Using Blind Transfer

[RonR]

A virtually undocumented feature in the OBi is Blind Transfer.

Existing calls on the OBi's PHONE Port can be blind transferred to any number the OBi is capable of reaching.

The procedure is:

- Press the FLASH button on the phone

- Wait for a new dialtone

- Dial *98

- Wait for a new dialtone

- Dial the number that the call is to be transferred to

- Wait for a confirmation tone

- Hang up the phone

[ProfTech]

Interesting information. Doesn't transfer tie up two sessions if Voip to Voip or your PSTN line and one Voip session? I don't really have a need for the transfer function but have always wondered about it since the manual clearly states the Obi bridges the call. Some of the information in the manual leads one to believe that the bridging can be avoided if both calls are Voip and your ITSP supports the transfer function but I'm not sure what providers might support it.   []

[RonR]

Doesn't transfer tie up two sessions if Voip to Voip or your PSTN line and one Voip session?

Yes, by default it bridges regardless of the service provider.

Some of the information in the manual leads one to believe that the bridging can be avoided if both calls are Voip and your ITSP supports the transfer function but I'm not sure what providers might support it.

That's the SIP Refer mechanism, but recent posts seem to indicate there may be problems with the OBi's implementation of it.

[MichiganTelephone]

There is a problem with the X_UseRefer option not working as it should in some, but not all situations.  Apparently it's an issue that shows up primarily with certain versions of Asterisk, and my gut feeling is that it involves a timing issue of some kind.  Obihai customer support did push some beta firmware to my OBi202 which fixed the issue, but as far as I know this fix has not yet been rolled into any version of the release firmware yet (however there's been no new firmware releases since they made that fix).  If someone has a real need for this feature to work and it's not working now (check first, because apparently it does work with some installations), and you have an OBi202, you could request that customer support push firmware version 3.0.0 (Build: 3089MD ) to your OBi202 (I have no idea whether they have a version of the OBi1x0 firmware that contains this fix).

If it's not working, what will happen is that when you attempt to transfer a call, it will act as if the called endpoint is busy and handle the call accordingly (by returning a busy signal, going to voicemail, going to the next number in a follow-me, etc.).

Hopefully Obihai will include this fix in the next full firmware release, because it definitely solved the problem for me.