Tech

Disable pickup on a BLF

Published on:

October 12, 2018

In Vodia PBX version 60.3, users can now customize call pickup LED behavior by adding "no" to the pattern syntax, preventing the LED from blinking. This feature is useful in scenarios where specific permissions are required, such as limiting call pickup on a manager's phone to selected extensions. The enhancement ensures flexibility without sacrificing backward compatibility, providing a more user-friendly experience.

It’s usually quite useful to be able to pick up calls by pressing a fast-blinking LED on your VoIP phone. This has become a standard feature on most IP-PBXs today, and practically all VoIP phones support it. 

There are, however, some situations wherein you don’t want to press the LED - sometimes the LED should just come on without blinking, so the user can see the extension or resource is busy. This can be a problem of permission, when users shouldn’t be able to pick up calls, e.g., on a manager’s phone only certain, predetermined extensions should be able to retrieve that call. 

A blinking LED actually "promises" pressing the LED will pick up an incoming call. This wasn’t always the case with the Vodia PBX; it could happen the LED was blinking, but the user might press the button and find it wasn’t possible to pick up the call. This didn’t result in a good user experience, so we decided to correct it. 

In every account we had the field, "permissions to monitor this account" (pretty much from the beginning), and this was a flexible way to define who could see the status on the resource. This list could exclusively show extensions or use simple patterns to define the permissions.

The problem was the LED was either dark or lighted - what we needed was a mode between these two states that would just enable on/off status. We discussed adding another field to define this, but it turned out a simple extension of the pattern syntax was easier.

Beginning with version 60.3, the PBX would look for a flag, “no” (for no pickup) behind the pattern. This way it would be easy to mix the permissions, e.g., the pattern "44 55:np 5*" would mean extension 44 can see anything, extension 55 would only see on/off status and other extensions beginning with 5 would see everything. The pattern is backward compatible with previous versions, so there’s no worry about behavior in upgrades. 

Latest Articles

View All

SMBs: Never Miss a Call with the Vodia Phone System

Missing a call is never just a minor slip for SMBs. It can mean losing a customer for good. In today’s competitive landscape, businesses cannot afford missed opportunities. While legacy phone systems often lead to frustration and inefficiency, modern cloud solutions like Vodia PBX make it easy to stay connected anytime and anywhere. With AI powered features such as intelligent call routing, real time transcription and 24/7 availability, your customers will always reach the right person. Vodia gives SMBs enterprise grade communication without the enterprise price tag so you can protect revenue, strengthen customer trust and grow confidently.

October 27, 2025

Boost Call Center Performance with Vodia’s Enhanced Analytics Dashboard

The Vodia Enhanced Analytics Dashboard empowers call centers and enterprises to transform raw call data into clear, actionable intelligence. With real-time and historical metrics on agent performance, call volumes, abandonment rates, wait times, and routing efficiency, it delivers a complete view of communication activity across locations. These insights help identify peak traffic periods, uncover CX gaps, optimize staffing strategies, and improve service quality. By reducing missed and abandoned calls, organizations can deliver faster, more consistent support and strengthen customer loyalty.

October 24, 2025

Strengthening PBX security: Passkeys and the Vodia Phone System

Vodia PBX strengthens security with passkeys, giving users and administrators a secure, passwordless login method that eliminates many vulnerabilities tied to traditional credentials. Passkeys use public key cryptography, storing the private key on the user’s device and the public key on the server, making them resistant to phishing and credential theft. By reducing reliance on passwords, Vodia minimizes the attack surface in cloud environments and makes authentication simpler and more secure, while ensuring a smoother, faster login experience for all users.

October 21, 2025