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Does not play beep to
caller (quiet mode)
Records the page into a file
Dials a channel only if the
device state is
NOT_INUSE
Plays announcement x to
all participants
Does not play
announcement
simultaneously to caller
(implies A(x))
Discussion
Sometimes referred to as “talkback paging,” the use of this option implies that the
equipment that receives the page has the ability to transmit audio back at the same
time as it is receiving audio. Generally, you don’t want to use this unless you have a
specific need for it.
You would normally want this option enabled, because a call-forwarded set could go
pretty much anywhere, and that’s not where your page needs to go.
Normally you won’t use this, since it’s good for paging to make a sound to alert
people that a page is about to happen. However, if you have an external amplifier
that provides its own tone, you may want to set this option.
If you intended to use the same page multiple times in the future, you could record
the page and then use it again later by triggering it using Originate() or using
the A(x) option to Page().
This option is likely only useful (and reliable) on SIP-bound channels, and even so may
not work if a single line is allowed to host multiple calls simultaneously (quite
common with SIP phones). Therefore, don’t rely on this option in all cases.
You could use a previously recorded file to be played over the paging system. If you
combined this with Originate() and Record(), you could implement a
delayed paging system.
By default, the system will play the paged audio to both the caller and the callee. If
this option is enabled, the paged audio will not be played to the caller (the person
paging).
Because of how Page() works, it is very resource-intensive. We
cannot stress this enough. Carefully read on, and we’ll cover how to
ensure that paging does not cause performance problems in a pro‐
duction environment (which it is almost certain to do if not
designed correctly).
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Chapter 11: PBX Features, Including Parking, Paging, and Conferencing
Places to Send Your Pages
As we stated before, Page() is, in and of itself, very simple. The trick is how to bring
it all together. Pages can be sent to different kinds of channels, and they all require
different configuration.
External paging
If a public address system is installed in the building, it is common to connect the
telephone system to an external amplifier and send pages to it through a call to a
channel. The best way we know of doing this is to use an FXS device of some kind
(such as an ATA), which is connected through a paging interface such as a Bogen
UTI1,5 which then connects to the paging amplifier.6
Another popular way to connect to a paging system is to plug the output of the sound
card of your Asterisk server into the paging amplifier, and send calls to the channel
named Console/DSP. We don’t like this method because while it may seem inexpen‐
sive and simple, in practice it can be time-consuming. It asumes that the sound driv‐
ers on your server are working correctly, the audio levels are normalized correctly on
that channel, your server has a decent on-board audio card, the grounding is good,
and...well, in our opinion, this way is not recommended.7
In your dialplan, paging to an external amplifier would look similar to a simple
Dial() to the device that is connected to the paging equipment. You would need to
configure the ATA the same as any SIP telephone (through ps_endpoints, ps_auth,
etc., in the database), named something like PagingATA. You then plug the ATA into a
Bogen UTI1, and to page you have this dialplan code:
5 The Bogen UTI1 is useful because it can handle all manner of incoming and outgoing connections, which
pretty nearly guarantees that you’ll be able to painlessly connect your telephone system to any sort of external
paging equipment, no matter how old or obscure. The cost of the unit can be offset against the hours of time
saved by having a purpose-built, fully featured, Swiss-army-knife-like interface to an existing public address
system (or, for that matter, as part of a new PA system).
6 In this book we’re assuming that the external paging equipment is already installed and was working with the
old phone system, but there’s nothing stopping you from installing a brand-new public address system and
connecting it to your Asterisk system. You might feel that we’re plugging Bogen a bit here, but it’s simply
because they have been doing telephone system paging for a very long time. We’ve been using them for nearly
30 years, and they’ve been doing it for longer, so as long as you’re comfortable putting all the pieces together,
you can get the job done right the first time.
7 If you’re at all curious about this, we want to encourage you to try this out in your lab. It might prove to work
very well for you, and it does potentially save some hardware costs. We’ve just found that hardware is cheaper
than labor, so we’d rather drop a couple of hundred bucks on known-good gear than have some poor techni‐
cian mucking about onsite for eight hours with an upset customer demanding to know when the paging prob‐
lem will be solved.
Parking and Paging