Intercom & Paging are ways to broadcast an announcement over one or more speakers. These could be the speakerphones on a desk phone in an office, a mounted speaker in a warehouse or in an outdoor area. These pages can be originated from any connected device such as a desk phone or even a doorbell.
Paging allows users to ring a group of extensions and make an announcement via the phone speaker. The called party will not need to pick up the handset as the audio will be played via the phone’s speaker. The person paging will not hear any audio back from the people being paged. Both paging and intercom features require a phone that supports intercom and that is configured to allow it.
The intercom feature allows a phone system user to make an announcement to a single or a group of extensions. In this scenario the audio is two ways, and the called party can respond immediately without picking up the handset.
In general, Paging Systems are powerful tools for reaching a large audience, especially in emergency situations and Intercom Systems allow to enhance communications and allow for two-way interaction between people.
This document explains how to set up and use Paging & Intercom features on Grandstream UCM6XXX series. The following scheme will be used for different Paging / Intercom features explanation.
UCM6xx refers to the UCM62xx, UCM6510 and UCM630x/A series.
Paging and Intercom Group
Paging and Intercom Group can be used to make an announcement over the speaker on a group of phones. Targeted phones will answer immediately using speaker. The UCM62xx paging and intercom can be used via feature code to a single extension or a paging/intercom group. This section describes the configuration of paging/intercom group under Web GUI🡪Call Features🡪Paging/Intercom.
Configure Paging/Intercom Group
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Click on
to add Paging/Intercom Group.
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Click on
to edit the Paging/Intercom Group.
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Click on
to delete the Paging/Intercom Group.
- Click on “Paging/Intercom Group Settings” to edit Alert-Info Header. This header will be included in the SIP INVITE message sent to the callee in paging/intercom call.
Configure Multicast Paging
Name | Configure paging/intercom group name. |
Type | Select “Multicast Paging”. |
Extension | Configure the paging/intercom group extension. |
Delayed Paging | If enabled, a caller can enter *82 before the paging group extension to start a delayed paging call. In a delayed paging call, the system will prompt the caller to record a message. Once the messaging is recorded and saved, and the configured delay has passed, the paging call will be sent out. When a paging group member answers the call, the pre-recorded message will be played, and the call will end after it is finished playing. |
Maximum Call Duration | Specify the maximum call duration in seconds. The default value 0 means no limit. |
Custom Prompt | This option is to set a custom prompt for a paging/intercom group to announce to caller. Click on ‘Upload Audio File’, it will direct the users to upload the customized voice prompts.
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Multicast IP Address | The allowed multicast IP address range is 224.0.1.0 – 238.255.255.255.
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Port | Specify port for multicast paging.
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Table 1: Multicast Paging Configuration Parameters
Configure 2-way Intercom
Name | Configure paging/intercom group name. |
Type | Select “2-way Intercom”. |
Extension | Configure the paging/intercom group extension. |
Auto Record | Enable this option to record in WAV format. |
Replace Display Name | If enabled, the UCM will replace the caller display name with Paging/Intercom name. |
Maximum Call Duration | Specify the maximum call duration in seconds. The default value 0 means no limit. |
Custom Prompt | This option is to set a custom prompt for a paging/intercom group to announce to caller. Click on ‘Upload Audio File’, it will direct the users to upload the customized voice prompts. |
Members | Select available users from the left side to the paging/intercom group member list on the right. |
Paging/Intercom Whitelist | Select which extensions are allowed to use the paging/intercom feature for this paging group. |
Table 2: 2-way Intercom Configuration Parameters
Configure 1-way Paging
Name | Configure paging/intercom group name. |
Type | Select “1-way Paging”. |
Extension | Configure the paging/intercom group extension. |
Auto Record | Enable this option to record in WAV format. |
Delayed Paging | If enabled, a caller can enter *82 before the paging group extension to start a delayed paging call. In a delayed paging call, the system will prompt the caller to record a message. Once the messaging is recorded and saved, and the configured delay has passed, the paging call will be sent out. When a paging group member answers the call, the prerecorded message will be played, and the call will end after it is finished playing. |
Replace Display Name | If enabled, the UCM will replace the caller display name with Paging/Intercom name. |
Maximum Call Duration | Specify the maximum call duration in seconds. The default value 0 means no limit. |
Custom Prompt | This option is to set a custom prompt for a paging/intercom group to announce to caller. Click on ‘Upload Audio File’, it will direct the users to upload the customized voice prompts. Note: Users can also refer to the page PBX Settings🡪Voice Prompt🡪Custom Prompt, where they could record new prompt or upload prompt files. |
Members | Select available users from the left side to the paging/intercom group member list on the right. |
Paging/Intercom Whitelist | Select which extensions are allowed to use the paging/intercom feature for this paging group. |
Table 3: 1-way Paging Configuration Parameters
Configure Announcement Paging
Enable | This Option is used to enable or disable the Announcement paging. |
Name | Configure paging/intercom group name. |
Type | Select “Announcement Paging” |
Custom Prompt | This option is to set a custom prompt for a paging/intercom group to announce to caller. Click on ‘Prompt’, it will direct the users to upload the customized voice prompts. Note: Users can also refer to the page PBX Settings🡪Voice Prompt🡪Custom Prompt, where they could record new prompt or upload prompt files. |
Repeat | If enabled, the announcement page will be repeated for the selected weekdays. |
Date | Configure Announcement Paging Date. |
Time | Configure Announcement Paging Time. |
Transmission Method | Configure Announcement Paging transmission method. Unicast: Depending on members selection Multicast: Depending on Multicast IP address and Port |
Members | Select available users from the left side to the paging/intercom group member list on the right. Note: This field appears only when “Transmission Method” is set to “Unicast”. |
Multicast IP Address | The allowed multicast IP address range is 224.0.1.0 – 238.255.255.255. Note: This field appears only when “Transmission Method” is set to “Multicast”. |
Port | Specify port for multicast paging. Note: This field appears only when “Transmission Method” is set to “Multicast ”. |
Table 4: Announcement Paging Configuration Parameters
Paging/Intercom Group Settings
Users can configure under Web GUI 🡪 Paging/Intercom 🡪 Paging/Intercom Group Settings 🡪 Alert-Info Header the alert-info header value that will be included in paging/intercom calls to endpoints. It is highly recommended to not modify the default value. Users can also upload custom prompt to be used as an announcement to the person receiving a paging/intercom call. The file can be uploaded from the Custom Prompt page. Click on the Upload Audio File button to add additional recordings. The custom prompt will apply to paging/intercom call initiated via feature code (*80 and *81 by default).
The UCM6XXX has a pre-configured paging/intercom feature code. By default, the Paging Prefix is *81 and the Intercom Prefix is *80. To edit page/intercom feature code, click on “Feature Codes” in the “Paging/Intercom Group Settings” dialog. Or users could go to Web GUI🡪Call Features🡪Feature Codes directly.
Configure a Scheduled Paging/Intercom
Users can schedule paging/intercom calls by using the Schedule Paging/Intercom page. To schedule, click the Add button on the new page and configure the caller, the group to use, and the time to call out.
Caller | Configure the caller ID for the paging / intercom group. |
Paging/Intercom Group | Select the paging / intercom group from the list of the available groups. |
Start Time | Configure the start time of the scheduled paging / intercom call. |
Type | Select the type for the scheduled paging / intercom call. The available types are: Single time or Daily basis. Default is “Single”. |
Action Status | Display the action status of the scheduled paging / intercom call. |
Table 5: Schedule Paging / Intercom Settings
