Configuring Shared Line Extension on SPA9xx Series Phones

From Asterisk Australia

Q. How do I configure a shared line extension on the SPA9xx series phones?

Shared Line Appearance (SLA) allows multiple stations to share an extension number and manage a call as a group. One of the most interesting features of SLA is that when the active station places the call on a shared line key on hold, the call can be resumed from any of the sharing client stations simply by pressing the corresponding line key from another station. </p>

To configure a group of client stations to share the same extension, follow the steps below. 

Step 1: 
Select one of the extensions on the client station to configure the share line.  

Note: As a convention, Linksys recommends always reserving EXT 1 on the client station as the primary and private extension of the designated user. Any shared extension should be configured on EXT 2 to 4. 

Step 2:
Under Share Line Appearance, set Share Ext to shared. Then under Shared User ID, set the user ID which is being shared. Set up the rest of the account information just like the primary EXT on the same station (User ID, Password, Proxy, and so on). 

Step 3:
Click Phone. Assign one or more line key buttons on the client station to the shared extension. Set Share Call Appearance of the line key to shared. 

Note: It may be more convenient to think of a shared line appearance as a physical line key on the client station. 

Sharing line appearance is just like sharing line keys across multiple client stations. If a shared line key is being used by one of the stations in the group, the other members in the group cannot use the line key until it is released. All the stations sharing the line key, however, can monitor the status of the line key, which includes such information as the following: 

• Is the line key free?
• Is the line key ringing?
• Who is using the line key and to whom is the user talking? 

When there is an incoming call to the shared extension, the SPA9000 alerts all the sharing client stations. If a client station happened to have both share and private line keys assigned to the shared extension, a shared line key is chosen first to receive the call before any private line keys.