26 Hot Desking
Overview
Hot desking is a workplace model where employees use any available desk or phone rather than having a permanently assigned workspace. Introduced in the 1990s, hot desking has become increasingly practical with modern communications technology.
With hot desking:
Users can log in to any desk phone on the network using their credentials
Personal extension settings, voicemail, and call handling follow the user
Cloud-based VoIP systems enable flexible and remote working environments
Some organizations deploy hot desking company-wide, while others apply it to specific teams, locations, or roles.
Key Features and Benefits
Hot desking in PortSIP PBX provides the following advantages:
Employees working across multiple offices can share desk phones while retaining their own extension profiles and voicemail
Reduces hardware and facility costs by allowing shared phone usage
Improves productivity without requiring dedicated devices
Supports a wide range of IP phone models and deployment scenarios
Setting Up a Device for Hot Desking
PortSIP PBX supports two provisioning methods for hot desking devices:
PnP (Plug and Play) Provisioning – typically used for on-premises PBX deployments
RPS (Redirect/Remote Provisioning Service) – typically used for cloud deployments
Setting Up Hot Desking via PnP Provisioning
This method is commonly used when the PBX is deployed on-premises.
Steps
Sign in to the PortSIP PBX Web Portal as a Tenant Administrator.
Plug the IP phone into the network.
The phone sends a multicast discovery message on the LAN.
The PBX detects the phone, which appears under Call Manager > Phones as a new device.
Copy the IP phone’s MAC address.
Navigate to Advanced Services > Hot Desking and click Add.
Enter the phone details:
MAC Address
Provisioning Method
Network (select SBC if an SBC is used)
Enter:
A friendly Display Name
A unique Extension Number for the hot desking phone
Click OK to create the hot desking extension.
After saving:
The PBX generates the configuration file
A NOTIFY message is sent to the phone with the provisioning URL
The phone downloads the configuration, provisions itself, and registers the hot desking extension
Setting Up Hot Desking via RPS Provisioning
This method is typically used when the PBX is deployed in the cloud.
Steps
Sign in to the PortSIP PBX Web Portal as a Tenant Administrator.
Copy the IP phone’s MAC address.
Navigate to Advanced Services > Hot Desking and click Add.
Enter the phone details:
MAC Address
Provisioning Method
Network (select SBC if applicable)
Enter:
A friendly Display Name
A unique Extension Number for the hot desking phone
Ensure Save to RPS is enabled.
Click OK to create the hot desking extension.
After saving:
The PBX writes the provisioning URL to the phone vendor’s RPS
When powered on, the phone retrieves the provisioning link using its MAC address
The phone downloads the configuration, provisions itself, and registers the hot desking extension automatically
Logging In to a Hot Desking Phone
Once the hot desking phone is registered, users can log in to it with their own extension.
Enable Hot Desking for a User
Navigate to Call Manager > Users.
Double-click the user (for example, extension 101).
Open the Extension tab.
Enable Hot Desking.
Save the changes.
User Login Procedure
From the hot desking phone, dial *70 followed by the user’s extension number
Example: *70101
The PBX answers and prompts for the user’s voicemail PIN.
After successful authentication:
A confirmation prompt is played
The phone is re-provisioned with the user’s extension profile
The device now behaves exactly as the user’s own phone.
Logging Out of a Hot Desking Phone
To log out from a hot desking phone:
Dial *71 from the phone.
The PBX confirms that the user has been logged out.
The phone is automatically re-provisioned back to the hot desking extension.
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