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Call Waiting Tone question

Started by TTCP, September 12, 2016, 08:07:43 PM

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TTCP

Hi, I have a question about the Call Waiting feature on my OBi 200.

In the Voice Services -> SPx Service -> X_RingProfile, it can be either A or B.

In the Ring Settings page, I saw something like Call Waiting Tone 1, Call Waiting Tone 2, Call Waiting Tone 3, etc.

So my question is, I will be hearing a call waiting tone when a caller is calling my busy line. But exactly which call waiting tone, from 1 to 10, is being used?

Also I see something on this page like:  Call Waiting Tone 1 -> Tone Name = Bellcore-dr1, Tone Pattern = 440-18;30;(.25+10).    Where can I obtain the syntax of these values?  Can I define my own call waiting tone (or call waiting melody, like playing a short MP3 file, much easier for me to realize there is an incoming call )?


TTCP

I think this feature ( Call waiting tone ) is very poorly documented. Maybe the OBIHAI engineers think that nobody will care to tinker with this feature.

So my question ( not answered in the documentation ) is:    In the Ring Settings -> Ring Profile page, from Call Waiting Tone 1 to Call Waiting Tone 10, exactly which one is being used to indicate a second incoming call on a busy line?  ( And why do we have 10 call waiting tones on this page?  What are they for? )

It is very easy for me to miss the default call waiting tone, as many times I just think this strange little beep just comes from the other conversation party, instead of realizing it is a call waiting tone.

If I can modify this tone to some customized melody ( like a series of high-frequency beep and low-frequency beep following each other, with no pause in between, or something like a beep series simulating a song ), then I can immediately and easily recognize the call waiting tone the moment it sounds. That is why I want to know more about this seldom-talked-about but could-be-very-useful feature.

SteveInWA

The Admin Guide section I referenced explains how you could modify the numeric values on any tone setting, to vary the audio frequency, duration and cadence of the sounds.  It's up to you to be your own "musical composer" and change it as you wish.

The default values are derived from the Bellcore standards (Bellcore was the spinoff of AT&T [Bell System] research labs).  The assortment of values is because one of the features from that era of deregulated, extra-cost add-on services was "Distinctive Ring"  DR was/is a service offered by telcos, whereby the customer can have multiple direct-inbound-dial (DID) phone numbers that all ring the one, same phone line.  To tell them apart, the first number rings as usual, and each additional number has a "distinctive", or different, ring pattern, like ring-ring-pause for the second number.  The same goes for the call-waiting tones.

By default, when you have, for example, SP1 configured for DID 1234567890, and SP2 configured for DID 2345678901, and both are configured to ring the Phone 1 port, an inbound call to SP2 will ring with the chosen DR cadence, so you know which line is being called.  The same principle apples to call-waiting.

You're right about one thing:  <almost> nobody would care to change that setting.

In all the years I've been on this forum, you are the first person to propose doing so, AFAIK.