Single GV ring multiple Obis

[goethesf1]

Hi ... I've read the forums extensively and tried a few things from the detailed posts. Alas, I'm not able to get exactly what I want so after a few weeks of trying ... I'm posting. Thanks to everyone in advance that responds with help and tips!

A bit about me
I've had an Obi100 for multiple years. I've enjoyed it and things have just worked. I've not gone into the "Expert configuration" other than to just look around. I can code in Python, so I'm willing to go in and make changes if I have specific instructions. The expert area just seems powerful to me and I'm not fully read up on how everything works.

My hardware/setup

• (2) Obi100s
• (1) Obi202
• (1) Cordless phone setup (base and extensions)
• (1) Corded phone
• (1) Google Voice account w/ an assigned phone number that rings on incoming calls (POTS)
• (1) E911 account/service

What I've tried
I've been using Google Voice and have setup E911 service on my first Obi100. I bought another Obi100 in order to setup the corded phone in another room. I attempted to configure (and failing) to have both Obi100s ring. I read on a post here that I needed to get an Obi202 and configure ObiPlus ... I bought one and tried. I navigated AutoAttendants, Trunks, Office Hours ... ended up really confused to be honest and only my Obi202 will ring when I call my Google Voice number from my cell phone (T-Mobile).

What I would like
Eventually, I'm going to move off GV and would like to port my single phone number to a SIP and when that number is called, have all of my Obi's ring. Anyone can pick-up a phone attached to the Obi and answer the call. All outgoing calls are configured with the CallerID for my single number. All Obi's have a pulsating tone when there is voicemail to pick-up.

... how do I do this?

Thanks in advance!

[SteveInWA]

I am sure that 10 people will offer 7 different solutions, one of which will include 54 lines of dial plan code :-P

But, keeping it simple, you may only need one OBi.  Do you already have telephone wire running into the room with the hardwired phone?  If so, depending on whether you are also using that wiring for land line (POTS) telephones, you can just disconnect one pair or all pairs of that wire from your outside telephone company demarcation block, and then plug the OBi's phone port into your home wiring.  Then plug as many phones (cordless base stations or corded phones) as you like into the jacks around the house.

Otherwise, using multiple OBis, port your Google Voice number over to a quality SIP VoIP carrier.  I use Callcentric.  With Callcentric, you can define multiple extensions, and then set up call-handling rules to forward inbound calls to any or all of those extensions.  Each extension is a separate SIP registration, so it just looks to the OBis like you have multiple service providers.  For example, if your primary Callcentric DID's ID is 17771234567, then extension 101 is 17771234567101.  You'd configure that SIP credential on whichever OBi SP port you wish.

I have this very thing working at home.  I have one OBi 110 with two different Callcentric DID numbers, one configured on each of the two ports on the 110.  I also have a Gigaset IP cordless phone system with the same two numbers configured as two different extensions.  Finally, I have an antique phone configured with a Grandstream HT701 ATA, with yet another extension.

When an inbound call to one of my two Callcentric DIDs comes in, it rings the hardwired phones plugged into the OBi, and the Gigaset cordless phones, and (for just one of the two DIDs), rings the Grandstream-attached phone.

[goethesf1]

Thanks for the reply. I have an antique phone (WE 502) and your ATA w/ REN 5 is a great solution to get the old girl ringing again.

I've created a Callcentric account, purchased a DID and will try that. I'll kick this around a bit and report back my progress.

One thing: after trying the ObiPlus setup, I'm now getting the AutoAttendant (Press '1', Press '2' ...) How do I turn all that off?

-G

[SteveInWA]

Let us know how your experimenting turns out.  RE:  auto attendant, you can remove the calling phone number from the trusted callers list to stop the OBi from issuing it that prompt.

http://www.obitalk.com/obinet/pg/obhdev/access

Paraphrasing Crocodile Dundee, "That's not an antique phone, THIS is an antique phone:"  My WE 302 is plugged into the HT 701 ATA:  http://j-tele.com/

For me, it wasn't a REN issue -- the old phone rang ok when plugged into an OBi.  But, I retrofitted the phone with a Rotatone  dial pulse to Touch Tone converter, and the OBi doesn't put out enough power when off hook to properly generate the tones on the phone.  Neither did a "brand L" SPA 2102.  The "brand G" ATA works great for that application.