You can allow your cloud PBX customers to configure phone keys for specific functions – such as monitoring extensions (BLF), call parking, or speed dialing – and apply this configuration to multiple IP phones via a self-care portal. This feature eliminates the need to contact the service provider or manually configure each phone through its web interface.
It is available in the CloudPBX Self-Care Portal (accessible via the Add-on Mart), or you can implement it in your own portal using the PortaBilling API.
Say Owl Telecom, a service provider, offers cloud PBX service and uses auto-provisioning for Yealink T58W IP phones. ABC Company, a customer of Owl Telecom, has two departments – Sales and Customer service – and wants to configure programmable phone keys as follows:
- For Customer service agents: set up quick access to Call pickup and Call parking.
- For Sales managers: set up BLF for extensions of pre-sales engineers, Speed dial to the Billing department, and quick access to Call pickup.
Adam, the cloud PBX admin at ABC Company, logs into the CloudPBX Self-Care Portal and creates two device profiles: “Sales” and “Customer service”. Within each profile, he assigns the necessary functions (such as BLF, Speed dial, and Call pickup) to specific phone keys. The portal displays the visual layout of the phone model, helping Adam map functions to the keys based on the phone’s actual interface.
When a new employee joins the Sales department, Adam follows these steps:
- Creates an extension for the employee and adds it to the “Sales department” ring group
- Finds the employee's IP phone in the portal by its MAC address and links the “Sales” device profile to the phone
- Assigns the IP phone to the new extension
Once the phone is connected to the internet and accesses the pre-programmed provisioning server URL, the general and programmable key settings are automatically provisioned. As a result, the employee's phone is ready to use with the BLF, Speed dial, and Call pickup keys visible on the touchscreen.
- Cloud PBX customers can easily maintain consistent phone setups across the company and speed up employee onboarding.
- Service providers can offer a more competitive cloud PBX service.
Limitation
The available functions for phone keys are limited by the phone model and the PortaBilling API, which supports only the most common functions:
- BLF
- Call Park
- Call Pickup
- Conference
- DND
- Forward
- Hold
- Intercom
- Speed Dial
- Transfer
- Voice Mail
- Line
How it works
The general settings for IP phone auto-provisioning, such as codec or SIP server address, are still configured within CPE profiles by the PortaBilling admin. When a customer creates a device profile and associates it with an IP phone on an extension, the system combines the settings from both the CPE profile and the device profile (referred to as the “options template” in the PortaBilling API), and generates a configuration file with these settings. The IP phone then retrieves this file periodically (based on its settings) from the TFTP or HTTP server.
Phone models compatible with self-provisioning of programmable phone keys
Currently, self-provisioning of programmable phone keys is available for the IP phones listed below:
- Yealink SIP-T33G
- Yealink SIP-T43U
- Yealink SIP-T46U
- Yealink SIP-T53
- Yealink SIP-T53W
- Yealink SIP-T58W
- Polycom VVX 250
- Polycom VVX 300
- Polycom VVX 301
- Polycom VVX 310
- Polycom VVX 311
- Polycom VVX 350
- Polycom VVX 400
- Polycom VVX 401
- Polycom VVX 410
- Polycom VVX 411
- Polycom VVX 450
- Polycom VVX 500
- Polycom VVX 501
To enable auto-provisioning for these phone models, you need to subscribe to the corresponding Add-on Mart module. Contact our Sales team if you need this feature for other phone models.
