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Arrrrrgh...Newbie So Confused

Started by lobotomyboy, July 07, 2012, 11:35:40 AM

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lobotomyboy

Thanks in advance.

Just purchased the Obi202. I successfully was able to set up so that I can use the Obi202 via the wireless usb thingy. I can plug in a fax...or plug in a phone and receive and send voice/fax. But that seems to limit me to just having one phone/fax plugged into line 1. Ideally, I would like to plug my phone and fax onto separate jacks in the house.

So...I went to the outside phone-box, and disconnect all the wires. I then plugged the Obi202 directly into one of the wall jack. I can still make out bound calls (that display the correct google voice number), but inbound calls don't ring. And when I make an inbound call to my google voice (and while not ringing), I pick up the phone, all I get is a dial tone.

Now...if I don't go wireless usb and instead connect via the ethernet cable and repeat the above...everything works. But that requires the obi202 to be in a certain, tethered room...and seems to negate the value of the wireless...no? Am I doing something wrong??


jimates

It should work the same whether wired or wireless. What does the "Phone Port Configuration Summary" show for the device. Click on the 202 in your dashboard, it is at the bottom.
It shows which phone port rings with each SPx and which SPx is used for default dialing from each phone port.

Felix

Let's take step by step:
Quote from: lobotomyboy on July 07, 2012, 11:35:40 AM
Ideally, I would like to plug my phone and fax onto separate jacks ...
Absolutely reasonable task!

Quote from: lobotomyboy on July 07, 2012, 11:35:40 AM
...in the house.
This is where I am getting suspicious. Try the following: Connect the phone into one OBi jack, and fax into another one OBi jack. You didn't write anything about your second provider, but I'll assume that you set up everything correctly, including faxing (which is not a small task; I don't think Google supports faxing). Do the calls go through with OBi connected to the network wirelessly?

Quote from: lobotomyboy on July 07, 2012, 11:35:40 AM
So...I went to the outside phone-box, and disconnect all the wires. I then plugged the Obi202 directly into one of the wall jack. I can still make out bound calls (that display the correct google voice number), but inbound calls don't ring. And when I make an inbound call to my google voice (and while not ringing), I pick up the phone, all I get is a dial tone.
It feels like the problem is with the wiring in the house...

Quote from: lobotomyboy on July 07, 2012, 11:35:40 AM
Now...if I don't go wireless usb and instead connect via the ethernet cable and repeat the above...everything works. But that requires the obi202 to be in a certain, tethered room...and seems to negate the value of the wireless...no? Am I doing something wrong??
I am going to bet that in that tethered room you used different wall jacks as well, right? Which makes me even more suspicious of your wiring. So, to eliminate the wiring variable - set up the adapter and see if you can make the calls with phone/fax connected directly to the device.

Then we can continue the troubleshooting. good luck!

lobotomyboy

#3
Thanks for the replies Jimates and Felix.

Jimates...The Phone Port Configuration Summary shows Phone 1 as SP1 (for all) and Phone 2 as not configured (which makes sense, as I did not configure it yet.

Felix...I didn't set up a separate provider yet, but at this point does it matter? I would prefer both the fax and this phone to be the same number. Faxing so far via Google Voice has been seamless. I can send and receive (both regular and e-faxes). At the moment, I have the Obi202 Tethered in my office and the phone and separate fax located in my wife's office via a splitter-jack.

It could well be the wiring. It is an old house with a flat roof and no basement or crawl space, so it is difficult to rewire. I like your idea about trying the fax in the tethered room...but it is waaay too heavy to move there. But I did move the phone there. The phone will send and receive calls when directly tethered to the Obi...however, the Fax no longer rings, once the Obi is "untethered" from the wall jack and instead hooked to the phone.

My thought...purely uneducated...is the the Obi202 needs to be tethered directly to the wall jack for it to properly "fuel" the remaining wall jacks...and it just can't do it wirelessly ???

Thoughts?