Hello, all. I've seen a number of posts around dialing between Obi units, specifically "single stage dialing" or "pooling".
In some cases (as with mine), folks wanted to have a second Obi be enabled to send 911 (or another x11 number) through a POTS-connected Obi110.
I read and re-read the posts for "single stage" and "Obi pooling" (use these as search terms), fiddled with the digitmaps and call routes, before achieving success.
Disclaimer: what follows below routes the 911 call via the Obitalk service, which we all know can be, um, somewhat unreliable. If the call fails, it will give a SIT tone and a cryptic message. In my family, they've been trained which phones have the most reliable 911 service (corded, plugged directly into the NID-connected jack, bypassing cordless and the OBI units). I did this exercise partially to see if it could be done, partially to see if I learned anything from reading this site and the admin guide, and partially for convenience (if I need 911 and a cordless phone is handy, I'll try that first). As they say: YMMV.
Anyway, here are the steps I took, for anyone else who is interested. This may not be the most elegant way of doing it, but it works. And I'm always open to suggestions about how to "continuously improve".
Note: In my case the "remote" Obi is a 202, the "POTS" Obi is a 110 (obviously).
Note 2: I did all these configuration using the configuration pages on the devices themselves, not via the Obi portal pages.
1) Set up single stage dialing: On the 202 I set up speed dial 2 as pp(ob200789234) This is the Obi110 "Obi number"
2) On the 110, set the Obitalk inbound call route to {500234789>(Mli):li} This is the Obi202 "Obi number"
NOTE: We don't use Obitalk service to call between these units. You may be able to make changes to the incoming call route to allow for being able to answer a call, but I didn't care about calls going only to the "li" port. Both units are at the same location, so we have no need to talk between units.
3) On the 110 phone port digitmap, add |911S0| to ensure calls are passed immediately. S0 means no pause before sending the call.
Note: there will be a 2-3 second pause while the remote Obi connects to the POTs Obi and places the call to 911.
4) On the 110, On the line port digitmap, add xxx| to ensure 3 digit numbers are passed.
5) On the 110, the PSTN line is my "Primary Line", though this may not matter, since you are specifying sending the call to the "li" port.
6) On the 202, add xxx| to the digitmaps for each of the ISTP Profiles (A-D on the 202) in the General tab. This will ensure 3 digit numbers are passed.
7) On the 202, phone ports (both 1 and 2!) digitmap, add |911S0| to ensure calls are passed immediately.
8) On the 202, outbound call route, add {(<911:2*911>):pp1}, at the front of the digits for each of the phone ports.
Note: This reads "if 911 is dialed (on the 202 connected phone), ring speedcall 2 via the Obitalk service and pass the digits 9 1 1". Because this is "single stage dialing", the 2 and * are not passed along to the 110.
Note 2: recall above that calls from the 202 to the 110 via the Obitalk service route only to the "li" port, they do not ring the "ph" port.
Note 3: for testing, you should change the {(<911:2*911>):pp1} ring something else to ensure it works; I used {(<911:2*211>):pp1} for testing purposes unti I was ready to commit. 211 is our local information line.
I think these are all the changes that I made to accomplish this. I made so many different attempts that it is possible that I made some other change that is not reflected in the above. If that is the case (someone cannot reproduce the above) I will dig back through all of my digitmaps and dialing rules and try to figure out what else I might have done.
You can also use the same approach for 211, 311, 411, etc., if these are offered by your POTS company/community.
Someone else may have already achieved this, but I couldn't find a straight how-to in the forum via search. This is my 0.02 contribution for all the help the forums have already given me. Hope you find it helpful.
Cheers!
