Unifi AP AC EDU with FreePBX ...
-
Has anyone successfully used the paging capability of the Unifi AP EDU with FreePBX.
https://www.ui.com/unifi/unifi-ap-ac-edu/
This would be ideal for a situation we have where we want to add wireless and paging to a warehouse area of our building.
It looks like it was designed to be used with a phone app but has anyone used it to receive a multicast page from phones on a freePBX system?
-
@BraswellJay said in Unifi AP AC EDU with FreePBX ...:
Has anyone successfully used the paging capability of the Unifi AP EDU with FreePBX.
https://www.ui.com/unifi/unifi-ap-ac-edu/
This would be ideal for a situation we have where we want to add wireless and paging to a warehouse area of our building.
It looks like it was designed to be used with a phone app but has anyone used it to receive a multicast page from phones on a freePBX system?
Looks like there is no multicast option at the moment.
I found several suggestions for them to add it on the new ideas forum (e.g. https://community.ubnt.com/t5/UniFi-Feature-Requests/MULTICAST-PAGING-FOR-UAP-AC-EDU/idc-p/2752198#M19132)
-
I've done zero paging with FreePBX - but does it have to be multicast? Can extensions be subscribed to a paging group?
-
@Dashrender said in Unifi AP AC EDU with FreePBX ...:
I've done zero paging with FreePBX - but does it have to be multicast?
No
@Dashrender said in Unifi AP AC EDU with FreePBX ...:
Can extensions be subscribed to a paging group?
Yes
-
@BraswellJay I have no idea how the UAP-AC-EDU works. I have not has the opportunity to buy one.
I'm a bit shocked it does not do multicast. What kind of connection does hte speaker even have?
-
@JaredBusch said in Unifi AP AC EDU with FreePBX ...:
@BraswellJay I have no idea how the UAP-AC-EDU works. I have not has the opportunity to buy one.
I'm a bit shocked it does not do multicast. What kind of connection does hte speaker even have?
As far as I can tell you can register it as a SIP endpoint but it doesn't listen on multicast addresses though.
See https://youtu.be/K7wYg69Sv5c?t=91 for a look at the configuration screen.
I did see that the paging pro commercial module will allow a paging group to perform a multicast broadcast page so that may be an option for me to consider as well. I think I could set the Unifi AC EDU as a SIP endpoint, add it to a page group and then also assign that page group a multicast address.
I'm not sure if the page pro module allows a paging group to page to both multicast and also to a set of separate non multicast extensions though. I need to figure that out.
-
@BraswellJay Step back. What is your actual problem?
If the unit registers as an extension, it can be a member of a page group.
Multicast is not a requirement for paging.
-
@JaredBusch said in Unifi AP AC EDU with FreePBX ...:
@BraswellJay Step back. What is your actual problem?
If the unit registers as an extension, it can be a member of a page group.
Multicast is not a requirement for paging.
We have a freepbx install with 23 current extensions, all yealink t42s endpoints except for one which is a cp960 conf phone. We have no speaker or anyway for anyone to page on the plant floor and warehouse areas. Our HR director wants to be able to page these areas in case of emergency to be able to let folks know to vacate etc ...
A separate project is we're wanting to add wireless capability to this same area in preparation for adding an inventory management system, so I was looking at the AP-EDU to cover both cases.
I knew that multicast wasn't required but I thought it was the recommended way to do it for more than a handful of extensions to cut down on number of channels that FreePBX had to create but perhaps that is bad info on my part.
-
@BraswellJay said in Unifi AP AC EDU with FreePBX ...:
@JaredBusch said in Unifi AP AC EDU with FreePBX ...:
@BraswellJay Step back. What is your actual problem?
If the unit registers as an extension, it can be a member of a page group.
Multicast is not a requirement for paging.
We have a freepbx install with 23 current extensions, all yealink t42s endpoints except for one which is a cp960 conf phone. We have no speaker or anyway for anyone to page on the plant floor and warehouse areas. Our HR director wants to be able to page these areas in case of emergency to be able to let folks know to vacate etc ...
A separate project is we're wanting to add wireless capability to this same area in preparation for adding an inventory management system, so I was looking at the AP-EDU to cover both cases.
I knew that multicast wasn't required but I thought it was the recommended way to do it for more than a handful of extensions to cut down on number of channels that FreePBX had to create but perhaps that is bad info on my part.
You certainly want to look at multicast for paging to a lot of devices, for exactly the reason you mentioned. I have places with 10 devices in a non-multicast page group with no issues. I have never tried to stress test that scenario though.
So, your further detail helps make things clearer.
-
To use FreePBX to do multicast paging, I would recommend the PagingPro module.
But to your specific question, I have no idea if you can have both setup at the same time.
-
Interesting - I wonder if Mitel is using multicasting or direct connect for paging via the phones? We have a few paging groups, and most of them have over 50 phones in then. The one we use most has over 90 phones in it. We've never had an issue.
Now that said, half those phones are on a digital switch, so that will take a HUGE load off the IP network when paging.
-
@Dashrender all of the IP phones I have worked with can handle multicast natively.
-
@JaredBusch said in Unifi AP AC EDU with FreePBX ...:
@Dashrender all of the IP phones I have worked with can handle multicast natively.
That's good - I guess, and makes it even more weird that Ubiquiti didn't have their devices supporting it out of the gate.
