Deskphone mode on Bria 3.4.1

[pdonner]

I updated to software version 3.4.1 and decided to give the deskphone functionality yet another try. We have a number of SIP phones and a SIP registrator, the IPX-1800 from Planet. Decided to experiment with the Grandstream GXV3175 video phone and the very basic Yealink SIP-T18 phone. They are from both ends of the SIP hardware phone spectrum. Supposedly they should work in the Bria deskphone mode.

Both telephones were registered to the same SIP PBX and they call perfectly well the Bria 3.4.1 software endpoint and vice versa (as well as one another). Configured Softphone > Preferences : Devices property page and Other Devices tab. Pushed Deskphone... button which triggers the Deskphone dialog where you can define the Deskphone URI. After selecting the Call Using My Deskphone mode the status field displays a 'Failed to connect to deskphone' message. This occurred with both telephones.

Captures of the net traffic with Microsoft Network Monitor 3.4 show for both SIP hardware phones the same pattern: SUBSCRIBE - 200 OK - NOTIFY - 400 Missing Subscription-State header. This is quite correct. Neither of the phones include a Subscription-State header in their NOTIFY messages.

Subsequently I still don't have a Bria installation which would work in the deskphone mode. I could try with some other hardware SIP phones, but before that, it would be good to share experience with fellow Bria users. Maybe some of you were able to successfully enable the deskphone feature.

[Derek Jacobs]

Working fine here using my 10 year old Grandstream 486.

[pdonner]

Working fine here using my 10 year old Grandstream 486.

Thanks Derek for useful feedback. I got a kick to look into the message traffic by utilizing Grandstreams excellent debug feature. It turned out that the Planet PBX sent 200 OK without actually consulting the hardware phones. The NOTIFY request wasn't generated by the phones but by the PBX software -- which is a bit weird.

I registered the hardware phones with the SER iptel.org SIP service. It turned out that the SER developers haven't implemented a SUBSCRIBE request handler. The response is 501 Not Implemented. So that didn't give me a chance to test Bria deskphone mode either.

It seems I'm back in square one. I'm wondering if a direct IP request could be a solution. The Bria workstation and the deskphone are normally in the same LAN. Therefore I thought that this could be an option. Is there anyone who can throw light on the viability of that approach?

[Derek Jacobs]

I'm not qualified to make any useful comments on you suggestion.
Have you tried it?

FYI
When I use the feature I am connected to a FREEPbX (asterisk)installation.

[pdonner]

Derek: You asked if I checked deskphone mode in a direct IP call setting. Yes I did, but have to confess that I'm not good at hacking Moreover, we should be aware of the fact that it would lead to a registrarless solution, which limits the value of the deskphone.

Useful to know that Asterisk can work. I've just agreed with a colleague upon tests with an Asterisk server. That's a good reference in many other settings, as well. Hopefully the diagnostic capabilities are good. A useful exercise anyway.