Placing a call on an Asterisk server hold line

[Anonymous]

Hello.  I normally don't do forums... hope I do this right.

I looked through the knowledge base and unless I wasn't hitting the right key words I didn't see this question answered already.

I have an Asterisk server (version 1.4.19.1). Old, I know... I'll upgrade eventually.

My phone info is as follows:

Phone Model : SoundPoint IP 321
Part Number : 2345-12360-001 Rev. 1
SIP Software Version : 3.3.3.0069
BootROM Software Version : 4.3.1.0440

Before buying this Polycom phone, we had used Aastra SIP phones. Those phones had programmable buttons that let me do things like put a call on what I believe the Astrisk documentation refers to as a "hold line". You would press the programmed "hold" button, which sent a ##95xxx## string to the server. xxx = your extension. I was never sure why the server needed the forwarding extension, but that doesn't matter now. The automated Asterisk female voice would come through the phone speaker and report "one"... or "two"... or whatever free hold line the call was placed on.

This was convenient because if you didn't know who to transfer the call to, you could just put someone on a hold line, call up to the office and tell them who was holding on "line one", and whoever could then answered that line. Since I got this phone, when I have needed to transfer the call, I've been lucky and have always known what extension I was forwarding to... but I would like to know if the old way of putting a call on a "hold line" is still an option. I'm sure it will be something that comes in handy in the future.

Thanks in advance. And, my apologizes, just in case.

[SteffenBaierUK]

Hello Church_Budget,

welcome to the Polycom Community.

The UCS 3.3.0 Admin Guide shows the Park feature and in addition explains the Enhanced Feature Keys (EFK).

Usually the call.parkedCallRetrieveMethod="legacy" and call.parkedCallRetrieveString="" would be used on the Phone picking up the call.

You can also find a Asterisk (43565) example on the Feature Descriptions & Technical Notifications page => here <=

The community's VoIP FAQ contains this post here:

Nov 25, 2011 Question: How can I change the functionality of a softkey button?

Resolution: Please check => here <=

Above also explains the EFK functionality.

Please ensure to provide some feedback if this reply has helped you so other users can profit from your experience.

Best Regards

Steffen Baier

Polycom Global Services

[Anonymous]

Thank you. I never thought to search for changing softkey buttons. That makes more sense.

I need to find this UCS Admin Guide. 

Let me try your suggestions and I'll post my results.

Again, thank you.