Help with Obi202 newbie coming from a MagicJack Plus
Integraoligist:
Hi all, I've been researching info on the 202 and it sounds outstanding, but I have a couple of questions that concern me.
My setup will be using a Google Voice #. One phone line will be voice and the other will be on a fax machine.
1. You can set up both lines to accept the same GV #, so that if someone calls the GV# both lines will ring... someone answers and is talking on the phone... while another person calls the GV# and faxes something, the line not in-use will ring and the fax will pickup, correct?
2. People that call the GV#, will they hear that Menu, press 1 to continue the call, press 2 to cancel message? This is a huge concern for me and I can't find any info on it. When I watch YouTube videos, everyone that calls gets that Menu option... I absolutely can not have that menu option... i need it to directly ring the phone and use it like a landline. How does this menu thing work?
3. What is the minimum internet speed needed for the 202? I only have a 6mb down and 786kb up DSL service.
Thanks all for the help!
QBZappy:
Integraoligist,
Welcome,
Quote from: Integraoligist on June 07, 2012, 12:08:50 pm
1. You can set up both lines to accept the same GV #, so that if someone calls the GV# both lines will ring... someone answers and is talking on the phone... while another person calls the GV# and faxes something, the line not in-use will ring and the fax will pickup, correct?
GV has 2 voice channels. I expect that it should work this way if the fax machine is connected to the phone port which is free when the second call rings. FYI GV is not known to be fax friendly. I don't have an OBi202 to test.
Quote from: Integraoligist on June 07, 2012, 12:08:50 pm
2. People that call the GV#, will they hear that Menu, press 1 to continue the call, press 2 to cancel message? This is a huge concern for me and I can't find any info on it. When I watch YouTube videos, everyone that calls gets that Menu option... I absolutely can not have that menu option... i need it to directly ring the phone and use it like a landline. How does this menu thing work?
Have a look here. It explains how to setup GV with the OBi. The call should end up ringing your phone normally.:
http://www.obihai.com/tutorial1.html
Pay special attention to this part referenced here:
http://www.obihai.com/tutorial9.html
Quote from: Integraoligist on June 07, 2012, 12:08:50 pm
3. What is the minimum internet speed needed for the 202? I only have a 6mb down and 786kb up DSL service.
More than enough.
Integraoligist:
Other then the fax issue it looks perfect, thank you for the info!
Is there anyone out there they uses a GV# with the 202 to accept faxes? I accept orders via fax so this is a necessity for my situation... I dont see why it would not work once the calls are connected to one another... right? Why would GV interfere?
Stewart:
I agree with QBZappy on (2) and (3), but have some additional comments on (1):
It's not possible for a fax machine to know that an incoming call is a fax, unless it (or another device on the loop) first answers the call. That would unfortunately have the effect of "stealing" a voice call that came in when the first line was not in use.
However, what you are asking for seems pretty strange. Unless you have a special reason for wanting the same number for voice and fax, I would use two separate GV numbers; one would ring the voice line and the other the fax. If your fax machine can recognize and answer a "distinctive ring", you could set it up so voice calls would also ring the second line, which would have the both the fax machine and one or more phones. That way, you could also make or receive a voice call while the other line is in use.
Going a step further, I'd use a fax-to-email service to receive faxes, which has many advantages over using the machine. You can get free fax numbers from Callcentric (NY), k7.net (WA) or VoxOx (CA). Or, get an Anveo Value DID in your area for $0.99/mo. All of these are IMO more reliable than GV through the OBi. If you have paper documents to fax, you could still use the machine for sending.
Integraoligist:
I guess having a 2nd GV # for the fax line is not an issue at all... I just figured that because the fax has a phone attached to it already, if the 1st line is busy then the 2nd line/fax line could be used as another voice line... much like rolling over from line to line from the Telco.
I was looking into those fax services... the problem is that when a fax is recieved, I would have to call my staff (if i'm not there) stop the POS service on the PC, go to the email, and print the fax anyway because we need paper copies. So actually using one of the fax to PDF services is more of a pain then anything.
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