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People who are frequently away from the office for
significant periods of time, such as salespeople and
telecommuters, often need to receive office-bound
calls remotely. Sometimes, calling into your voice
mail to occasionally retrieve your messages is not
expedient enough for the fast-paced business world.
You may need to receive certain calls as soon as
possible no matter where you are. You also may want
access to your PBX with much of its main
functionality, such as transferring, conferencing, and
holding calls, through your cell phone or other remote
phone when you are on the road. MCK Communications'
Mobile EXTender allows for this and leverages toll
bypass savings by allowing remote calls through the
company's PBX.
IMPLEMENTATION
To understand how the Mobile EXTender works, TMC Labs
used a wireless phone as the device to be extended
through MCK's network. We also visited MCK's facility
to see first-hand how their system worked. We obtained
a feel for the PBXgateway II's command line and Web
interface, but in that short time we could not give a
decisive assessment for these interfaces.
MCK's system administrator assigned us a port on
the PBXgateway II. In effect, we became MCK interns
for a few days. TMC Labs was given two numbers so that
we could access MCK's IVR, make VoIP calls through the
PBXgateway II, and receive business calls on the
wireless phone instead of the office phone. When
someone calls the office number, the gateway receives
the call and makes a second call to the wireless
phone. When the call is received, it can be accepted
by pressing any key on the phone. If it is not
accepted, then the call will be routed to voice mail
at the office. Since we had no voice mail at MCK,
these calls routed to MCK's IVR instead.
To set the dialback number (in our case, the
wireless phone), we called the number given to us so
that we could access MCK's PBX, which happens to be
the Avaya DEFINITY PBX. We entered our assigned
password and pressed "###," which accessed the IVR
menu. Then, we entered the number(s) to reach someone
outside the company (this number was "9, 1" in our
case, but often is just "9"), followed by the number
of our wireless phone. When we first verified the
phone number by listening to the prompt, it was
incorrect. However, when we re-entered the number in a
slow, deliberate manner, the DTMF tones were properly
received so that we could now get calls through the
PBXgateway II.
This roaming method of adding or modifying a
dialback number can only be done through the roaming
dialback mode (this mode determines where the gateway
routes the calls). This allowed us to continuously
change the dialback number to any location, such as to
home or to hotel numbers, if we were so inclined or
were in need to do so. While this dialback mode is
more flexible, the fixed/forced mode enjoys the most
security because it requires the PBXgateway II to call
the pre-assigned dialback number back before it allows
access to the PBX features.
DOCUMENTATION
Other than MCK's Web site and a public relations
packet detailing the functionality of the Mobile
EXTender, the only documentation is a six-page user's
guide. For our purposes, though, we really didn't need
more than that. We were also shown a PowerPoint
presentation when we visited MCK. That helped us
obtain a clearer picture of how the system worked. In
addition, we were given a reference sticker of the
commands used for the Avaya DEFINITY-powered MCK
Mobile EXTender.
We also took a look at the PBXgateway II systems
administrator's guide. It is bulky with all of the
categories (installation, configuration, etc.) for
this type of hardware documented. As a matter of fact,
it was so detailed that we thought pages could have
been cut. However, the table of contents is excellent,
the information is accurate, and it even includes an
entire section on troubleshooting.
FEATURES
Since the Mobile EXTender works with the PBXgateway
II, we've included some of the major features of the
gateway:
- Supports up to 24 ports used to mix and match
any of MCK's EXTenders and third-party telephony
devices.
- Uses remote voice protocol (RVP) over
traditional networks and over IP connections.
- Encrypts user name and password allocated by the
system administrator to each port.
- Supports IP Precendence and DiffServ QoS
mechanisms.
It is the Mobile EXTender enhancement that sets the
PBXgateway II apart from other gateways. Here are the
major features of the Mobile EXTender:
- Routes incoming calls to a specified number;
unanswered calls are sent back to the employee's
corporate voice mail box.
- Mobile workers can access main PBX
functionality, such as conferencing, transferring,
or holding calls, through any wireless or
touch-tone phone.
- Allows users to dial four-digit internal
extensions from a wireless phone and can access
the PBX to place long distance or international
calls through the corporate voice network.
- Compatible with Avaya DEFINITY and Nortel
Meridian PBXs.
OPERATIONAL TESTING
We had access to MCK's PBXgateway II and their PBX
from a wireless phone for a few hours when we visited
them, and for a couple of days at our labs so that we
could test the functionality more thoroughly. One of
the first things we noticed was that we had to quickly
punch the keys for the commands for making transfers,
conferences, etc. This contradicted what we did when
entering the dialback number, so before we knew
better, we entered these commands as slowly as before.
Therefore, we did not always gain access to the
feature we wanted. At one point, we were trying to
make a conference call but pressed the keys too
slowly. The conference call connected, but we had
accidentally retrieved the IVR as well. That is, we
heard the conference attendees and the IVR at once.
That was one confusing conversation! How did that
happen? We think it was because the nearby speakers in
the lab picked up an extra "#" DTMF tone that was
never actually dialed. However, when we learned the
error of our ways and entered the commands more
deliberately on the wireless phone, we had no more
problems remotely accessing the PBX to perform its
major telephony functions.
We set up the Mobile EXTender so that we could use
the wireless phone as a business phone for two days.
On regular voice mail, we gave the number to call into
the PBXgateway II at MCK. When dialed, the call routed
from the gateway to the wireless phone. We knew when
the call was from the office because a prompt
commanded us to "press any key" to accept the call. A
phone call to the regular wireless phone number goes
directly through without this prompt. It would be nice
to provide caller-ID functionality, but since the
number is routed through the gateway, the caller-ID
number displayed (if available) would only be that of
the PBXgateway II.
With each branch office having unique extension
numbers, all a user has to do is enter the four-digit
extension of the person they are trying to reach. The
call is then routed to the appropriate MCK EXTender
using VoIP. Thus, any four-digit extension can be
dialed to reach any branch office on the company's
network, no matter if the office is in Lincoln, Neb.
or Detroit, Mich. International calls can also be made
through the PBXgateway, utilizing VoIP to save costs
on these calls.
TMC Labs tried nearly all that could be done via
the wireless phone. Once the configuration settings
were correct and we pressed the keys deliberately
fast, we were successful using the wireless phone, as
if we were using the company's PBX remotely from a
little town just outside of Boston, Mass. or in
Norwalk, Conn. We had the power to remotely access the
PBX's IVR menu, remotely dial out via the PBX, and
remotely perform telephony features, such as
conference calls.
ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
While we acknowledge the difficulty in using caller-ID
for this type of system, this technology would be
extremely useful to the remote user so that important
business calls can be distinguished from less
important calls. Therefore, we instead suggest call
screening so that the same purpose can be achieved.
Callers can record their name to identify themselves
to the recipients of the calls.
Furthermore, we think that the Mobile EXTender
should not only include any wireless and touchtone
phone, but also laptops or even hand-held computers.
Being able to dial, answer, transfer, hold, and
conference calls, as well as access voice messages
from a simple interface on the user's laptop, would
make it even easier for important calls to be handled
in a timely manner. This type of functionality could
be accomplished as MCK's systems become compatible
with a larger number of PBXs, including PC-PBXs and
IP-PBXs.
CONCLUSION
The Mobile EXTender capabilities work well with the
PBXgateway II and the Avaya DEFINITY PBX. The ability
to extend to any branch office of a company via a
four-digit number through either the branch office
EXTender or other MCK product is a resourceful way for
remote users to stay in touch with fellow employees.
The use of the PBX functionality also makes life
easier for mobile users, especially since they can
access the PBX to place important and time-critical
long distance or international calls through the
corporate voice network. Once the user gets accustomed
to using their wireless phone for functionality
normally reserved for the office, the Mobile EXTender
could really prove to be a tremendously valuable
application.
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