Knowledgebase

If your phone has customizable or programmable buttons (aka DSS Keys), here are some popular settings to get the most out of your cloud phone system and phones.

In this article, we will use Yealink IP Phones for our examples, but just about any brand of IP Phone with programmable buttons (DSS Keys) will work similarly.

Tip: Look for phones with as many Programmable Buttons (aka DSS Keys) as possible.  Many phones have multiple "pages" of buttons.  Example, 10 physical buttons, arranged in 3 pages of 9, for 27 programmable features.

Voicemail or Message Button

Set your phone's Voicemail or Message button to dial *97 to access its mailbox.  On Yealink brand phones, this setting is located under Accounts > Advanced.  Other brands and models vary.

DSS Keys (aka Programmable Buttons)

On Yealink brand phones, you'll log into the phone and click the DSS Key tab on top menu.  From there, follow steps below to customize as you wish.

BLF - Busy Lamp Field

BLF, or Busy Lamp Field, is one of the most popular and powerful features of our Cloud Phone System and modern IP Phones.

You will need to use an IP Phone or Softphone that supports the BLF feature.  

BLF is enabled by default on our cloud phone systems.  So most of the BLF setup is done on the phone itself.

1. Log into your BLF compatible IP phone (or softphone app).
2. Locate the Programmable Buttons (or DSS Key) settings.  On Yealink this is often under the DSS Key tab on main menu.
3. You'll typically want 1 to 3 buttons to be setup as "Line" buttons.  On Yealink, setup 1 to 3 buttons of type "Line".  Select the line number to "Line 1" which actually refers to "Account 1" that you setup on the Account tab.
4. Now setup some buttons as type "BLF".  Label can be anything you want. 
5. Set the Value field for each button, to specify the Extension you want to monitor, such as "101" or "102".  We recommend including your own extension if possible, in order to make all the phones the same.  But that's up to you.
6. Set the Line field to "Line 1", which actually refers to "Account 1" from the Account tab.  If for some reason, you want to monitor an extension from perspective of Account 2, then set this to Line 2.  This is just a quirk of how the manufacturer programmers have labeled that setting.
7. You can set the Extension field to the same Extension as in step 5.  However, an option is to set this field to "**".  That is 2 asterisks, without quotes.  We'll explain the different in just a moment.
8. Click the Confirm button (or Save or Apply) and wait for the phone to update.  You should now see your programmable buttons lit up to indicate Busy Status of whatever extensions you setup to monitor.

Once you have some BLF buttons, the general benefits and usage is described below.

1. Button will be Green to indicate that extension is available.  Button will be Red to indicate extension is busy.
2. If you are in a call, pressing a BLF button acts as a Transfer button, sending the caller to that extension.
3. If you are not in a call, pressing a BLF button acts as a Speed Dial button, calling that extension.  Exception: If you set the Extension field to "**" (2 asterisks), the pressing BLF will act as a "Call Pickup" button.  So if you see an extension ringing, and want to grab that call, just press the flashing BLF button.  If pickup feature doesn't work, try setting the Call Group and Pickup Group setting field in cloud phone system > Extensions > [Extension#] > Advanced.  Assign several extensions to group 1 by setting that field to "1".  That will grant authority to pickup each others' calls.

1 to 1 Intercom feature

This is often used along with BLF buttons to create an easy 1 to 1 Intercom option.

1. Create a button of type "Prefix" and label it "Intercom".
2. Set the Value to *80 (asterisk eighty).  
3. Confirm or Save or Apply

Once this is set, you can press this Intercom button, followed by pressing one of your extension BLF buttons.  Instead of calling that extension, you'll intercom to that extension.  In other words, their speaker will turn on and you can make an announcement to them.

Note: There are also some options that cause BLF buttons to always intercom rather than ring an extension.  But this prefix button method gives you more flexibility, at the cost of requiring an extra button press.

Group Intercom (Paging) feature

This lets you press a button, and intercom to preselected groups of phones, or even ALL of your phones.  Great for announcements or emergencies.

1. Enable a Paging Group in the cloud phone system.  We suggest creating a "page all" group numbered as "880".  Then use 881 to 889 for subsets of your extensions, such as 881 for sales, 882 for support, 883 for management, etc.  This feature can be found under the cloud phone system at Applications > Paging and Intercom.
2. Create a button of type "Speed Dial" and label it however you like, such as "Page All" or "Page Sales".
3. Set the Value to 880, 881, or whatever group you are setting for that button.
4. Confirm, Save or Apply

Once this is set, just press that button, and all the speakers in that Page Group will turn on, allowing you to make an announcement to them.

Tip: You can check the "duplex" option in the Page Group settings to allow for 2 way audio between all extensions.  Just be sure extensions are far enough away from each other to avoid feedback, or you'll get squeeling.

Call Park and Pickup (aka Hot Desk) feature

This lets you Park a call (similar to Hold), and then you or someone else can Pickup the call from another extension.  Normal Call Hold is a private hold, and cannot be picked up by other users, so Parking is more of an open hold.

1. Parking is enabled by default in the cloud phone systems, so you shouldn't need to do anything there, other than review the settings and parking lot extension number.  Default parking extension is 70, and default pickups are 71 to 78.  
2. Create a button of type "Transfer".  Label it something like "Park Call".
3. Set the value to 70.  This button will now transfer a life call to the parking lot, on the first available slot, usually 71.
4. Create a button of type "BLF".  Label it something like "Pickup 71".
5. Set the value to 71 and extension to 71.  This button will flash red when a call is parked.  
6. If you have a pretty large or busy office, that parks more than 1 call at a time, you may want to create pickup buttons for 72 or higher.  But you can also just dial 72 in the case you need to pickup a 2nd parked call and don't have a dedicated button.

Parking feature is often used in combination with the Group Intercom / Paging feature.  You first park the caller, then make an announcement that a call is parked, and who it is for.  Then they dial 71, or hit the pickup button to grab the call.

If you know who the call is for, and you know they are at their desk, you would normally just transfer the call to them directly.  Park and Pickup is intended for situations where someone is roaming the office, or you want ANY person in sales to grab a call, or you want to park the call, then walk over and pick it up yourself at a different phone.

Using Park and Pickup becomes second nature after a few days of using it.  

Speed Dial

Speed Dial is not the latest wiz bang feature, but it is still very useful.

1. Create a button of type "Speeddial".  Label it as you like.
2. Set the Value to a 10 digit phone number, or any of the many feature codes available in the cloud phone system (see Admin > Feature Codes).
3. Confirm, Save, or Apply

Once created, this is an easy way to quickly dial frequently called numbers, such as a supplier, family member, or any other important contact.

There are many other neat tricks you can do with programmable buttons. 

If you have questions, or if you have a trick you'd like to share, let us know.