Remote Phones

1. One Phone per NAT
2. Using a VPN
3. Bandwidth Considerations
4. Setting the time
5. Required Ports
1. 5.1. Cisco Phones
2. 5.2. Polycom Phones
3. 5.3. For earlier Polycom firmware revisions:
4. 5.4. Snom Phones
5. 5.5. Swissvoice Phones
6. 5.6. PBXtra Softphone
7. 5.7. Aastra Phones

1. One Phone per NAT
2. Using a VPN
3. Bandwidth Considerations
4. Setting the time
5. Required Ports
1. 5.1. Cisco Phones
2. 5.2. Polycom Phones
3. 5.3. For earlier Polycom firmware revisions:
4. 5.4. Snom Phones
5. 5.5. Swissvoice Phones
6. 5.6. PBXtra Softphone
7. 5.7. Aastra Phones

NEW! Automatically test remote phone connectivity! (Available in our X.1 Release!)

One Phone per NAT

Fonality supports only 1 remote phone per remote location. If you would like to install more than 1 phone in a remote location, please use a VPN router.

Using a VPN

If you are using a VPN to connect remote sites, you should not need to make any configuration changes to your firewall, router, or the IP phones themselves. The purpose of a VPN is to connect remote locations as though they were all part of a single Local Area Network (LAN). For this reason, as far as the PBXtra is concerned, the phones in locations connected through a VPN are local devices.

Bandwidth Considerations

Each SIP phone call using the G711 codec uses approximately 80 kbps of bandwidth. When you make a phone call from a remote IP Phone, the remote user's Internet connection requires this 80 kbps. If their Internet connection is fairly slow in terms of broadband (1.5 Mbps is common for DSL customers in suburban/rural areas), the quality of their phone call may not be up to the same standard as a phone call initiaited from within your office.

The remote user's bandwidth is not the only factor that affects the quality of a phone call. The remote user's Internet Service Provider (ISP) treats all traffic from the remote user's location equally. For example, the user may be watching a video from YouTube on their computer while they try to make a call. Both the YouTube video and the phone call are equal in the eyes of the ISP; however, the phone call is far more important in terms of traffic than the YouTube video. Because the ISP does not prioritize traffic by type, the quality of the phone call can change during the conversation (you may notice certain noises on the line or even words dropping out). This is not the fault of your PBXtra . The remote user may need to upgrade their Internet connection and/or you may wish to implement a VPN.

Setting the time

Please read Setting the Time

Required Ports

In order to register a remote IP phone with PBXtra , you must open certain ports on your firewall to allow traffic through:

UDP port 5060 - signalling
UDP port 10000-20000 - the entire 10000 port range is required for audio

For a full list of ports used by remote applications, read How do I verify ports for remote operations?

You must also change the registrar server option within the phone itself. Phones located on the same Local Area Network as the PBXtra register using the following FQDN:

sNNNN.pbxtra.fonality.com

When you take a phone away from the Local Area Network, you need to change the host name to the following:

sNNNNx.pbxtra.fonality.com

Notice the addition of the x to the string. X stands for 'external' and is required for all remote phones.

The registrar string can be changed manually on each phone that will be used remotely.

Cisco Phones

Reprogramming Cisco phones requires participation from Fonality Support, and the Cisco phone needs to be configured for remote use at the location of the PBXtra . Please contact Fonality Support for assistance. In preparation, you will need to determine the IP address used by the PBXtra , and prepare each Cisco phone as described below.

Press the “settings” Button
Press 9 for "Unlock Config"
Enter the MAC address (case sensitive). You can find this on a label on the bottom of the phone in the middle. It is 12 characters long containing numbers, and usually letters as well. Toggle between Number and Alpha as needed to enter the MAC Address. Press Accept when finished
Press 3 for "Network Configuration"
Enter 27 for "Alternate TFTP" and set it to YES, then Press "Save"
Press 3 for "Network Configuration" again, and enter 7 for "TFTP Server", then Press "Edit". Enter the IP address of the PBXtra server, then press Accept
Press Back twice
Disconnect the power cable from the phone, and then reconnect it

It might be necessary to clear the old settings from the phone, and to repeat the above process if the settings are not picked up from the PBXtra . If you need to clear the settings in the phone, use the following steps:

Press the “settings” Button
Press 9 for "Unlock Config"
Enter the MAC address (case sensitive). You can find this on a label on the bottom of the phone in the middle. It is 12 characters long containing numbers, and usually letters as well. Toggle between Number and Alpha as needed to enter the MAC Address. Press Accept when finished
Press 3 for "Network Configuration"
Enter 28 for "Erase Configuration" and set it to YES, then Press "Save"
Disconnect the power cable from the phone, and then reconnect it
Re-program the TFTP Server setting as described above

Contact Fonality Support for assistance with changing the configuration files on the PBXtra in accordance with your new extension numbers.

Polycom Phones

For firmware revision 1.6.x or later:

Obtain the IP address assigned to the phone, and browse to it -
1. Press the “Menu” button
2. Select “Status…”
3. Select “Network…”
4. Select TPC/IP Parameters…”. The IP Address will be shown on the LCD display.
Browse to the IP address using your web browser. Example http//192.168.1.100
Click on the “Lines” Link and authenticate
Username “Polycom” (case sensitive)
Password “456”
Scroll down to the field labeled Address, in the line you want to use, for example Line 1
Change the sNNNN.pbxtra.fonality.com settings to sNNNNx.pbxtra.fonality.com where the Ns represent your server number.
Click the “Submit” button when finished changing these settings
The phone will automatically reset once the changes are made

For earlier Polycom firmware revisions:

Obtain the IP address assigned to the phone, and browse to it
1. Press the “Menu” button followed by the “Select” soft key twice. The IP Address will be shown on the LCD display
Browse to the IP address using your web browser. Example http//192.168.1.100
Click on the “Registration” Link, and authenticate
Username “Polycom” (case sensitive)
Password “456”
Change the sNNNN.pbxtra.fonality.com settings to sNNNNx.pbxtra.fonality.com where the Ns represent your server number
Click the “Submit” button when finished changing these settings
The phone will automatically reset once the changes are made

Snom Phones

Obtain the IP address assigned to the phone, and browse to it.
1. Press the “<” key twice, followed by the soft key below the word “IPAdr” in your LCD display. This will show the IP address on the LCD display.
Browse to the IP address using your web browser. Example http//192.168.1.100
Click on the "Advanced" link on the left side of the screen
Change the "Update Policy" setting to "Never update, do not load settings"
Click "Save" to save this change
Click on the “Line 1” link on the left side of the screen
Change the sNNNN.pbxtra.fonality.com settings to sNNNNx.pbxtra.fonality.com where the Ns represent your server number
Click the “Submit” button when finished changing these settings

Swissvoice Phones

Obtain the IP Address assigned to the phone and browse to it
1. Press the “OK” button under the “Menu” display on the LCD
2. Scroll down to “Admin Settings” and press “OK” again
3. Click “OK” for “Current settings”
4. Click “OK” for “Network Configuration”
5. Press the down arrow button to scroll down one position to see the IP Address
Browse to the IP address using your web browser. Example http//192.168.1.100
Click on the “Administrator” button, and log in
1. Username admin
2. Password admin
Click on the “SIP configuration” link on the left side of the screen.
Change the sNNNN.pbxtra.fonality.com settings to sNNNNx.pbxtra.fonality.com where the Ns represent your server number
Click the “Submit” button when finished changing these settings

PBXtra Softphone

Right click on the screen of the softphone.
Click on "Settings"
Click on the "SIP Accounts" on the left side labeled " sNNNN.pbxtra.fonality.com " where the Ns represent your server number
In the field labeled "Domain" change the sNNNN.pbxtra.fonality.com settings to sNNNNx.pbxtra.fonality.com where the Ns represent your server number
Click the button labeled "Apply"
Check the box labeled "Manual Override"
UNcheck the box labeled "Manual Override"

Steps 6 and 7 may not make sense, but due to the code within the softphone client, you have to "trick" the application into realizing that it is currently being deployed remote to the Fonality server. You only have to do this once.

Aastra Phones

Obtain the IP address assigned to the phone, and browse to it
1. Press the "Options" key
2. Press the Down arrow on the buttons below the LCD screen to option "Network Settings" and press the right arrow to Enter
3. Enter 22222 and press the right arrow to Enter
4. Down arrow to "IP Address"
Browse to the IP address using your web browser. Example http//192.168.1.100
Enter authentication information
1. Username “admin” (case sensitive). Do NOT login with 'user' regardless of Aastra's documentation.
2. Password “22222”
Click on the "Global SIP" link
Change the sNNNN.pbxtra.fonality.com settings (Registrar AND Proxy Server) to sNNNNx.pbxtra.fonality.com where the Ns represent your server number
Click the “Save Settings” button when finished changing these settings
The phone will will need to be restarted for the changes to take effect
Pull the power on the phone and plug it back in