Give a supported desk phone one link and it configures itself.
Typing an account into a desk phone by hand is nobody's favorite afternoon. Each extension now has a setup link.
How it works
Open the phone's own settings page, paste the link into its provisioning field, and restart it. The phone fetches its settings from the system and comes up registered, with the right extension, the right password and the right server.
Do it once per phone. After that the phone checks back by itself, so later changes reach it without anyone walking over.
What the phone is sent
- its account: extension, password and server,
- how to reach the system, encrypted where the phone supports it,
- the message key set to dial voicemail,
- and a new admin password for the phone itself, so no phone stays on the maker's default.
That last one is worth a moment. Desk phones ship with a well-known default password, and many stay that way for years. The system makes a new one the first time a phone fetches its settings, keeps it where the administrator can look it up, and only then sends it.
The link is the key
A phone cannot sign in to a web page, so the link itself is the only credential. It is long, random, and replaced whenever the extension's password is replaced.
An address that asks for too many links that lead nowhere is blocked for a while, and while blocked it is told nothing exists even if it guesses right.
Brands
Setup by link depends on each maker's own settings format, so it is added one brand at a time. Any standard SIP phone can still be set up by hand with the details shown on the extension's page.