PBX Setup

Meow works as an ordinary SIP phone with no configuration beyond an account. Several of its more useful features, though, are things the PBX does — Meow only asks. This is what each one needs, and where to enter it.

Read this first

Every feature below is a request to your PBX. Meow cannot hide a caller ID, park a call or forward a line by itself — it asks, and the PBX decides. Where a setting is left empty, Meow hides the control rather than offering a button that would dial a code your PBX has never heard of.

The FreePBX defaults quoted here are a starting point, not a promise. Check yours before handing them to users, and confirm with one real call.

At a glance

Feature	Needs from the PBX	FreePBX default
Voicemail indicator	Message-waiting notification (RFC 3842) for the extension.	On by default for any extension with a voicemail box.
Team panel (busy lamps)	Extension state published as hints — the same mechanism a desk phone's BLF keys use.	On by default. Hints exist for every extension.
Call parking	A parking lot: the extension calls are parked at, and the slots they land in.	Applications → Parking. Usually 70, with slots 71–80.
Forward at the PBX	Feature codes that enable and disable call-forward-all.	72 to enable, 73 to disable.
Hide my number	Either honour the Privacy header, or publish a prefix code.	Honours Privacy: id. Trunks vary — test before relying on it.
Backup server	A second registrar that accepts the same credentials.	Not a FreePBX feature. This is your own second server or site.

Feature by feature

Voicemail indicator

A badge showing how many new messages are waiting, and one click to ring the mailbox.

On the PBX: Message-waiting notification (RFC 3842) for the extension.
In Meow: Nothing. It appears on its own once the PBX starts sending it.

Team panel (busy lamps)

Colleagues listed with a lamp each: green free, amber ringing, red on a call. Click to call.

On the PBX: Extension state published as hints — the same mechanism a desk phone's BLF keys use.
In Meow: Settings → Accounts → Team. Add each extension you want to watch.

Call parking

Park a call at the PBX so anyone in the office can pick it up from any phone.

On the PBX: A parking lot: the extension calls are parked at, and the slots they land in.
In Meow: Settings → Accounts → edit the account → Park at, and Slots.

Forward at the PBX

Turn call forwarding on and off from Meow. It keeps working after Meow is closed.

On the PBX: Feature codes that enable and disable call-forward-all.
In Meow: Settings → Accounts → edit the account → forward on/off codes.

Hide my number

Withhold the caller ID on outgoing calls, per account or for a single call.

On the PBX: Either honour the Privacy header, or publish a prefix code.
In Meow: Settings → Accounts → edit the account → Hide my number.

Backup server

If the main server stops answering, the line moves to a second one and comes back on its own.

On the PBX: A second registrar that accepts the same credentials.
In Meow: Settings → Accounts → edit the account → Backup server.

Parking, in more detail

Parking is not holding. A held call stays on the phone that held it; a parked one is handed to the PBX, so a colleague can pick it up from their own desk. Meow needs two values, both copied from the PBX:

Park at: The extension a call is sent to in order to park it. FreePBX calls this the parking lot extension, usually 70.
Slots: The range parked calls land in, written as your PBX writes it: 71-80. Commas work too for a lot that is not contiguous.

Meow watches those slots so parked calls appear in a panel with the caller's number, and one click takes the call. That is also why the range matters: a slot you do not list is a parked call nobody in Meow can see.

Leave both empty and the Park button does not appear at all.

Hiding the caller ID

There are two ways to ask, and which one works is your carrier's decision, not ours.

Ask the network (leave the prefix empty): The call carries a Privacy header asking for the number to be withheld. This is the standard way and works on most PBXs.
Dial a prefix: If calls still show the number, the carrier is ignoring the request. Enter the code they publish instead — often *31# or *67.

Test it with one real call to a phone you can see before telling anyone the number is hidden.

When something does not appear

A lamp stays grey. Grey means no status yet, not idle — Meow will not show someone as free when it has not been told. Either the PBX does not publish that extension's state, or the extension does not exist. Hovering the lamp says which it believes.
The Team panel is missing entirely. It only appears once at least one extension is listed. Nothing watched, nothing shown.
The Park button is missing. The account has no parking lot configured.
Calls still show the number. The carrier is ignoring the Privacy header. Use a prefix code.
Forwarding does not say whether it is on. It cannot. Forwarding lives at the PBX and can be changed from a desk phone or the portal without telling Meow, so Meow reports what it last asked for and when, rather than claiming to know.

Getting Started covers adding an account and making the first call. Deployment covers installing across a team. Contact us if your PBX does something none of this describes.