Shared Lines in FreePBX.

Introduction

In this post you will learn how to configure multiple IP phones with the same extension in FreePBX. This extension is usually called shared line, because it is shared by different devices. Using shared lines is very convenient when you have two or more devices and want to be able to answer the incoming calls to your single number from any of those devices.

I will be using FreePBX 13 for demo.

Prerequisite

To configure shared lines in FreePBX you need to have extensions using PJSIP driver, which is relatively new as opposed to older CHAN_SIP driver.

Enable Shared Line support

If you create a regular PJSIP extension you won’t be able to register multiple IP phones with that extension, because default configuration does not allow it.

To enable support for multiple devices for a particular extension (line), go to the Extension’s Advanced tab:

Then scroll down a little bit and set Max Contacts to the number of devices you want to use simultaneously with that extension. In my case it is set to two, because I’m using two devices with extension 234:

By default Max Contacts is set to one for all new extensions, therefore only one device can register with that extension.

Conclusion

Now you know how to enable shared lines support in FreePBX.

Thank you for reading.