forwarding is:
- The station user can turn it on and off with a programmed button on his set.
- It will ring both his cellphone and the station simultaneously.
- If the call goes unanswered, it will cover into the station user's audix mailbox.
- If the station user forgets to turn it off, he can dial in through remote access and disable it ( password protected).
- Call forwarding off net leaves you vulnerable to hackers.

PBXDUDE

Well i got it to work. Currently when i call my office ext it rings to my cell. How do i use my cell phone to call and show that is coming from my cell phone. I read the manual about three times i must be missing something. any help would be great.. I am using a 4610 set..

albqbm