Jan 26 2017 09:49 AM
Hi
Was wonder if and when common area phones will be supported with Skype Online and what people are doing in the interirm.
Are you assigning generic ID's and logging into them?
Thanks
LT
Jan 26 2017 02:57 PM
Jan 27 2017 03:12 PM
Actually some devices labeled as 'Common Area Phones' like the Polycom CX500 are NOT supported witrh Skype for Business Online. These devices do not include a USB port and thus cannot be authenticated. SfB Online does not support PIN Authentication which is the only way to the traditional Common Area Phone account can authenticate.
This article covers user account/license requirements for phones used online: http://blog.schertz.name/2017/01/skype-for-business-online-meeting-room-accounts/
Using other 3PIP devices can emulate this approach buy using a regular user or meeting room account online (not CAP accounts).
Jan 29 2017 03:34 PM
Jan 10 2018 07:11 AM
Feb 01 2018 06:30 AM
Alejandro - To be clear, when you say 'this SKU', do you mean a license specifically for common area phones? If so, that's great news!
We have many phones not dedicated to a specific user, but to a position or department, and may people use those. It seemed silly that to accomplish this with MS Phone System I would have to give each phone an E5+PSTN calling license*, when the ONLY thing it needs is the ability to make and receive phone calls. (And, most of those don't even need to receive external calls, but should at least be capable of dialing out)
*Or (E1 or Skype4b plan 2)+CloudPBX+PSTN Calling
Feb 01 2018 11:18 AM
Jeff,
After upgrading to the December CU in Skype for Business On-Prem I have found out that my CX600 and CX3000 common area phones no longer support PIN Authentication. They all logged out after the update and were unable to log back in. Running the latest firmware 4531
Feb 01 2018 11:20 AM
@Steve Whitcher wrote:
Alejandro - To be clear, when you say 'this SKU', do you mean a license specifically for common area phones? If so, that's great news!
--> Correct, it's a license what is coming soon (expect it to be available in about a month or so).
The introduction of this SKU is intended to provide Microsoft customers the flexibility needed to license all calling devices in their Enterprise appropriately and compliantly without over licensing.
Mar 02 2018 07:53 AM
Alejandro -- Are you able to share any additional information about this new SKU yet?
Steve
Mar 02 2018 01:08 PM
Actually, I was able to piece together some information about this from various sources. I put together what I have in a short blog post:
http://www.neighborgeek.net/2018/03/common-area-phone-license-available-for.html
Mar 12 2018 04:48 PM
Is there anybody who has tried to provision any phones using this new license and manner of provisioning? We have activated a trial for 25 licenses of "Common Area Phone" in my organization, and have assigned the license and calling plan, as required. However, the actual provisioning seems to fail every time.
Definitely nothing wrong with the account itself, as no errors when checking the account in Skype for Business Online PowerShell. I thought it might be due to hybrid configuration, so tried with a pure "In Cloud" account, which isn't synced from our Active Directory, and that made no difference.
Mar 15 2018 04:45 AM
I've tried to provision a phone through the CAP portal and haven't been successful, likewise we're in a hybrid scenario.
Trying a pure online account I get an error: Provision failed, Correlation ID......
Trying a synced AD user I get "Error, we ran into a problem"
Logged with MS support, so shall see what they say.
Mar 15 2018 12:18 PM
You are experiencing exactly the same issues which are observed in our own environment. Same exact errors as you as well.
Really curious to hear what Microsoft says about this. I think this may shed some light for a lot of people confused and frustrated by this new license who were excited about its launch.
Mar 19 2018 08:20 AM
This SKU is now available to purchase -it's basically Skype Online Plan 2 plus Cloud System at a reduced cost. You still need to by a Calling Plan as an add-on
Mar 19 2018 06:01 PM
I worked with MS today on this same issue. The guy I talked to was stumped and had to talk to engineering. I am waiting on him to get back to me.
Mar 21 2018 08:40 AM
Got the same thing as well when trying to use the web portal.
Also looks like there is nothing in the docs on using powershell to due this yet.
Mar 22 2018 06:42 AM
Hi All,
Can you provide me your ticket numbers in a direct message? I also have a open ticket and trying to consolidate this issue because it looks like something is going wrong in the backend of Skype for Business Online.
Cheers,
-Erwin
Mar 22 2018 07:04 AM
I was able to figure out a workaround. Instead of using the CAP provisioning I was able to sign the phone in using the aka.ms/sphone instead of aka.ms/skypecap. CAP mode on the Polycom still works on the phone. I can make/receive PSTN and regular Skype calls with no issue. I will probably need to move forward with this method as I am deploying about 40 conference room phones next week.
Mar 22 2018 07:50 AM
I suppose from the perspective of the physical phone handset itself, this workaround would be acceptable, since the phone is in CAP mode and does ultimately work. Hopefully this will not need to be used by everyone, as it is not especially convenient to have to enter a user name and password to sign the phone in, when this is the very thing which CAP Provisioning was meant to simplify. I sure hope Microsoft can figure out what is going wrong on the backend.
We have not actually opened a ticket with Microsoft just yet, though likely will if no progress on this is made this week.
Mar 22 2018 07:55 AM