Hot desking allows employees to log in to any available phone in an office, enabling them to retain their direct numbers, caller ID and voicemail access from any desk. This flexibility reduces the need for dedicated workstations, helping companies cut costs on office space and equipment while enhancing mobility and adaptability for employees. It also fosters communication and collaboration by letting employees switch workspaces as needed. The Vodia PBX hot desking feature supports this functionality by allowing users to easily log in and out of phones using a secure PIN, ensuring seamless call handling and improved productivity.
Hot desking allows an employee to set up shop at any desk or office in the building. They can log in to any SIP desktop phone in the office by dialing the Vodia star code *70 to hot desk to any available phone. The user also keeps his or her DID phone numbers and Caller ID attributes. The employee can make and receive phone calls from a personal phone number and access voicemail. If the employee needs to move to another location, he or she can simply log out of the VoIP phone and log in to another one.
Less Expensive
Hot desking can minimize the need for office space and is often used as a cost-reduction method. Hot desking allows companies to purchase a limited quantity of phones but gives each employee his or her own extension.
Boosts Communication and Collaboration
Allows multiple users to use the same desk and phone, although at different times
Hot desking can be used on a temporary or permanent basis
Outbound calls from the hot desking phone will reflect the user’s caller ID
All calls made to the user’s extension (or as part of a hunt group or agent group) will be routed to the new destination
Boosts Productivity
Any SIP device can be used for hot desking
Users can move to any part of the building and log in to any SIP-enabled phone
Workers can rotate the phone, reducing new equipment purchasing costs
How to Hot desk with Vodia PBX
Note: Users must set their voicemail PIN before they can use the hot desking feature.
The PIN is used in several areas of the system (e.g., when a user accesses the voicemail system from another extension or from an outside line when calling in to the system from the cell phone when using the calling card feature, and when hot-desking). When you create extensions, you can leave the PIN field empty and opt to have users set up their own PINs. Once a PIN has been set up, no one other than a user registered with the extension credentials will be able to go to the mailbox.
Go to the SIP desktop phone where you will be hot desking
Dial *70 and press the confirm button on the telephone keypad
Enter your extension number when prompted
Enter your voicemail PIN code for the extension number when prompted
The system will acknowledge the hot desking feature is in service
Audio example:
Note: The system will automatically log a user out of a hot desk each night. Also, after activating the hot desk feature, users will be notified via email that a status change has been initiated on their extension.
To log out of a hot desk:
To log out of a hot desk, users must dial *70 and the extension number from either the location currently registered as a hot desk or from a phone that's been configured to the extension. The system will acknowledge hot desking is no longer in service.
Note: Hot desking has limitations. Telephone preferences, such as ring tones, address book programming, etc., cannot be moved to another desk.
Vodia’s 2025 marked a year of pragmatic AI adoption, unprecedented platform robustness, and laying the foundation for the next phase of the PBX. With version 69 reaching exceptional stability, focus has shifted to version 70, which introduces a redesigned admin interface and major architectural improvements in scalability, resilience, and flexibility. Alongside steady expansion of integrations and partner tooling, the roadmap for 2026 emphasizes refined user experiences, modernized apps, and continued investment in reliability over hype.
Delaying PBX upgrades may feel safe in the short term, but real-world dependencies like security standards, app compatibility, and vendor APIs eventually force reactive upgrades at the worst possible time. Staying reasonably current with Vodia PBX versions, rather than clinging to outdated releases or jumping on every new preview, helps maintain security, compatibility, and performance while avoiding emergency upgrades, especially as newer features and OS requirements become unavoidable.
The New York City Department of Education has issued a Request for Expression of Interest signaling its intent to modernize district-wide communications by moving away from legacy landline PBX systems. Serving 1.1 million students across 1,800 schools, the proposed transition to a cloud-based VoIP platform focuses on resiliency, scalability, multilingual capabilities, hybrid deployment options, and integration with Microsoft Teams for more than 150,000 staff members.
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