September 2, 2016

OnSIP enables Multicast Paging automatically for every phone that support it. A 'page' is a one-way announcement that can relay information to large groups of people quickly. Unlike an intercom or a phone call, Multicast Paging does not allow the listener to respond to the message.

When you use the OnSIP boot server for Polycom phones, there is a paging button easily accessible via your phone’s home screen. The button is ready to use as soon as the phone comes online. However, the Grandstream phones that support Multicast Paging require an additional step after the phone has registered with our boot server.

This post will tell you how to set up Multicast Paging on supported Grandstream devices. We support paging on the GXP 2130, 2135, 2140, 2160 and 2170 series of phones as well as on the GXP 1610, 1620, 1625, 1628 and 1630 series of phones. The interfaces for the phones in the 16XX and 21XX line are similar; with this in mind, we'll demonstrate setting up on the GXP2130 to cover both lines.

Note: This article is intended to assist users in getting Multicast Paging up and running quickly. For an explanation of settings that are not discussed here, please see the user guides provided at the bottom of this post.

Listening Setup

The first step is to ensure that your Grandstream phone is listening on the correct ports for the groups you intend to set up.

Login to your phone’s web interface and go to Settings -> Multicast Paging.

Here you can see the automatic settings from our boot server. We create one listening address labeled “All”, which every Grandstream gets from our server.

If you want to create additional paging groups for a sales team or warehouse or anything along those lines, simply copy the Listening Address from 1 and paste it to an unused field. Make sure to change the port number (:60000) to an unused port. Create an easy to remember label so you can keep track then hit Save and Apply.

For this example, we have created a new Listening address called “Sales”:

Now that you’ve told the phone what to listen for, you need to tell it how to broadcast your pages.

If you have phones that you ONLY want to listen, but not to broadcast, you may skip these next steps. Simply reboot the phone, and when it comes back online, it should be ready to receive pages.

Virtual Multi-Purpose Keys

To send a Multicast Page on a Grandstream phone, you must have a corresponding Virtual Multi-Purpose Key (VPK) or Programmable Key to broadcast to a Multicast Paging group. To set this up, go to Settings -> Virtual Multi-Purpose Keys. For our example, we will set up two groups to broadcast: the “All’ group and a “Sales” group.

Here you can see that this phone has one line registered to it. The phone is also monitoring one BLF line. Since we want to be able to page two groups, we will have to set up one VPK and one Programmable Key.

Click Edit VPK on the unused line (the third one down in this instance), then enter in the information for the channel and hit Save.

Your changes should now be reflected.

Hit Save VPK.

If you only need to add the “All” paging group, you’re done. After you hit Save VPK the face of your phone will show a new Multicast Paging button.

If you want to use more VPKs, see your user manual for how many are available for your phone model.

If this is the only paging group you needed to set up, reboot your phone. It is now ready to use. Rebooting the phone is an important step as it allows the phone to come back online with the new features primed and ready.

Programmable Keys

>To setup a programmable key for your Grandstream phone, go to Settings -> Programmable Keys.

Here you will see Softkeys and Multi-Purpose Keys (MPK). We will be using the MPKs.

This is very similar to the VPKs. In Mode, select Multicast Paging. For Description, give an easy to remember label. And for Value, enter in the Paging group from the Multicast Paging section of your phone. Hit Save and Apply, reboot the phone and when it comes online, it should be ready to use.

For additional details, please refer to Grandstream’s Multicast Paging guides. Also, consider our guide on CyberData overhead paging systems if this topic interests you.

GXP16xx Multicast Paging User Guide

GXP21xx Multicast Paging User Guide

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