Blog posts about Fax and Voice

I have a client that currently uses a Valcom VIP-801A Paging Gateway which at initial glance does not have a direct integration with Teams PBX. I have explored the Walkie Talkie feature, but that does not integrate with the existing pager. You could do something fancy with an iPad and a bluetooth overhead pager but this paging unit feels like it is older than I am. It is an analog overhead pager unit and I still have nightmares when I set it up back in 2017. This leaves me with the following options:

1. Replace it with some sort of bluetooth paging unit that can integrate with a tablet. This would support Walkie Talkie integration within teams and we are done
2. Leave it alone and leave physical phones that is hooked up to the old integration that is now dedicated to paging.
3. Buy CCX phones that integrate within teams but in order to use the paging unit, you have to switch profiles from teams to “paging” profile. The paging profile is just a SIP profile.
4. Throw out the overhead pager. They are dumb 🙂

Option 3 is dumb. No one is going to take the time to log off the phone, reboot it, then perform a page then reboot the phone again. I am confused that this is even an option with these phones. The purpose of the paging unit is that it is quick and simple. Nothing is quick and simple with option 3.

Option 2 makes the most sense. There is little overhead with leaving the existing system in place and most users would use either their cell phone or computer for teams. Most users tend to not use the physical phones if that is an option. The downside of this is that there are phones on people’s desks that they cannot use to make phone calls. These phones would be dedicated to making overhead pages.

Option 1 is not likely. These overhead paging units are built into the ceiling and very difficult to get to. They also do not have physical power typically so a bluetooth paging unit would need to have electrical done in order to install it. I find that most companies that have an overhead paging unit tend to not have the investment capital to modernize their overhead paging unit especially when the existing one “works.” Works is a bit of a stretch since it doesn’t actually work with modern equipment. This is like saying why would I get rid of my tape player when it plays music just fine. I don’t need to steam music and play any song I can think of with a few clicks of the mouse or a quick voice command. Tape players just work!

My client is choosing option 4 since they are less in the office and more remote. They found that the paging unit stopped functioning well for their pandemic changed business requirements. If you have come across another option on how to integrate with teams, I would love to know. I do work with these dinosaurs about once a year or so, so while I have exposure to them, it is not as much as other telecommunication technologies.