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Muhammad Bajwa

Snom phones support for Office365 (Lync Online)

With growing interest in MS Lync, more people are moving to Lync online(Office 365) to benefit from the Microsoft feature rich platform. Some people think it’s a good investment and some think its not. Well I shall leave it to people to decide.

Coming back to the original subject, we are being asked if Snom Lync firmware supports Lync Online or not. The short answer at the moment is No. We understand all the customers requesting Lync Online (Office 365) support in Snom UC edition. The main challenge for Snom devices/development is a new additional login mechanism. To login to O365, Snom need to implement a new OrgID authentication method in their Lync firmware. By the way: in on-premise or Hosted-Edition deployments of Lync Server there is no such additional login using OrgID Authentication. Support for OrgID is on Snom’s roadmap, but an ETA is not available. We hope for the beginning of next year.

Personally, I expect that when we have O365 supported Snom firmware, clients will start requesting Lync On-Premise feature-set, that Snom as a device vendor wont be able to deliver(this may change). In other words OrgID support will be a resolution causing new “challenges”.

Please note: clients requesting phone support in O365 should carefully have a look on the O365 Plans (P1,P2,..,E1,E3,.. etc.) as only E4 support phone/pbx features/PSTN break out’s. E4 plan costs £17.75 per user per month. For the small organisation it’s reasonable but when you start adding more people to the system the cost increases to a level where it would be better to have an on-premises Lync device. Sangoma has recently introduced a Lync appliance that allows O365 integration along with a built-in VoIP gateway.

Find out more information on the Sangoma NetBorder Lync Express Gateway.

Vega 400/200/100 firmware recovery

If you have bricked your Vega box during the firmware upgrade process or something similar then it can be recovered.

You will need the following items for recovery.

  • Console cable (RJ45 to Serial converter). Vega 400/200/100 comes with a console cable.

  • Computer running Windows/Linux or Mac.

  • Terminal client such as Hyper Terminal, Minicom or Putty.

  • USB to Serial converter (optional: only required if computer does not have a serial port)

Recovery Procedure:

  • Turn off Vega

  • Connect RJ45 end of cable to console port and connect the serial connector to the serial port on computer.

  • Connect to Terminal client of your choice and set following configuration

    • Speed: 9600
    Data bits: 8
    Parity: None
    Stop bits: 1
    Flow control: None

  • Turn on Vega box and press Enter button a couple of times until the message “Press ‘Y’ to enter Boot Menu ” appears on terminal window.

  • Press ‘Y’

Note: Check the connections if nothing appear on terminal screen.

    Vega400 BootLoader: Version 3.00
    FPGA Test Pass (FPGA Version 3)
    RAMTest Pass – 64Mbytes verified
    Programmed MAC Address 00505816244A
    Press ‘Y’ to enter Boot Menu

    VegaStream Boot Menu Version 3.00
    ———- —- —- ————

    1) Download Boot Image (SRec)
    2) Download Firmware Image (SRec) (115K2 Baud recommended)
    3) Config Clear
    6) Switch Boot Partition
    D) Duplicate FLASH
    F) Set Flow Control (currently Hardware)
    Z) Set speed high (115200 Baud)
    E) Exit BOOT and Run Firmware

  • Finally press 6 to choose option 6 i.e. switch boot partition press 6 and wait couple of seconds. This setting will change the partition to older firmware version press E to exit and reboot to old firmware.

After the reboot the Vega should come back with older firmware and settings.

RTSP streaming from Protalk/Fermax door entry to VideoLan

You can now stream video directly from the Protalk door phone to your favourite rtsp streaming media server or VideoLan software.

If you are unsure what rtsp means then have a look at this wiki page.

This new feature will allow CCTV/Security installers to integrate video from the Protalk in existing video monitoring/recording software.

Protalk builtin rtsp server support H264 or H263 video format and listen on port 554.

VideoLan Configuration:

To see video stream on VideoLan software.

  • Open program then go to Open Media > Open Capture Device > Network and put “rtsp://ip.address.of.doorphone:554” finally press the Play button.

All being well you will see video from the door phone. If you want to force the rtsp server to use H263 or H264 then add the following in your url field.

‘rtsp://ip_address/video.263’ to force H263
‘rtsp://ip_address/video.264’ to force H264

If you face problem with any of above please get in touch.

This blog post applies to CityLine,SkyLine and SlimLine products.

 

Registering RTX4002 Repeater with N300/N510 IP Base

Updated 09/02/2018 – Luke Warby

*RTX4022P can not be set up in Daisy Chain with 3rd party devices such as Gigaset and Yealink*

Updated 10/01/2014 – Chris Wright

Below are some instructions that will help in registering a RTX repeater with Gigaset Base station.

DO NOT PLUG IN THE REPEATER UNTIL INSTRUCTED

1. Set the range extender up near the Gigaset Base Station, you can move it to its final
destination later.

2. Turn off Eco Mode through the Gigaset handset, go to Settings – Eco Mode. Untick the boxes if necessary

3. Turn on Repeater Mode through the Gigaset handset, go to Settings – System – Repeater Mode.
(If you are using firmware 42.194 or greater, you will need to disable the Encryption setting at this stage rather than enabling Repeater mode. More info here)

Updated 28/03/2018 – Jordan Carr

*RTX4022: press the button on the back of the repeater for 5 seconds instead of plugging the power in*

4. NOW PLUG THE POWER INTO THE RTX 4002 for 5 seconds and turn it off again; then turn it back on.

Note: The LED on the RTX 4002 slowly flashes showing that it is now in registration mode.
This should be a single flash, if it is a double flash please go back to Step 1 and retry.

5. Turn on Registration on the Gigaset Base Station, by either:
a. In the web GUI, go to Management > Miscellaneous > Start Registration’

b. On the Gigaset Base Station, press and hold the PAGE/FIND button for approximately 3-5 seconds

Note: The LED on the RTX 4002 flashes quickly to show that it is in ‘learn’ mode.

6. On the Handset – Key in X* – where ‘X’ is a number between 2 and 7. (This relates to the repeater number – the first repeater is number 2 as the N300 is the first link (1).)
Then press the green SEND button.

The LED will stop flashing for about 5 seconds; press * again to confirm the pairing. The LED should now show a steady light without flashing.

Note: If the LED goes back to flashing quickly then the new settings have not been saved or accepted by the RTX 4002. Repeat item 5. If the LED goes back to flashing quickly again then repeat item 5 with a different X.

7. Now position the RTX 4002 where required, ensuring that it is still within range of the Gigaset Base Station.

** If you hear a chirping/beeping noise when on call within range of the RTX, you may have enabled the verfication tone. For instructions on turning this off, please view our blog post**

UDVguard- Free Android App For Protalk Door Entry System

We are pleased to announce first Android app for the Protalk door entry system.

NOTE: This app also works with Cityline and Skyline products.

Some of the main features of the app are:

Monitoring of multiple door stations:
You can monitor multiple door phones under one interface.

Controlling of door phone:
User can unlock the door from the interface i.e by pressing the designated button on the screen. Also a call can be initiated from the app to the door phone.

Multitasking:
This app can sit in the background while you do other things.

SIP Support:
It support both sip server mode and peer to peer mode.

The UDVguard application is available free of charge from Google Market place.

 

Installation and Configuration:

* Turn on Wifi

* Open Market place and search for UDVGuard. Install and run the program.

* Select Menu >> Settings > DoorPhone Management. Add the IP address of the door unit to monitor. By default, the program offers parameters 192.168.1.250 and port 80. Change the IP address to match IP of the door phone.

* If you want to software to pop up on incoming calls check “Pop Up” box .

* Default audio mode is set to Peer-to-peer. Select it according to your requirement. If using SIP mode , remember to add sip user info in relevant fields.

If everything is setup up properly you should be able to receive a call on your device if someone presses the button on the door.

WARNING: This software runs in background. Please quit the software when not in use to save battery.

Tested Devices

Tablets:
Acer Iconia Tab A500
Manta MID01

Mobile phones:
HTC Wild Fire A3333
HTC Desire
Samsung Galaxy GT-i9000
Samsung Galaxy mini GT-S5570

Connecting ProTalk SIP door phone with Digital keypad and Push button

In my Previous blog post, I explained how to connect a digital keypad with ProTalk door unit. That was entertaining was is`nt :). Now lets add a push button to the previous scenario to make things more exciting.

The blog post will go through the process of attaching all three components together. Each module comes with separate connection cables that can be found in packaging. You should have following cables with each module.

a. Audio/Video module:

>> 1 x 8 pin connector (CC8)

b. Digital Keypad:

>> 1 x 5 pin connector (CC5)
>> 1 x 3 pin connector (CC3)

c. Push Button:

>> 1 x 3 pin connector (CC3)

Lets start connecting these components step by step.

1. Connect CC8 cable to 8 pin connector on Audio Video module.

2. Connect one end of CC5 to Output(CN2) and one end of CC3 cable to Input(CN1) connector on the keypad.

3. Connect CC3 cable to the Input(CN1) on the push button.

If everything is connected correctly, it should look something like this.

Now lets move forward to last few step.

4. Connect other end of CC3 cable connected to push button to LT(3 pin) connector on A/V module.

5. Connect second end of CC5 cable from keypad to EXP(5 pin) connector on the A/V module and CC3 cable to the Output(CN2) on the push button

6. Finally, last step is to connect the CC8 cable to the push button. One thing to keep in mind is, each cable from the 8 equate to “key 3-10” on the web interface. i.e.

black = 3rd pushbutton
orange = 4th pushbutton
green = 5th pushbutton
white = 6th pushbutton
red = 7th pushbutton
yellow = 8th pushbutton
brown = 9th pushbutton
blue = 10th pushbutton

Since our scenario just has one push button in place, I need only one out of 8 cables i.e. Black. So last step is to plug the stripped end of the black cable to the green screw terminal block on the push button.

Click picuture 1 or 2 to see final connections.
Picture 2

NOTE: Microphone is part of front frame on Skyline units and not shown in pictures above. Please make sure to connect it to the sip module

Now log on to the web interface of the door unit and configure the unit to get things started.

ProTalk SIP Door Intercom with Broadsoft platform

Recently, we have successfully completed interop testing of the ProTalk SIP door unit with Broadsoft platform (not broadsoft certified).

Here is a quick how-to guide to configure ProTalk SIP door unit with Broadsoft Server.

Firstly, the firmware on the door unit has to be on VoIP version: 1.99.2. To check the firmware version, web browse to door unit and click on Service page.

Then set the device as follows:

  • SIP Proxy Server Address : as.broadsoft.com (provided by server provider)
  • SIP Proxy Server Port : 5060
  • SIP Registrar Server Address : as.broadsoft.com (provided by server provider)
  • SIP Registrar Server Port : 5060
  • Outbound proxy Address : IP address of outbound proxy server(provided by server provider)
  • Outbound proxy Port : 5060

Secondly, enter the user details. User name part is the only bit that is tricky. To get the username for door phone, look for “Line port” field under device configuration. Line port setting should be something like abc123_321@domain.co.uk. You only need to put name part of sip uri i.e. abc123_321 as username. Finally enter password and authentication password and press save changes to register the device. Click here to see a snapshot showing require Broadsoft server user details.

This should allow you to make and receive calls from Door unit.

For more information on ProTalk range click here

ProTalk SIP door unit now support Broadsoft platform

We are delighted to announces that the New ProTalk firmware support integration with Broadsoft platform.
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For more information please contact a member of ProVu staff at 01484840048 or look at our website for ProTalk Range .

Skyline/Cityline Door Unit connection with Digital Keypad

This blog post explains connecting and configuring of a Digital Keypad

Connections are quite simple. Cityline Keypad comes with two different cables.

1 X 3 pin connector
1 X 5 pin connector

Step 1: Connect the 3 and 5 pin connector to INPUT and OUTPUT connections on the cityline keypad board. Click here for diagram

Step 2: Connect 3 pin connector to connection LT (point 19 on this picture) of the Audio/Video module

Step3: Connect 5 pin connection to EXP connection or connection 18(Please refer to digram in step 2).

Step 4: Finally to be able to dial numbers from keypad,
login to the web interface of the door unit and go to Basic Parameters.

Change the following settings:

1. Keyboard to position : 1
2. Under mode of keyboard choose Direct choice number (phone)

Thats it. Now enter the number and press the A button to dial it.

To unlock the door using keypad, configure unlock codes under Relays section of web gui and save changes. Finally press the B (Bell) button and enter to code to unlock door.

If you don’t want a unit with a keypad and only interested in 1 or 2 button door entry products please look at the our ProTalk range.

Aastra Wireless Headset

I have been testing Aastra 67xx series phones with Jabra GN9120 wireless handset for last couple of weeks and can only say one thing about it “awesome”.

Using this cable allow to answer and terminate telephone calls using the headset, while being away from the desk. Incoming calls are also signalled in the headset earpiece. And you can easily transfer the call from the handset to headset or other way round by just pressing single button.

GO MOBILE WITH AASTRA DHSG CABLE!

For more information about the product click here