Receiving or Making calls on 2 voip lines

[Lina]

I currently have Anveo set up with one phone # and another phone # on freephoneline.ca.

Can I make or receive calls on my Anveo # at the same time that someone else is making or receiving a call on the freephoneline #?

I know I can receive calls with 2 different rings on the one line, but what if my son is on the phone in his room on the freephoneline # and I am in my room and want to make an outgoing call using the Anveo #. Is this possible??

Lina

[QBZappy]

OBi202 (with 2 phone ports) can accomplish this.

[Lina]

Oh, so not possible with the obi100 then? 

K thanks.

[Lina]

What about for incoming calls. Can I configure it so that calls to my Anveo # are sent to a specific phone and not all the other ones in the house??

[QBZappy]

If all the house phones run off the same OBi no. If you want to make it ring your cell it would be possible.

[Lina]

Yes, I thought so.

If I hook up a different adapter (Grandstream HT286) to run one of the numbers, could I still plug the phone jack into the walls so all the phones in the house ring, or does that only work with the Obi??

Lina

[Rick]

Yes, I thought so.

If I hook up a different adapter (Grandstream HT286) to run one of the numbers, could I still plug the phone jack into the walls so all the phones in the house ring, or does that only work with the Obi??

Lina

The OBi is designed so that you can connect it to a telephone, which it will ring.

You can also connect it to your house phone wiring, so it will ring all the phones plugged into wall jacks.  If you do this option, then of course you can't plug any other device into another wall jack, as you'll be having two conflicting devices and likely damage one or both (unless all of your jacks are wired independently, and you hookup the device at the junction point, ensuring you connect them to separate jack(s)).  

If you're going to hookup another adapter (unless you already own it), then why wouldn't you just get another OBi?  The Grandstream manual doesn't show it being hooked to a whole house, it would have to provide enough current to ring all the phone(s).  I would imagine it could ring one phone located in a room if you wired the room correctly (see below), assuming the device wasn't in that room.

If you want to get fancy, note that most phone lines use one pair of the wires, usually red and green.  The other pair is often unused and often just cut off.  You can determine this by unscrewing a phone jack from the wall and looking at it.  If the other two wires are unused, then you can hookup another OBi to that other pair, and then change the wires in a room(s) to use that other pair, thereby having some phones ring off one device and other phones ring off the second device.  If all 4 wires are connected, examine the junction area to see if they are connected down there also, often they are connected in the wall but cut off at the feed.

You also can replace the phone jack in the wall with a double jack, allowing you to connect one pair of wires to one jack and one to the other, and then plug two phones in at that room, assuming you utilized the second pair of wires as just described.

[QBZappy]

If I hook up a different adapter (Grandstream HT286) to run one of the numbers, could I still plug the phone jack into the walls so all the phones in the house ring, or does that only work with the Obi??

Only one ATA (any brand) can be set up to feed the wall jacks of the house to make all the phones ring at the same time (OBi max of 5 phones). However any number of ATAs can be connected to the router. Those ATAs will need to be directly connected to a phone, as opposed to the house wiring.

Modern multi-unit cordless phones are really cheap, providing a good solution to house wiring issues. Why not have 2 sets of cordless phones offering different phones ringing for different numbers. It's not clear what you have in mind.

Good Luck.

[Lina]

Hello my wonderful fellow Canadian! 
Thanks for your reply, and yes I understand how all of that works, but I just wanted to know if any adapter can work the phones through the wall jacks or if it was simply an obi thing?

I will have my obi directly connected to my phone so only it will ring, but for the others I would like to use the Grandstream to ring around the house.

If not, then I could possibly just buy another obi100, but then I should really have just bought the obi202! I wish I knew what they could/could not do before I ordered! The description of their functions/features do not tell the whole story.


Lina

[QBZappy]

Lina,

"Only one ATA (any brand)".

Yes the Grandstream ATA can control the house wiring. Note that you need to make certain that you have disconnected the co line from the phone company (usually outside). Search the forum, there are many threads on this topic.