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Going from 4 analog lines to Obi

Started by xmrkite, October 13, 2013, 08:34:54 AM

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xmrkite

Hello, I want to take our 4 lines with verizon and drop them. We currently have 4 line analog phones and I want to keep them. I was thinking I might be able to get two of the obi202 units and use all 4 lines.

The idea is to split the lines coming out of the obi's and route them to all of our phones (6 phones).

Will this idea work?

We use an 800 number for our website and hunting with verizon, so if someone is on line 1 and a customer calls, line 2 rings. If lines 1 and 2 are being used, line 3 would ring and so on.

I was hoping to use viop.me or callcentric for voip and was thinking if I would just use the feature where it rings on all 4 lines. Keeping hunting as we have it now would be great though.

Am I on the right track here or am I way out of line? What is recommended for our setup?

-Thanks

Lavarock7

I think both Voip.Ms and CallCentric also have a call treatment to send a call t oan alternate number if the first is busy or disconencted. I don't see an obvious way at Voip.Ms to then go to a third number, but I'm sure there is a simple way to chain multiple phones into a string of sequential numbers.

I'm sure it can be done with individual extension (forward on busy) to another extension which also has a forward on busy set.

Thus you could port your toll free and set up a call treatment.

You can test this before porting with a free number from Callcentric (NY state), a cheap number at Voip.Ms, or if you grab an INUM, many providers let you call into an INUM for free.

My websites: Kona Coffee: http://itskona.com and Web Hosting: http://planetaloha.info<br />A simplified Voip explanation: http://voip.planet-aloha.com

Shale

I don't know either. I only know how for Anveo.

xmrkite

Hello there and thanks for the replies.

How would I do this with anveo? I'm not set on a provider yet.

-Thanks

Shale

#4
I can think of a couple ways. Suppose we had one number coming in, but had defined extensions.

I made a little call  flow and captured an image for you: http://i.imgur.com/prVdKz8.png

The SIP would be your SP1 on OBi202#1 that is rung from your 800 number. If the call is answered, we go no further in this flow.

If that line is not available, on a call or  busy (do not disturb),  then the call gets sent to extension 202 which has a similar call flow defined. If the SP1 is offline, we send a text message to your cell phone to that effect before transferring to extension 202.

Off to the left you can see some of the various elements you can drag into the active call flow.

I did this with extensions, but Transfer could have been used to send calls to phones that have their own numbers or SIP addresses.

I only have one line, so I have not tested this. I have made good use of the call flows to effectively deal with robocallers, and to handle people on my whitelist differently from unknown callers.

You can even have different things happen at different times of the day/week. Note that Business Hours control on the left. I don't use that one. I am not a business.
You can drag controls from the left, and connect the inputs and outputs as you wish.

I am confident that each SIP provider has a good way to do call hunt. That is a pretty standard thing to have. It might be more pre-configured. The call flow method can let you transfer friends to extension 202 and known businesses to extension 203, or your cell phone, or both extension 203 and your cellphone.

Obi has an offering that could be of interest. I have not seen people post about it much, but one of the forums here is about OBiPlus http://www.obihai.com/obiplus.html

Also, with your OBi202s, you could have some Google Voice lines free. You can have 2 services use one phone port (one at a time) The OBi knows when the phone is busy, and can do transferring. But since SIP providers do that stuff easily, it would make sense to me to do so.

xmrkite

Ok that looks really cool. I do have to admin though that the anveo website is a total turnoff. I am having a very hard time figure out just what services to buy.

Anyhow, i will have to think about who I want to try out and see how hard it is to get going.

One more question...why would I use more than one provider on the obi? What is the point of using 4 providers with 2 lines? That is just not clear to me. Why not pick the provider you think is best and stick with them for all the lines?

-Thanks so much

Shale

With Anveo for simple stuff, you need a "plan": https://www.anveo.com/consumer/service.asp
You need a phone number handling https://www.anveo.com/consumer/mainphonenumbers.asp
You need 911 @$0.80 if in US or Canada.

For 4 lines, you might want to chat with them when they open Monday west coast time.