Multiple extensions on one call (like POTS)? Possibly FreePBX?
kayrjay:
In our Utah home we have an OBI202 which is connected to a Panasonic PBX (and both 202 ports go into the PBX, so we can have two separate active calls). Any physical, hard-wired phone in the house can make a call or answer an incoming call, and multiple people can be on the same call (just by picking up the handset). This is not a 3-way call or a conference call. It's one call, with multiple people on the line at the same time.
In our California home, we have multiple OBI1062s (which are great ... ATAs themselves, connected by WiFi, and allow extension-to-extension (intercom) calling). No PBX, though. And two 1062s can't be on the same call at the same time. (I stupidly assumed they would be able to do so, since they are called "extensions".)
We use CallCentric, and the OBI202 and the 1062s are all registered with the same CallCentric account at SP1. I have set up simultaneous ringing, so the Utah phones and the California phones all ring at once. So far, so good.
Now the problem ... My wife and I might both be in California or one in each location. I need to be able to have multiple people on a call at the same time. (It's obviously not a problem if we're both in Utah, since the Panasonic system allows our phones to act like intercoms and permit multiple people on the same call.)
If I pick up the call in Utah, she'd like to be able to pick up one of the 1062s in California (even if it has stopped ringing). Same if she picks up in California, I'd like to be able to join the call in Utah. Or, if we're both in California, we'd like to be able to be on the same call at the same time, both of us on 1062s.
This is like the "old days", when all your phones in the house were all hard-wired to TPC (the phone company), and multiple people could be on the line at the same time.
I spoke to CallCentric and PhonePower, and they can't help. CallCentric's response was "try FreePBX" (which I gather is like a PBX that sits in the cloud). I'm hoping it may provide the features I want ... and I'm hoping some of you have some experience and can give me advice.
I am a techie, but must admit I find all this telephone terminology quite confusing. :-[ It's been a challenge just to get things working as they are now. Please let me know your thoughts!
drgeoff:
I've been using SIP, Linksys/Sipura ATA, OBi ATAs, OBi phone, FreePBX and 3CX since 1999 and can't think of a way to achieve what you ask. SIP just does not work like analogue phones do. Even analogue phones plus POTS won't give you the ability pick up a handset in California and join an existing call that has been answered in Utah.
FreePBX is just Asterisk plus a GUI to make it easier to configure and manage. (Note that I wrote 'easier', not 'easy'!). Asterisk/FreePBX/Issabel/Wazo/3CX etc can be cloud based or run on local hardware. You can even run a decent small Asterisk-based PBX on a RaspberryPi.
Asterisk and its derivatives are very flexible and can do a lot but I think won't do everything you want without manual intervention such as dialling feature codes.
However I don't claim to be the font of all knowledge on this. Anyone else is welcome to chime in.
kayrjay:
Thanks for your answer, DrGeoff. This is surprising and more than a bit disappointing. I can perhaps see how having each 1062 acting as an ATA would not be able to do this. But it would seem that a VOIP provider could support this feature. "It's all software after all" (isn't it?).
Surely other people have a similar need. It seems an obvious requirement for any large house or small business. (Having two geographic locations is just an added wrinkle, that doesn't change the basic requirement.)
With IP-based phones, why would you want a PBX (onsite hardware or cloud) to do something that should be possible/easy based on some configuration setting at the VOIP provider? I could perhaps live with a feature code, like *9999 to "join existing call".
I hope someone else can chime in with a solution.
Thanks again.
SteveInWA:
I think the issue is that you are accustomed to the analog telephone paradigm, whereby you have a pair of wires carrying the analog electrical signal throughout the house, and any telephone set can "tap into" that wire pair to electrically join a call.
Per your comment, the term "extension", as used by Callcentric, doesn't refer to a telephone instrument; it refers to a separate SIP registration to their SIP server. As you found, when you set it up, you had to type in separate SIP usernames and passwords for each extension (17771234567101, -102, -103, etc.). Those separate SIP registrations act independently from each other. When one extension is on a call, it has no relationship to the other extensions. You might as well be describing two different cell phones making two different calls. You can conference them together, but that's it.
What you are expecting, is a "central office" or PBX solution that would allow the PBX to act as a conference bridge. It's very likely that one of the business-class cloud VoIP service providers might have this feature, but I haven't looked lately. If you're willing to spend the money, you can look into DialPad and Ringcentral, for example. Otherwise, you'd be looking at an enterprise-class solution from Avaya, Cisco or Microsoft.
kayrjay:
As I feared. Ok, thanks much!
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