It is common for multiple people to join in a single conversation. With VitalPBX you can host audio conference rooms for multiple people in what we call Conference Bridges. To createone, you must go to PBX > Applications > Conferences.
With a conference, more than 3 people can join in a single call. They can all call into the conference bridge from either any extension or an incoming call to join the conversation.
First, you must enter the Code used to reach this conference bridge and add a Description to identify it. We recommend you set a User and a Leader PIN to identify users and leaders for this conference bridge. All other settings can be left by default and then Save and Apply Changes. Additionally, you can customize the Conference Bridge with the following settings.
- Max Members – This is used to limit the number of participants in this conference
bridge. - Video Mode – You can enable this feature to have video in the conference bridge. It is
important to know that this will only work for extensions that have devices that
support PJSIP/SIP-based video calling. This will not work for external callers doing an
incoming call to the VitalPBX installation. You can choose between these options: - None – This is used to disable the video mode feature.
- Follow Talker – This is used to show the video of who’s currently talking in the
conference. - Admin – This will show the video for leaders only at the conference.
- Last Admin – This will show the video for the last leader to join the
conference. - Selective Forwarding Unit – This sets a multi-stream operation for a multistream video conference so multiple people are shown at once.
- Language – This sets the language for the voice prompts in the conference bridge.
- Record – When enabled, this will record the conference call.
- Join Announcement – This is an announcement that is played back when someone
joins the conference. - Music on Hold – This is a Music on Hold class that will play when a user is waiting.
- Announce User Count – You can set this to Yes to enable it, No to disable it (this is
the default value), and a positive number to announce the number of users to
everyone when the number of members is above this number. - Class of Service – You can assign a Class of Service to a conference bridge since
you can enable inviting external numbers. This determines the numbers you can dial
from within the conference. - Music on Hold When Empty – This determines if MoH will play while there is only one
person in the conference. - User Count – Announces to new callers the number of participants in the conference.
- Announce Join/Leave – Will announce conference members when someone joins or
leaves the conference. Users will be asked to record their names before joining the
conference. - Announce Only User – This will announce the last member that they are the only
member left in the conference. - Wait for Leader – Users will not be able to speak with each other until a Leader joins.
- Start Muted – All users start muted when they join the conference.
- Drop Silence – When a member is not speaking, silence will not be transmitted,
saving bandwidth and improving performance. - Quiet – This will mute all voice prompts from this conference.
- Kick Users – All users are kicked when the last leader leaves the conference.
- Talk Detection – This determines whether to send event notifications when a user
starts and ends speaking to the Asterisk Management Interface (AMI). - Allow to Invite – This allows inviting external people once you are in the conference
dialing ** or 0.
