Configure an Allworx IP Phone to Work with Your Phone System

Allworx IP phones are plug and play with Allworx phone systems for the most part. Once your IP 9212 or 9224 phone is set up with a user configured, you can go ahead and configure the phone to use the programmable keys on the side of the phone.

The Allworx 9224 and 9212 are not easy phones to configure despite the rest of the phone being simple to set up. You’ll want to log into your Allworx phone system’s administrator portal and navigate to Phone System > Handsets. From here you’ll be able to select the Allworx phone you’ll want to configure.

The first choice you’ll have to make is whether to set up your phones to work as line appearance phones or call appearance. Line appearance calls ring specific lines that run into your phone system. They are useful when several people need access to the same lines such as in a retail environment.  All users receive a call on the same ‘line 1,’ and users can specify to each other “call on line one.”

Call appearance phones are a bit more complicated and powerful. Call appearance are most often seen in larger companies where a few lines are not enough for the number of phones in use. Instead, calls are routed to the correct users by extensions. The calls must be transferred between users as the calls are not tied to any specific line. This is useful in making sure the right user receives the call (such as in an office).

To configure which system you’ll want to use, scroll down to the bottom of the tab open. You’ll see “Handset Configuration Templates” available. Select for each phone you use whether you prefer to use (line) Key or PBX (call) options for your phone system.

Allworx IP Phone Call Appearance Settings

To edit the phone’s configuration, select “view configuration” from the phone you wish to edit. You’ll load up a secondary page which shows all available options for editing your phone’s programmable function keys.

To modify the PFKs, select the modify link and you’ll launch into the phone editor. From here you’ll be able to input several different options for what each key should do. On an Allworx 9224, you can edit what each side of the phone’s keys do.

Some available options for programming your Allworx phone include additional call appearance keys, line appearance, the ability to park and retrieve parked calls, functions such as redial, and busy lamp fields that show you the status of other phones and extensions on the system.

When you’re done making the changes you desire, select the Update button at the bottom of the screen, followed by reboot phone on the next page. When the phone boots up again, it will be fully operational with your changes made!

Programmable Function Keys

 

Allworx IP Phone Line Appearance Settings

Line Appearances work as mentioned earlier by tying a specific phone line to the button, so whenever that button is selected the call that came in on that line is answered. You can manually map the phone lines to your Allworx phone by taking advantage of PFKs. Line Appearance keys work almost exactly like call appearance keys, but work by specifying the line you want to ring for each button. In the example below two line appearance keys have been configured to ring for lines 1 or 2.

Programmable Function Keys blank

Disabling or Changing the DHCP Server On Your Allworx Phone System

By default, the Allworx phone system ships with a DHCP server enabled. The Allworx phone system can be configured to disable DHCP if you have another router handing out IP addresses.

To disable the DHCP server, you’ll need to:

  1. Log into your phone system’s admin panel
  2. Navigate to Servers > DHCP Server

Here you’ll see your active leases as well as known hosts on your currently active DHCP server.

  1. Click the modify key under ‘Action’

Disable or Change DHCP Server

This is where you’ll be able to disable your DHCP server.

Additionally, you can specify the dynamic address range of addresses your Allworx system gives out to lease. Your DHCP address reservations can also be configured and managed from this page.

IMPORTANT: Be sure to restart your system after updating these settings in order for your changes to take affect!

Allworx Phone System Feature Keys / Licensing Explained

Feature Keys - Licensing

Allworx phone systems are IP phone systems that provide many great features to users standard such as CO line connectivity and SIP trunking. Additional features can be unlocked by purchasing Allworx ‘Feature Keys’ also known as Licensing. These feature keys come in several different variations that enable various extra features to work on the Allworx 6x, 24x, and 48x.

The following features / licensing are currently available for Allworx phone systems:

Allworx Reach: Allworx Reach enables full Allworx PBX connectivity from your Apple iPhone or Android device.  Reach is an app that works on both cellular data networks and Wi-Fi for connectivity across the world.  Allworx Reach works on Allworx phones systems with software versions 7.5 or higher. One Reach license comes with your system, and additional licenses may be purchased.

Advanced Multi-Site Software:  Allworx advanced multi-site software enables users to connect phones between multiple sites seamlessly between the main phone system and each branch site. The software enables entries to appear in global call routes and the global directory from both sites. Advanced multi-site software also allows handsets from other sites to work through busy lamp fields. Multi-site software is sold as a onetime purchase for each location it will be used.

Automatic Call Distribution: Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) is Allworx’s system for distributing calls in a call center environment. The Allworx automatic call distribution enables different queuing of calls including linear priority, round robin, longest idle, and ring all. The feature supports up to 10 call queues with 16 calls per queue and up to 32 total calls at once with an Allworx 24x. When using an Allworx 6x is used, the system can support up to 10 queues with 8 calls per queue and a total of 16 simultaneous calls in a queue. Automatic Call Distribution is sold as a onetime license fee.

Call Assistant: Call Assistant is an add-on tool for Allworx phone systems that enable PC-based answering position and call management. Call assistant is designed for small and medium businesses and enables features such as centralized call management and a built in GUI. Call Assistant supports drag and drop features for transferring calls and works with all Allworx phones and can work with either SIP trunks or CO lines. Call Assistant is a onetime license fee to enable unlimited uses of the feature.

Conference Center: Conference Center is a feature key that provides access to a GUI based system that easily allows users to schedule and manage conference calls. The conference center feature enables ID and password protection for conference calls. The feature is sold as a onetime license fee.

Dual Language Support:  Allworx Dual Language Support is a feature key that enables companies to have two separate language prompts when users call in. Dual language support is available in Castilian Spanish, French Canadian, and English. Dual Language Support is sold as a onetime license fee and supports unlimited users.

Allworx Interact: Allworx Interact is a PC based GUI that provides additional control and access to your IP phone. Interact enables phone users to control presence management, parked calls, contacts, and call history from a single screen. Interact enables one touch recording of phone calls. The program connects to Microsoft Outlook and enables one touch dialing from your address book. Allworx Interact requires software versions 7.5 or higher and requires an individual license for acitivation.

Allworx TAPI: TAPI is an add-on module that works in conjunction with Call Distribution. TAPI works with Windows PCs for managing the phone directly from the PC. TAPI is free with a Call Assistant License Key.

Allworx View: Allworx View is a data management tool that provides data from phone calls. Allworx View can handle both real time and historical data trends.  The tool provides statistics for agents as well as call volume. Allworx View requires system version 7.7 or higher. Licensing is sold per server.

Adding Custom Music On Hold Prompts To An Allworx Phone System

Allworx On Hold Music

 

The Allworx 6x, 24x, and 48x phone systems all support using music on hold for calls in queues or while waiting for extensions. In addition to the supplied music on hold prompt, Allworx allows for the creation of custom music on hold prompts. To create custom music on hold prompts, you’ll need an FTP transfer program.

Access your Allworx’s FTP server by navigating to ftp://192.168.2.254/prompts (IP may change depending on configuration). You’ll need to login to the phone system (the default password is admin). Once logged in, you can transfer files over to the prompts folder. In order for the system to recognize your file as a music on hold file, you need to follow a specific naming convention: moh_#_X.snd where # is a number between 1-30 and x is a character string that helps describe the music on hold source. An example would be moh_1_sales.snd.

The hard part about creating custom MOH music is that it must be saved in the .snd format and be recorded in raw u-law, mono, 8 bits per sample, 8 kHz sample rate audio. This is in order for the Allworx to play the sound back over the telephone network. You might have trouble creating this audio yourself, but you can find examples to use online.

Once you’ve transferred the .snd files over to the proper address, log into the admin port at 192.168.2.254:8080. Proceed to Phone System > Music on Hold in the navigation menu and scroll to the bottom. You’ll want to select load custom recordings to put the prompt you created into use by the system. Once you’ve done this you can begin using your music on hold prompts for things such as call queues, hold, and ring groups!