Ringtones for Hardware Phones

Configure custom ringtones for your hardware phones based on caller or call routing.

Endpoints

09.09.2026

PUBLIC

With distinctive ringtones (Distinctive Ringing), you can define which ringtone melody or alert tone a hardware phone plays for incoming calls. This allows your employees to immediately recognize by the ringtone whether a call is from an important VIP customer, a specific queue, or an internal colleague.

How It Works

PASCOM uses the SIP standard header Alert-Info to control ringtones.

In PASCOM, define a Set Ringtone action before call setup (e.g., in a call router, for a user, or in a team/queue).
Enter a unique identifier in this action (e.g., VIP or CustomRingtone).
During an incoming call, PASCOM transmits this value in the SIP header Alert-Info to the phone: <http://www.notused.com>;info=CustomRingtone;x-line-id=0.
The hardware phone matches the transmitted text against its internal ringtone table and plays the assigned ringtone.
If no action is defined or the field remains empty, PASCOM automatically falls back to its default behavior (distinguishing between internal calls, external calls, and intercom).

Step 1: Configure the Action in PASCOM

The Set Ringtone action is available wherever call actions are supported:

  • Call Routers
  • Users
  • Queues / Teams
Ringtone actions can only be executed before the call. Therefore, always insert the action in the Before tabs (e.g., External/Before or Internal/Before).

Add Action

Open the desired object for editing (e.g., a user or a call router).
Click and select the action Set Ringtone.
Enter the desired identifier in the text field (e.g., CustomRingtone or VIP). Allowed characters are letters (a-z, A-Z), digits (0-9), periods (.), hyphens (-), and underscores (_).
Save the action by clicking .
Apply the changes by clicking the in the top-right job bar.
Pay close attention to exact spelling (case-sensitive). The text entered here must match the configuration on the hardware phone exactly.

Step 2: Configure the Hardware Phone

To ensure the hardware phone plays the correct ringtone when receiving the Alert-Info header, a matching mapping rule must be configured on the phone.

You can configure this setting either centrally via the PASCOM Base Configuration of the endpoint or directly via the phone’s web interface.

Device Settings Overview

The following table displays the configuration and provisioning parameters for major phone manufacturers:

Device Used Header (PASCOM) Provisioning / Configuration
Yealink Desktop Phones <http://www.notused.com>\;
info=CustomRingtone\;
x-line-id=0		 distinctive_ring_tones.alert_info.1.text = CustomRingtone
distinctive_ring_tones.alert_info.1.ringer = Ring3.wav
Snom Desktop Phones <http://www.notused.com>\;
info=CustomRingtone\;
x-line-id=0		 <internal_ringer_text idx="0">CustomRingtone</internal_ringer_text>
<internal_ringer_file idx="0">Ringer3</internal_ringer_file>
Grandstream <http://www.notused.com>\;
info=CustomRingtone\;
x-line-id=0		 <P1488>CustomRingtone</P1488>
<P1489>3</P1489>
Fanvil Desktop Phones <http://www.notused.com>\;
info=CustomRingtone\;
x-line-id=0		 <alertInfo index="3">
  <Text>CustomRingtone</Text>
  <RingType>3.wav</RingType>
</alertInfo>

Detailed Setup by Manufacturer

On Yealink phones, this feature is controlled via Distinctive Ring Tones.

Configuration via Base Configuration

Add the following lines to the PASCOM Base Configuration of your Yealink phone ( > ):

# Enables distinctive ring tones for the account
distinctive_ring_tones.alert_info.1.text = CustomRingtone
distinctive_ring_tones.alert_info.1.ringer = Ring3.wav

Configuration via Phone Web Interface

Open the Yealink phone web interface and sign in.
Navigate to > .
Set Distinctive Ring Tones to Enabled.
Under Alert Info, enter the desired text (e.g., CustomRingtone) and select the corresponding internal ringtone (e.g., Ring3.wav).
Save the configuration by clicking .

Snom

Snom phones support up to 10 distinct Alert-Info mappings using an index (idx="0" to idx="9").

Configuration via Base Configuration

In the tab of the Snom Base Configuration, add the following XML elements:

<!-- Mapping index 0 -->
<internal_ringer_text idx="0" perm="">CustomRingtone</internal_ringer_text>
<internal_ringer_file idx="0" perm="">Ringer3</internal_ringer_file>
  • internal_ringer_text: The keyword entered in the PASCOM action.
  • internal_ringer_file: The desired phone ringtone (Ringer1 to Ringer10).

Grandstream

Grandstream endpoints evaluate the header via Matching Rules.

Configuration via Base Configuration

Enter the corresponding P-values into the Grandstream Base Configuration:

<!-- Matching Rule Text -->
<P1488>CustomRingtone</P1488>
<!-- Ringtone selection: 0=system default, 1=Custom Ring Tone 1, 2=Custom Ring Tone 2, 3=Custom Ring Tone 3 -->
<P1489>3</P1489>

Configuration via Phone Web Interface

Sign in to the Grandstream phone web interface.
Go to > .
Locate the Matching Rule / Distinctive Ring Tone section.
Enter the matching text (e.g., CustomRingtone) in the rule and assign the desired ringtone.
Save your changes by clicking .

Fanvil

Fanvil phones evaluate the Alert-Info text via media settings.

Configuration via Base Configuration

Add the following XML block to the Base Configuration:

<alertInfo index="3">
  <Text>CustomRingtone</Text>
  <RingType>3.wav</RingType>
</alertInfo>

Configuration via Phone Web Interface

Sign in to the Fanvil phone web interface.
Navigate to > > .
Enter the matching text under Text (e.g., CustomRingtone).
Select the desired sound file under RingType (e.g., 3.wav).
Click .

Practical Example: Setting Up a VIP Ringtone

A common use case is providing an audible distinction for calls from important clients:

Create condition: Under > , create a condition that checks whether the caller number belongs to a VIP customer. For more information on actions, see here.
Insert action into call routing: In the call router or queue, add a Before action of type Set Ringtone and assign the newly created VIP condition to it.
Enter text: Set the value to VIP.
Configure phone: On the hardware phone (or in the Base Configuration), map the text VIP to a distinctive ringtone (e.g., Ring5.wav).
Apply changes: Save all settings and apply the telephony configuration.

As soon as a VIP customer calls, PASCOM detects the condition, sends the header info=VIP to the phone, and the phone rings with the selected VIP ringtone.