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How to access POTS line (Line 2) with Obi212?

Started by webraider, March 08, 2018, 05:31:32 PM

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webraider

using the OBI110 Power supply with the OBI212 works... WHY would that make a difference????  could the new power supply be faulty???

drgeoff

Does turning the new PSU through 180 degrees (ie swapping the AC pins over) make a difference?

webraider

I don't know.. when I tried to see, I can't get it work, and now I can't get it to work with the older plug...Could there be a magic position?  Do I need to unplug ad re-plug it in every time?

webraider

Do you think this might be a defective unit?

webraider

Okay.. Here's what I found.. I can only use the OLDER power cord, and I can only use that cord with the long tail of the adapter plugged in going off to the right hand side from the power outlet on the wall (or power strip).  If I plug it in with the long tail going to the right, it gives me the same result where it will ring but I have to barge in.  The Newer power cord only gives me the latter no matter how I position it.  

I really don't understand how that is.  

I also do have to set the ringer time to 0, but everything else is default settings.  

I'm still wondering if I exchange this unit for another if the result will be the same.  There is clearly a minor difference in my PBX POTS line.. because the port acts normal with any plug.  This didn't bother my 110 but it does bother my 212.

My Solution so far for ANYONE else who see's this.  I'm using an older power cord that went with my OBI110, plugged into the wall where the long tail of it goes off to the right hand side.  I then have my Ring Delay from the  Line Port settings under physical interfaces, set to 0.  

It's working perfectly.  My OBI110 caller ID would tell me if the call was NY.  This one on GV tells me out of the area.  Not sure why that is.  There may be a setting I can set, but it's not a huge deal. Everything is working now.

I'm still wondering if something in my unit is defective.  It shouldn't be this way, but at least it's consistent.


webraider

Thank you for your help drgeoff!  I would not have thought about the power adapter!!!

drgeoff

Clearly something is not quite right. An incomplete list of possibilities includes:

1.  The PBX
2.  The wiring from the PBX being "leaky" to somewhere or picking up interference.  Is xDSL service in the building?
3.  The OBi212
4.  Very "dirty" 110 volt AC supply in your room or the whole building.
5.  RF borme interference from outside your room or from some of your other equipment

We have not been able to conclusively eliminate any of them.

That the fault can be affected by connecting the 110 or variations in power supply arrangement do make me wonder about "stray" signals.

Is the PBX line wired to more than one wall jack?  Is it possible to move the OBi212 to a different point in your apartment?

There is another test you should run to eliminate the cordless phone.  Unplug the base from the Obi212 and from the mains supply.  Take the batteries out of the handset.  Repeat the test where the Call History showed 'Call ended'  occuring at the same time as the onset of ringing.

webraider

Quote from: drgeoff on March 14, 2018, 07:40:29 AM
Is the PBX line wired to more than one wall jack?  Is it possible to move the OBi212 to a different point in your apartment?

I only have on jack so moving it isn't really an option.

I have quite a few things plugged into a power strip.  This is due to me having such a small NYC apartment.  It. could d in theory be any of the items plugged in, BUT I have changed to another outlet to test it there.   Same issue.  If I use the old plug, and plug it in correctly (ie.. the correct polarity), then it works correctly.  If not, then it has the same symptoms.

What I may do is order another OBI 212 and test it to see if it does/behaves the same thing, but now that I have it working, I may just leave things the way they are.

As for the PBX, whatever it's issue may be, I'm sure it didn't just begin having that issue when I plugged in the 212.  I don' know any specifics about it.  It may be slightly under powered, and somehow the Ethernet port/Other plug might be adding just enough to compensate. 

Just being speculative here, but if there is something slightly wrong with the OBI, do you think it could cause further issues?




tushar

If anyone is looking to make the POTS line the default outgoing line, all I had to do is enter Obi Expert Mode and set Physical Interfaces > Phone 1 > PrimaryLine to PSTN Line. With this setting:

  • Incoming calls on POTS or any SPs can be directly answered without any modifiers (like ##)
  • Default dial out line is POTS. No modifiers required.
  • To use SP1 (in my case Google Voice) as the outgoing line use **1 followed by number

drgeoff

Quote from: tushar on March 16, 2018, 01:28:39 AM
If anyone is looking to make the POTS line the default outgoing line, all I had to do is enter Obi Expert Mode and set Physical Interfaces > Phone 1 > PrimaryLine to PSTN Line. With this setting:

  • Incoming calls on POTS or any SPs can be directly answered without any modifiers (like ##)
  • Default dial out line is POTS. No modifiers required.
  • To use SP1 (in my case Google Voice) as the outgoing line use **1 followed by number

Setting the Primary Line has NO EFFECT WHATSOEVER on incoming calls to the LINE jack or any SP.  The Primary Line affects only the routeing of outgoing calls.

tushar

Quote from: drgeoff on March 16, 2018, 02:08:34 AM
Setting the Primary Line has NO EFFECT WHATSOEVER on incoming calls to the LINE jack or any SP.  The Primary Line affects only the routeing of outgoing calls.
That wasn't my observation. Without setting the primary line to POTS, I needed to press ## to answer incoming calls on the POTS line.

drgeoff

Quote from: tushar on March 18, 2018, 01:33:42 AM
Quote from: drgeoff on March 16, 2018, 02:08:34 AM
Setting the Primary Line has NO EFFECT WHATSOEVER on incoming calls to the LINE jack or any SP.  The Primary Line affects only the routeing of outgoing calls.
That wasn't my observation. Without setting the primary line to POTS, I needed to press ## to answer incoming calls on the POTS line.

Until I can use an Obi212 myself (they are not yet available here in the UK) I cannot categorically say that you are wrong.  However I can say that what you report is not how an OBi212 is intended to work.  Also I am not aware of anyone else with an OB2i12 finding the same as you have said.

ChrisJ

Quote from: webraider on March 09, 2018, 05:09:45 PM
Okay. I was finally able to access the POTS line for calling by going into Expert, and clicking each check box from the OBITALK settings, to the Default settings, then again so that the columns where you can make manual changes are selected.  Doing this for both the PHONE1 and LINE areas works.  I can now dial out but the phone still won't route incoming calls to the phone.  Any ideas????

Thank you webraider.

I had the same problem:
http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=14025.0

I was also unable to access my POTS line for calling out.  Incoming POTS line calls did work, however.

Your solution for going into EXPERT mode, accessing the PHONE and LINE settings under PHYSICAL INTERFACES, unclicking all ObiTALK Settings, then unclicking all Device Default Settings, and submitting, worked. 

I can now use "# #" to dial out on my POTS line.

Your screenshots helped:
http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=13651.msg87638#msg87638

Thank you!  I was just about ready to return my OBI212 before my return time expired.

Chris

KiwiP

Quote from: drgeoff on March 09, 2018, 12:09:25 AM
I think you are slightly confused.  There is no Line 2 on an OBi212.

How have you configured the OBi212?

The 212 has a single PHONE port.  You want incoming calls on SP1 (your GV number) and LINE (your POTS number) to go to that PHONE port.

To get POTS dial tone on an OBi212 I believe you need to dial ##, instead of # as on the OBi110.  I believe you can also use the **70 prefix (instead of **8 on the OBi110) to make a call use the POTS line.

My packaging for a newly purchased OBi212 says "OBI212, UVA, USB, 2 FXS, FXO, GV, NA" which I read as having 2 Station ports and one (central) Office, The physical "PHONE" port has 4 physical wires, so that should support a 2-line telephone set (line 1 on the pins 3&4, line 2 on pins 2&5).

Ideally, I would like line 1 too be GV and line 2 to be another provider. Is that possible?

drgeoff

#54
Quote from: KiwiP on February 12, 2021, 08:04:40 AM
Quote from: drgeoff on March 09, 2018, 12:09:25 AM
I think you are slightly confused.  There is no Line 2 on an OBi212.

How have you configured the OBi212?

The 212 has a single PHONE port.  You want incoming calls on SP1 (your GV number) and LINE (your POTS number) to go to that PHONE port.

To get POTS dial tone on an OBi212 I believe you need to dial ##, instead of # as on the OBi110.  I believe you can also use the **70 prefix (instead of **8 on the OBi110) to make a call use the POTS line.

My packaging for a newly purchased OBi212 says "OBI212, UVA, USB, 2 FXS, FXO, GV, NA" which I read as having 2 Station ports and one (central) Office, The physical "PHONE" port has 4 physical wires, so that should support a 2-line telephone set (line 1 on the pins 3&4, line 2 on pins 2&5).

Ideally, I would like line 1 too be GV and line 2 to be another provider. Is that possible?
Hmm!  Not sure what to make of that.

Yes the description does say 2 FXS and 1 FXO.  The Polycom page https://www.poly.com/gb/en/products/phones/obi/obi212 also says "Connect up to 2 analog phones or fax machines".  The right hand sidebar of the first page of the datasheet that can be downloaded from that page says "Connect up to 2 analog phones or fax machines to transition your voice communications to the digital world."

However that same data sheet also says in the first paragraph of the main text "Simply connect up to one phone or fax machine, internet and your phone line to the OBi212 ...." and the second page under "Interface Features" says "Phone (FXS): 2 x RJ-11 FXS Analog Phone Port" and no mention of a FXO port.  I think there is no disagreement that an OBi212 does not have 3 RJ11 sockets as would be required for 2 x RJ11 FXS ports and a FXO port.  So something doesn't stack up.

It is very possible that the publicity material has been prepared by some non-technical person who has copy and pasted much of it from the existing Obi202 material.

That the OBi212's PHONE jack has 4 contacts means nothing.  So does the PHONE jack on an OBi110 and that definitely does not support a 2-line phone.

But the acid test is to test the OBi212 in your possession.  Attach a 2-line phone or connect two separate phones via an adaptor.  Do you even get dial tone on the 2nd line?  Note that you only need to power up an OBi to get dial tones to all off-hook phones.  No configuration or even an ethernet cable plugged in is necessary.

Or see how many phone ports appear in the configuration menu.

ProfTech

This is a fascinating thread. It looks like the 212 / power supply issue died without complete resolution. I used a 110 for 5 or 6 years while I had dsl and it worked great. On a related note, however I did find that there was some hum in the phone when using the 110 and a POTS line. I mostly eliminated the hum by replacing the Obi supplied AC adapter with a Jameco 170245. Not sure where I bought it but it wasn't cheap. I no longer have a POTS line and have switched to an OBI 200 but I'm wondering what effect replacing the 212 power adapter with a Jameco as noted above would have? The Jameco has a power transformer and isolates the AC line.

rogerkali

#56
I have used the standard configuration which is almost a self configuration for setting up Google Voice as my default calling out option.I don't remember having to do too much tinkering on my Obi110.  If someone called me on the POTS line, my phone rang just as well as it did if someone called me on GV.  This device is NOT ringing or letting me answer any calls on the POTS.

drgeoff

Quote from: rogerkali on March 06, 2021, 07:58:15 AM
I have used the standard configuration which is almost a self configuration for setting up Google Voice as my default calling out option.I don't remember having to do too much tinkering on my Obi110.  If someone called me on the POTS line, my phone rang just as well as it did if someone called me on GV.  This device is NOT ringing or letting me answer any calls on the POTS.
1.  Are you able to get dial tone on the POTS line?  I believe that dialling ## should get you that.  If not, double check your connections.  Also I think that if you remove power from the 212, the LINE jack and the PHONE jack are bridged meaning the attached phone is directly connected to the landline.  If you cannot make or receive landline calls in that condition, it is not caused by misconfiguration of the OBi.

2.  IF POTS outbound through the powered 212 is OK but inbound is not, use Expert mode on your dashboard and look at Physical Interfaces, LINE Port, InboundCallRoute.  Check that it shows ph.  If not, click the two boxes at the right hand end of the line until they are both unticked, then type in ph . Scroll to the bottom and click Submit.  The 212 will reboot.  Any improvement?

kumar0raja

#58
I suggest you examine the Call History.  That is just about the only info that is not available via the Obitalk portal.  You get it using the 212's onboard web server.  Plug a computer into the LAN socket of the 212.  If the computer is set to get its IP address by DHCP it needs to be rebooted after plugging in to the 212.  If set with a static IP address, it needs to be in the range 192.168.10.2 to 192.168.10.255.
hellodear.in
teatv apk

drgeoff

kumar0raja is a SPAMMER.  That post above is a verbatim extract from one of my posts on the first page of this topic.