I’m sure by now you’ve read a few articles saying that you CANNOT do BLF on the SPA942, SPA962 or SPA525G, this is in fact false. BLF works JUST fine on these phones. In fact I have a wall behind me with all three models connected together with Asterisk (elastix) merrily reading each others line states. The red lights are extensions demonstrate extensions in use.

For those of you who do not know what BLF is. BLF or Busy Lamp Field allows you to see which extensions are currently on the phone, or being called. It also allows you to pickup a ringing phone for someone else.

By placing these same configuration details into the SPA932 screen you could also use these instructions to programme a Linksys SPA932 Sidecar.

I’m sure by now you’re jealous of all my little red lights blinking away. Well, fortunately for you the next part of this guide is how you can do it on your own phones. I’m going to break this down into four sections: Configuration in common to all three models, and then three separate sections for configuration elements unique to each phone.

Before Using this Guide Make sure you have the Latest Firmware from Linksys / Cisco

This is NECESSARY

General:

First things first, here is what is more or less common to every model. To do anything you need to log into the phone. To do this you need to get the IP Address of the phone. You can either get it from your endpoint manager or by hitting the settings button, then pressing 9.

Once you’re logged into the phone, we need to log in and switched to advanced.

On the right hand side you’ll see “Admin Login”, once you’ve done that and it’s switched to “User Login”. Go ahead and hit “Advanced”. Do it in that order else it’ll go ahead and switch back to basic mode and you won’t see the options we need. The SPA525G has a slightly differently looking screen but it’s phrased identically.

Next we’re going to setup the actual BLF and shortcut lines. This step is identical on all the phones so we’ll do it first.

Click on the “Phone Tab” on the menu bar up top. Double check that you’re in Advanced Mode and you should see the Line Keys. I typically leave Line Key 1 configured as a normal extension. This means that the phone will be able to handle two simultaneous calls. If you need four simultaneous calls assign Line Key 2 as well to Extension 1.

For the lines that will require BLF Switch the Extension to Disabled, switch the Share Call Appearance to shared. Enter a short name for the line, this is the name that will show up on the button on the screen.

Once you have that you’ll need to enter the following into the extended function section:

fnc=blf+sd+cp;sub=EXT#@ASTERISKIP;nme=SHORTNAMEHERE

Replace EXT# with the Extension number of the phone you would like to monitor, ASTERISKIP with the IP of the Asterisk server that both phones are connected to and SHORTNAMEHERE with the shortname entered above.

You may fill out as many lines as necessary using this same command. The same syntax is used on the SPA942, SPA962 and SPA525G.

There is one additional step necessary to get BLF working. You must now tell the phone that you want it to use Asterisk style BLF.

Save your settings and move on to the next phone-specific section.

SPA942 Specific Instructions:

While you’re on the Phone Tab, You need to scroll down directly below the last Line Key (should be Line Key 4). You’ll see Line Key Extended Function.

Here you must switch the Server Type: to Asterisk, and changed the SPA932 Call Pickup Code to *8 to match the Asterisk call pickup code.

That’s it, save your settings and you’re done.

SPA962 Specific Instructions:

On the SPA962 the setting is located under the SPA932 tab (that’s the model name of the sidecar for the SPA962 and SPA525G).

Once you’ve clicked on the SPA932 tab you should get this:

If you don’t see this, make sure you’re in advanced mode and logged in as admin (Admin Login button). If you do see this, switch Server Type to Asterisk and SPA932 Call Pickup Code to *8.

Save you’re settings and you’re done!

SPA525G Specific Instructions:

On the SPA962 the setting is located under the Att Console tab (this tab is intended to work with the SPA932 which is the Sidecar for the SPA962 and SPA525G).

If you don’t see this, make sure you’re logged in as admin and in advanced mode. Once you see the below dialog we’re ready to change a couple settings for Asterisk:

Switch the Server Type: to Asterisk and change the Attendant Console Call Pickup Code to *8.

Save your settings and you’re done.