Setting Music on Hold
Summary
Music on Hold (MoH) settings allow you to control the music your callers hear when they are placed on hold. To enable MoH, you must first increase your MoH channels (to greater than 1) in the MoH Configuration Settings, under the Resource tab.
Note: While OnSIP offers MoH to every customer, certain phones do not support this service. At this time, the phones that are able to access our music on hold are:
- Polycoms on our boot server
- Certain Cisco/Linksys/SPA phones
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All other phones do not support this service.
As of now, MoH does not work in queues. If a caller is placed in a queue, they will hear the queue music (which is the same for every user). Additionally, if a caller comes from a queue and is then placed on hold, they will hear the queue music, as opposed to any MoH settings the user may have.See below for Phone Limitations.
The MoH feature can be customized in the following interface locations:
- Under the Account tab, you can set the number of simultaneous channels for your phone system, set a default MoH stream for your PBX, and enable Enhanced Music on Hold.
- From the Users page, you can set the MoH stream for each individual user.
- Under the Resources tab, you can create Music Sources for Enhanced MoH.
- Under the Apps tab, you can modify Music Sources for conference bridge MoH.
Details
Account Tab: Configure MoH and Setup Default Music
Set Number of Channels
To enable MoH, you must first set the number of simultaneous channels. Each OnSIP Package comes with a defined limit of simultaneous MoH channels. This is the maximum number of calls on hold that will hear music at any one time. After the simultaneous MoH limit is exceeded, you many continue to place calls on hold, but the calls will not hear music.Packages already include channels
- The SoHo Package includes 5 channels
- The Small Biz Package includes 15 channels
- The Medium Biz Package includes 50 channels
Note: "Channels" refers to the amount of callers that can be put on hold with music at a given time. It does not have to do with choices or type of music. For instance, the SoHo package includes 5 channels. That means that up to 5 callers can be put on hold at a given time and hear music. Once a 6th caller is put on hold, that 6th caller will not have music as he/she waits. As long as 5 or less callers are put on hold at a given time, MoH will play.
To increase the number of simultaneous channels for your PBX, slide the bar to the desired number of channels (see screen shot below). Please note this will incur additional costs per current pricing for any number of channels over what your package includes.
Set Enhanced MoH
With standard MoH, you can choose from three music sources: Jazz, Classical, and Elevator. Enhanced Music on Hold allows you to specify any of over 100,000 Shoutcast/Icecast streams as your music on hold music sources within the Resources tab. To enable Enhanced MoH, select the check box as seen below. Please note this will incur additional costs per current pricing.Set the Default Music Stream
Unless you choose a specific stream for a user (under the Users tab), the user's particular MoH stream will be set to the Default stream. You can choose which stream ( Jazz, Classical, or Elevator) is the default for your PBX in this setting. You may also choose an external Shoutcast/Icecast music source as your default, but Enhanced MoH must be enabled in order for your users to stream that as their hold music.
Users Tab: Select MoH Streams for Individual Users
From the Users tab, you can set the MoH stream for each individual user. Just click to modify the user's music stream as seen in the below screen shot. If you have not enabled Enhanced MoH, you will be able to select from the three standard choices. If you wish to add a specific stream that is not within the standard choices (as seen below), you must enable Enhanced MoH in the Account tab. Then, you can add additional music streams in the Resources tab.
Apps Tab: Select MoH Streams for a Conference Bridge
The conference Music on Hold (MoH) is the music that plays when only one user has entered the conference bridge and is waiting for the others to join. You can edit the conference MoH for a particular conference bridge by editing that conference bridge under Apps (screen shot below).
Initially, you will have the three standard music options. You can add additional music streams for your conference bridges under the Resources tab as described below. For conference MoH, you do not need to enable Enhanced MoH to add additional streams.
Resources Tab: Add Music Sources (Enhanced MoH)
If you have enabled Enhanced Music on Hold, you can specify any Shoutcast/Icecast stream as your music on hold music source. To add a music stream to your MoH options, choose the 'Resources' tab and choose 'Create new Resource' and create a new 'Music Source.' From there, either add your own custom URL, or use our station browser to browse the station directory and choose your own music source. While browsing, you have the option to preview a music station. Once the music source is named and saved, you can choose that music source for individual users under the User tab and the 'Music on Hold' section.
How Can I Create My Own Customized MoH Stream?
If you would like to customize your own MoH stream, you would need to host your own Shoutcast/Icecast stream or contract with a third party to host your MP3 File. Junction Networks does not provide a Shoutcast or Icecast server. Once you have created a hosted MoH stream, here is how you set it up with OnSIP:
- Subscribe to Enhanced MoH
- Obtain the URL for your hosted Shoutcast/Icecast stream (If you have contracted a third party, they should provide this)
- Enter that URL as a "New Music Source" under the Resources tab
- Select this new music source for a certain user under Users > Individual Users > Music Stream
IMPORTANT: PHONE LIMITATIONS
Not all phones support MoH. Please check our Knowledgebase to see if there is a MoH URL field, or contact the phone manufacturer for a MoH URL setting. We can confidently say MoH is available for Polycom phones using our boot server. Cisco and Linksys support our MoH standard; however, there seems to be an issue with their support for an outbound proxy with MoH. In particular, we have support threads open with Cisco on the matter.
Polycom Phones
If you use Polycom phones, you must use the Junction Networks Polycom boot server to utilize MoH.
Cisco/Linksys Phones
If you are using Cisco/Linksys phones there is currently a problem with the firmware for the 5xx (firmware version 7.4.4) and 9xx (firmware version 6.1.5(a)) SPA phones. The phone does not send the music on hold requests through the outbound proxy. This has been recognized as a bug by Cisco forum administrators; no known patch exists. For more information please follow these Cisco forum threads:
Softphones
At this time, we are unaware of softphones that support MoH. You will still be able to place callers 'on hold,' but there will be no music.
Video Demo: How To Assign an Enhanced MoH Stream for a User
