Getting Started / About Vocera SIP Telephony Gateway |
Learn how the Voice Service works with Telephony service to facilitate phone calls between a Vocera device and an outside line or a voicemail.
When a user issues a voice command to dial a telephone number, or when Vocera forwards a Vocera device call to a telephone or to voicemail, the Voice Service sends a sequence of digits to the Telephony service. In addition to the phone number itself, the sequence can contain access codes needed to obtain an outside line, to authorize a long distance call, or to access company voicemail.
You can enter phone numbers, extensions, and access codes in various configuration fields in the Vocera Platform Web Console. For example, when you add a user to the Vocera system, you can specify the user's desk extension, cell phone number, pager number, and home phone number. Users can also enter or update this information in theVocera Platform My Profile. For more information, refer to Vocera Platform My Profile Guide available on the Vocera Documentation Portal.
A field that requires a phone number, an extension, or an access code may contain any of the following characters:
Digits — Numeric value 1234567890
Special dialing characters — A special dialing character is a non-numeric character that you can enter in Web Console field that requires an access code, phone number, or extension. For example, you can use an asterisk ( * ) to simulate pressing the star key on a touch-tone phone, or enter an X at the beginning of a number to tell Vocera to treat that number as an extension.
Special dialing macros. — A dialing macro represents a dialing sequence. In data entry fields where you cannot enter a specific number—because the number varies with the user who accesses the feature—you can enter a dialing macro. Vocera replaces that dialing macro with the actual number on demand.
Dialing macros are especially useful when editing Company Voicemail Access Codes and Contacts entries. For example, the Company Voicemail Access Code field specifies the dialing sequence that Vocera uses to forward an incoming call to company voicemail. As part of the dialing sequence, you typically need to specify a desk phone extension to identify the voicemail box you want to access. You cannot enter a specific desk extension in this field, because the number varies depending on which user is forwarding calls. Instead, you use the %D macro as part of the dialing sequence. Vocera replaces that macro with the actual desk extension of the user who is forwarding calls. See Special Dialing Macros for a complete list of dialing macros.
PIN template macros — Each PBX has different rules for adding a PIN to a dialing sequence. Some require the phone number followed by the PIN. Some require the PIN before the phone number. Some require an access code for an outside line, or a feature code to indicate that a number is a PIN. Some require a separator character between the PIN and the number. A telephony PIN template can use macros to specify and format the information in a PIN. See PIN Template Macros for a complete list of PIN macros.