Using your ESI Feature Phone
Supplementary information about
the Remote IP Feature Phone
Important:
This information is specifically for use by specially equipped IP Series and IVX 128 Plus systems. If necessary, consult your System Administrator to determine whether this information will be applicable to your ESI phone system.
Differences between standard ESI Feature Phones and the Remote IP Feature Phone
Your Remote IP Feature Phone will operate like the standard ESI IP Series or IVX Series Feature Phone, with these exceptions:
1. Channel availability display
The display on an idle Remote IP Feature Phone will show channel availability, rather than outside line availability:

As depicted above, the bottom right of the display of an idle Phone will show “RMT” (short for remote). The display’s bottom left will show a number of boxes — as few as one or as many as 12, depending upon your system’s installation and configuration — that represent the total number of available remote channels. A solid box indicates a remote channel that is in use; an open box indicates a remote channel that is available. If you access an outside line, your display will switch to the usual outside line usage display.
2. Channel queue display
There may be times when all remote talk paths are in use. When this occurs and you try to access a remote channel, you will hear a “fast busy” signal, and the display will look like this:

If you wish to be queued to receive the next available remote channel, press 1 and hang up; when a path becomes available,
your Remote IP Feature Phone will ring, the display will show FREE RMT CHANNEL, and, when you answer, a prompt will automatically tell you that
there is a channel available.
3. Paging limitation
Although the Remote IP Feature Phone can initiate pages, it cannot receive pages. For example, when the operator performs an all-page ( # 0 ), this will be heard on the speakers of all extensions except those on the Remote IP Feature Phones in the system. Additionally, the Quick Page and Auto Page features are not available when calling a Remote IP Feature Phone.
4. No 911/emergency calls
Because your ESI Remote IP Feature Phone isn’t connected directly to your local telephone network, you must use a regular phone connected locally, not the Remote IP Feature Phone, to make 911 or other emergency calls.
Why such calls won’t work from the Remote IP Feature Phone
The 911 system utilizes Caller ID information to route 911 calls properly and to provide the address of the 911 caller to the 911 dispatcher. This address is typically provided to emergency personnel dispatched in response to the 911 calls. However, a Remote IP Feature Phone which accesses an outside line is connected to a line at the main office IP PBX.
Example:
The Remote Phone is in Seattle; the main office IP PBX is in Atlanta. The Remote Phone user in Seattle has an emergency and uses the Remote IP Feature Phone to call 911 on an outside line. Then:
- The call is connected to a 911 dispatcher in Atlanta, not Seattle.
- The dispatcher is provided with CID info indicating the main office address in Atlanta, not the remote site address in Seattle.
- The dispatcher dispatches emergency personnel to the main office in Atlanta, while no emergency personnel go to the real site of the emergency in Seattle.
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Troubleshooting
Important:
The audio quality of the Remote IP Feature Phone is dependent on the quality of the connection between the Remote Phone and the IP PBX
at the main office. High data traffic on a poor or overloaded connection will cause significant audio distortion, which may include pops and clicks, or warbling.
In this case, contact your ESI Reseller or network administrator for assistance.
The quality of your main office’s outside phone lines also can affect the audio quality of the Remote IP Feature Phone. Due to the interface between
advanced, packet-based phone systems and the traditional public telephone network, a poor-quality phone line can degrade audio quality, causing an echo on
outside calls. An occasional echo isn’t unusual and doesn’t necessarily indicate a problem with your system or lines; however, if this problem
occurs persistently, contact your ESI Reseller for assistance.
| Condition | Procedure |
| Remote Phone display is blank |
|
Remote Phone display shows software version (such as “IP SERIES V2.6”) |
The Remote IP Feature Phone either is faulty or is, in fact, a non-remote (i.e., local) IP Feature Phone. Contact your ESI Reseller. |
| Remote Phone connects but doesn’t operate correctly | The Remote Phone may be defective. Contact your Reseller or use Esi-Test to test all of the Remote IP Feature Phone’s capabilities. (Your Certified ESI Reseller can obtain Esi-Test for you from the password-protected ESI Resellers’ Web’site.) |
| Remote Phone won’t connect |
|
| Phone works correctly but the audio quality is poor | The problem is probably with the connection between the Remote Phone and the IP PBX at the main office. Ask your network administrator or ESI Reseller to evaluate your connection to the main office using Esi-Networx. |
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Product specifications subject to change without notice.
Copyright © 2005–2008 ESI (Estech Systems, Inc.).

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