How to Connect Two IP Phones With an Inhouse SIP Server
Many small businesses and organizations now use Voice over Internet Protocol telephone systems to lower costs related to phone service and long distance calling. With the release of several high-quality open source VoIP software based PBX packages, more and more businesses now create and maintain their own in-house communications servers. This approach saves companies money versus renting or purchasing expensive, proprietary hardware systems and adds more configuration flexibility in many cases. VoIP phone systems use Session Initiation Protocol to configure dialing and routing rules for the system. An added benefit of SIP is that is it allows you to connect phones and create in-house conferencing or paging systems.
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Instructions
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Connect Software VoIP IP Phones
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1
Download a software phone application. Many websites now provide free software IP phones you can use with your own VoIP or SIP server (see Resources). Save the software phones installation file on your computer.
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2
Double-click the soft-phone installation file. Follow the installation wizard prompts to install the software phone program on the PC. Reboot the computer when prompted to do so by the installation wizard.
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3
Double-click the phone application desktop icon to launch the program. Click "File" or "Tools" on the menu bar and then "Preferences" or "Settings." Wait for the software phone configuration and settings tab or window to appear.
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4
Enter a username and password needed to access the local SIP or VoIP server computer. Enter the local IP address of the server in the "External Server" or "SIP Server" field. If the local server has a domain name, enter it in the corresponding "Domain" or "Server Network Name" field.
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5
Click the "Apply" or "Save" button to save the configuration settings.
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6
Close the software phone application and restart it. After you restart the program, wait a minute or two for the application to establish a connection to the local VoIP or SIP server.
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7
Install and configure the software phone application on another computer connected to the same local network.
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8
Use the dial pad in the application to dial the extension of another local software phone on the network to place conference or intercom calls on the local area network. Note -- the SIP or VoIP serve automatically assigns an extension number for each IP phone or computer connected to the server.
Connect Hardware IP Phones
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9
Plug an RJ-45 network cable into the "LAN" or "Network" port on the hardware IP phone. Connect the other end of the network cable to the network router. Wait for the hardware IP phone to receive an IP address from the router automatically. If the phone has an AC power adapter, connect it to the phone as well.
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10
Turn on the power to the hardware IP telephone. Wait for the phone to initialize and display the phone's configuration IP address on the LCD screen. Although the configuration IP address varies by phone, it should be similar to "192.168.1.200."
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Open a web browser on a computer connected to the same broadband router as the VoIP server and hardware IP telephone. Browse to the IP address shown on the display screen of the hardware IP phone. Refer to the user manual for the hardware IP phone for default username and password information needed to access the utility.
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Click the "Configure," "Install" or "Setup" link in the hardware IP phones' web-based configuration utility. Follow the onscreen instructions to set up the local VoIP or SIP server information and download the settings to the hardware IP phone. The only required settings for connecting the phone to the local server are SIP server name, SIP server IP address, and username and password.
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13
Enter the values in the appropriate fields and then click the "OK" or "Update" button. Wait while the configuration utility saves the settings and downloads them to the hardware IP phone. Restart the hardware IP phone if prompted to do so.
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14
Connect and configure another hardware IP phone to the same router and local network.
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Note the extension numbers displayed on the phones' display screens. Use the numbers to place intercom or conference calls on phones connected to the local server and network.
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