[cisco-voip] Analog ring bell, multiple phones and CCM4.1

[Madziarczyk, Jonathan]

Hey all,

  So we've got a shop situation that we're trying to migrate to VoIP and
I'm curious if anyone's had to deal with this or has any ideas.  It's a
little long, but if you wanna skip it, my actual questions are at the
bottom.

What they have:
Currently they have 1 extension tied to 3 analog phones and 1 ring bell
(really loud analog bell that rings when the phones ring).  When the
line is in use, all other incoming calls get a busy signal (the bell
obviously does not ring) and the other two phones are useless.

What they want:
To be able to put people on hold (possibly transfer them)
To be able to use the other 2 phones when one is busy
The bell to ring for all incoming calls, regardless of if the line(s)
are currently in use.

My assumptions:
I'll put an analog adapter on the bell, and I'd like to keep some sort
of inexpensive analog phones on the shop floor.  I assume they'll be on
adapters and will still have the same extension for all 3 phones.  

My Questions:
--------------------
1) based on the requirements above, will I be able to use a single
extension still (ccm4.1 stacks incoming calls, can phone 1 be in use and
someone pickup an incoming call to the same extension on another phone
tied to that same extension), or do I need to go to separate lines for
each phone (and then will the bell be able to ring for every call if I
use a separate extension for each phone?)

2) are there currently any known analog phones that are able to support
call hold and call transfer with an analog adapter (Cisco ata 186 or
188).  Let's face it, the 7961s were not designed to be used by
mechanics while they're changing the oil on a dump truck.  And replacing
a 7961 every couple weeks gets expensive.

3) are there other options available to me that might make meeting these
requirements more feasible if I were to go to SIP endpoints and upgrade
to ccm5.0?  (the powers that be have decided it would be worth the
investment if that would help this situation)

Thanks in advance for any input you all can give.

JonM