The Cisco 7940G and 7960G IP Phones

The Cisco 7940G and 7960G, shown in Figure 4-1, were the first phones available with Cisco CME. These phones support all the features currently supported with Cisco CME 3.2.

Figure 4-1. Cisco 7940G and 7960G IP Phones

Note

Although this chapter refers primarily to the current G-series phones (such as the 7960G and 7940G), Cisco CME also supports the previous generation of phones, such as the Cisco 7960 and 7940. The only difference between the G and non-G phones is in how their buttons are labeled: with English words (the non-G phones) or with language-independent icons (the G series).

Hardware

The Cisco 7960G and 7940G IP Phones look identical, except for the number of buttons on each phone. The Cisco 7940G has two line buttons, whereas the Cisco 7960G has six line buttons and can have an additional 28 lines with the addition of up to two Cisco 7914 expansion modules. The phones require 48V DC power for operation.

The Cisco 7960G and 7940G IP Phones include a 10/100 Ethernet switch port that allows a PC to be connected via the phone's Ethernet connection. The two Ethernet ports on the phone are marked as 10/100SW and 10/100PC. The 10/100SW should be connected to the Ethernet switch port, and the 10/100PC port can be connected to a UNIX workstation or PC, as shown in Figure 4-2.

Figure 4-2. Connecting a PC to an IP Phone

Both phone ports are capable of autonegotiation. 48V power is required for the phone to operate. This can be provided by an external power supply unit or via a LAN switch with inline power capability. The inline power LAN switch might be an external switch or an integrated Layer 2 LAN switching module resident in the network module or high-speed WAN interface card (HWIC) slot of the Cisco CME router. Only the 10/100SW port can receive inline power from a LAN switch or similar device. The phone supports 802.3/Ethernet, 802.1p/q, and Inter-Switch Link (ISL) encapsulations at Layer 2.

The line buttons of the Cisco 7960G and 7940G IP Phones can be configured as regular phone lines, speed-dial buttons, or intercom buttons. The phone also has a headset jack and button.

Note

In the rest of this section, "phone" refers to both 7940G and 7960G phone types.

The liquid crystal display (LCD) screen can display up to eight lines of text plus a row of softkeys. The four softkey buttons at the bottom of the LCD screen are used for programmable functions such as hold, conference, and call forward. The label and function of the softkeys change according to the phone's current state. For example, if the phone is on-hook, you find functions such as redial and new call assigned to the softkeys. Similarly, when the phone is on an active call, you see functions such as hold, conference, and transfer. The softkey presented for each state is customizable if you are using Cisco CME 3.2 or later.

The phone has a standard dial keypad (0 to 9, *, #), a speakerphone, and a microphone. The volume control buttons are located above the speakerphone, mute, and headset buttons. You can adjust the volume of the speakerphone, headset, and ringer using these buttons. Pressing the up or down arrow buttons adjusts the volume of the speakerphone, handset, or ringer, depending on the phone's state. For example, if the phone is on-hook, pressing the volume buttons adjusts the ringer volume. If the phone is off-hook via the speakerphone, pressing the volume buttons adjusts the speakerphone volume.

The phone also has a ? button with four more buttons around it. The standard functions for these buttons are as follows:

• Messages Pressing the messages button autodials the voice mail number (if configured).
• Directories The directories button has options to view call records; access a directory search; and view missed calls, received calls, and placed calls. You also can search for a directory number by the caller name associated with the number. This menu also has an option for local speed dial and personal speed dial. Cisco CME configuration is required for the local directories and speed-dial options on this menu to work.
• Services The services button lets you access the various XML services configured on Cisco CME.
• Settings Pressing the settings button gives you the following options on the phone display:

  - Contrast

  - Ring Type

  - Network Configuration

  - Model Information

  - Status

You can scroll through the options by using the blue rocker button and pressing the select button at the bottom of the LCD screen. A number assigned to each option allows you to select the option by keying in the corresponding number directly from the dial pad. This saves you time when you have to scroll down the more than 30 options available on the Network Configuration menu.

The contrast and ring type options adjust the LCD screen's contrast and select a different ring type for your phone, respectively. The remaining three options are primarily intended for use by a system administrator.

The Settings->Network Configuration menu has information such as IP address, subnet mask, and Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server. Some of these parameters can be manually configured or edited from the phone itself, but in most cases, manual configuration is not needed. The next section covers how to make manual adjustments.

The Settings->Model Information menu contains phone details such as firmware version and boot load. The Settings->Status menu lets you view network status and statistics information such as packets received and packets sent. You can also access phone settings via a web browser by pointing it to the phone's IP address.

Configuring the Cisco 7940G and 7960G IP Phones

The phone's default behavior is to get its required network parameters via DHCP from a DHCP server. It is also possible to configure these parameters manually from the phone. The most common reason for performing manual editing of the phone's configuration occurs when you move a phone from one Cisco CME or Cisco CallManager system to another. Manual editing of the phone configuration is also sometimes needed to force parameter updates to stop the phone from attempting to access its old Cisco CME or Cisco CallManager servers. To configure the network parameters manually from the phone, you should first disable the DHCP service on the phone. The phone Settings menu by default is locked to prevent manual editing of parameters.

Here's the step-by-step process to disable DHCP:

After you disable DHCP, you can overwrite the phone's IP and Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) server addresses. The TFTP server address is the key parameter controlling the identity of the Cisco CME (or Cisco CallManager) system that the IP phone attempts to register with. Chapter 16, "Troubleshooting Basic Cisco IPC Express Features," provides many more details about the IP phone bootup sequence and how the phone uses DHCP and TFTP.