How to set up a 3 or 4 line system?
JeffDB:
Quote from: Ostracus on January 05, 2013, 09:37:40 am
Dock-and-Talk could be used to bring the cell phones into the picture.
Thanks for the reply, Ostracus. Actually that is a fairly important topic for me. I remembered reading about a product like that a few years or so ago and thought it was an awesome idea. My wife insists on keeping her cell phone in her purse and drops it off near the door when she comes in. It drives me nuts to hear it ringing when she's upstairs or in another room and the kids or I go into scramble mode to try and get to it before it quits ringing. Having it hooked up to a landline system via Obi would be great in that regard.
Another option David Gewirtz used in his article, Google Voice: configuring a complex home office, (http://www.zdnet.com/blog/government/google-voice-configuring-a-complex-home-office/10521 ) was a Panasonic cordless phone system with built in blue tooth (http://shop.panasonic.com/shop/model/KX-TG6582T).
But I'm thinking that any old phone, cordless or otherwise should work without the bluetooth capability in conjunction with GoogleVoice and Obi. I would think you could have Obi convert the Google Voice number to a ringable landline and GVoice should be able to simultaneously ring both the landline and cellphone allowing you to answer whichever you prefer.
But it sounded to me like Mr. Gerwitz liked his system because whenever he or his wife left the house with their cellphones the landline associated with it no longer rang, making for a more peaceful household. So maybe that would still be a nice option.
The Dock and Talk would also allow me to use my current system without having to buy new phones.
I'm still trying to figure out what I might want to do in that regard. I currently have a 4 line wireless Panasonic desk phone, but only have one line hooked up to it. I used to have an extension for it back at my old office but someone broke in and stole it. Bummer.
I was thinking of having an Obi setup for my two business lines and buying a new cheaper 2 line panasonic cordless system so I could answer either line upstairs or elsewhere in the house. I could obviously just wire the fax line directly to the fax and not have to have it on any cordless setup. I could similarly route a family line to the wired system that came with the house and people could just answer a typical hard wired landline in many rooms in the house. They would be able to do so without worrying they were going to be answering a business call that way and I could still answer business calls without having to run to get to my office in time. I kinda do that now by having both lines ring my cell phone (Vonage has simulring too), but it would be nice be able to use a landline upstairs or wherever.
If I could get my wife to get Google Voice I could perhaps have, in addition to the fax, 4 main lines... two for my business, one for the kids and one for my wife's cell. I guess that setup would require 3 OBi202 units and either a full 4 line cordless setup or two 2 line cordless systems, one for the business, and one for the family.
Actually, I believe there's a way to buy corded two line phones and hook them up to the standard phone wiring, which supposedly has a couple of spare wires therein, but I don't know how to do that and don't know if it would save any money anyhow vs buying 2 line cordless phones.
In any event, thanks again for the input and the link. If I end up keeping my older 4 line cordless Panasonic I might end up implementing it, or maybe it will be useful to someone else reading this thread.
Ostracus:
Don't forget that IP phones can be part of this picture and have the advantage they can fit into the ObiPlus ecosystem as well as register directly with your service provider. There are even dual SIP/PTSN phones.
CoalMinerRetired:
I have to raise a caution flag on the dock and talk approach.
I don't see what that gets you above and beyond what an Obi BlueTooth adapter used with an Obi202 will provide. Looking at the dock and talk specs for phone compatibility, there's a fraction of the phone models that take a wired connection vs what takes BlueTooth. So if you use BlueTooth with the D&T gateway, why not just eliminate the D&T device and use a BlueTooth connection directly into the Obi.
giqcass:
I was going to say the same thing. If you want to take a call on a Bluetooth phone from a cordless phone the obi BT adapter is only $25 to add to any OBi202. I have one myself. I also have a cellfusion cordless phone which does basically the same thing. The one advantage cellfusion has over the Obi is battery backup for power outages.
For ObiPlus the requirement is one Master Obi202 with special software. You could have one Obi 202 connected to a 100, 110, a 202, or a combination for the additional lines.
Quote
The Master OBi device is an OBi202 running special OBiPLUS software. A Client OBi can be an OBi100, OBi110 or OBi202 device running generic software.
http://www.obihai.com/FAQ.html#What-is-OBiPLUS
JeffDB:
Quote from: Ostracus on January 05, 2013, 11:11:28 am
Don't forget that IP phones can be part of this picture and have the advantage they can fit into the ObiPlus ecosystem as well as register directly with your service provider. There are even dual SIP/PTSN phones.
Thanks for the reply and info. I'm a newbie at this, however, and don't quite understand the advantages/disadvantages of IP phones.
For instance, what advantages accrue to being able to "fit into the ObiPlus ecosystem"?
Couldn't I just plug any old phone into one of the ports and get all of the features provided by Obi &/or Google Voice or whatever VoIP provider I was using?
Are they more expensive than plain old telephones (PSTN?) with similar features?
What does the ability to "register directly with your service provider" mean and what are the advantages?
Thanks again for the info/feedback.
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