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Multiple OBI devices and multiple GV / SIP in single phone system

Started by cijlevy, May 04, 2011, 06:00:31 AM

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cijlevy

I'm a bit of a Newbie and spent a number of hours searching for solutions/answers without luck.

I have two OBI 110's - (happy to purchase more)

I have 2 Google Voice (GV) accounts

I intend to purchase 2 SIP #s

I am connecting both of my Obi Talk devices into a telephone system with 4 phones using the phone connection - when a single call to one of my GV #s comes in the auto attendant answers with a selection of extensions, I understand Google voice has up to two channels but GV doesn't allow forwarding to a second GV number so I intend to set up a SIP # as the secondary service provider so that it can forward to that which I will set up as the second service provider on the same box.  With a second SIP # I will set up the second OBI box which now had the second GV number as primary and the second SIP# as secondary.

The questions are:

1) When a user picks up a phone on the phone system will it search for an available outgoing line automatically?  Is this something I rather need to configure on the phone system?

2) Assuming the phones will search for a free line automatically, can two outgoing calls be made on a single Obi device or do I need to add more Obi devices to accommodate more then 2 outgoing calls?

3) Can two incoming calls come in on the same Obi device and thus give me up to 4 incoming calls assuming I have the 2 GV #s and two SIP #s?

I suspect that these are basic questions, I apologize for that.

Also if anyone seeing this configuration can suggest an easier method I would be of course be pleased as well.

Thanks for the help!


RonR

1.  By default, the OBi makes outbound calls using the service selected by the PHONE Port -> PrimaryLine setting.  This can be PSTN Line (default), SP1 Service, SP2 Service, OBiTALK Service, or Trunk Group 1.  Trunk Group 1 allows multiple trunks to be specified (SP1 and SP2, by default) which will be searched in order for availability.  The caller can also specify a specific service by prefixing the number with **1 (SP1), **2 (SP2), **8 (PSTN), or **9 (OBiTALK).

2. There's only one PHONE Port on an OBi, so only one call can be placed at a time from a phone.  Conferencing with a second number is supported on that one call.

3. Each Google Voice account can support up to two sessions.  Each OBi can support up to four bridges.

obi-support2

Trying to understand your setup ....
a) You have a PBX with 4 RJ11 ports that are normally connected to analog PSTN lines
b) You plan to connect each OBi PHONE Port to one of the 4 PSTN Ports on the PBX
c) For incoming GV/SIP call on the OBi, it will ring the PHONE Port. The PBX then detects
  the ring on its corresponding PSTN port the OBi is connected to, and invokes the
  Auto Attendant of your PBX to direct the incoming call to another extension on
  the system

More or less correct?

Some quick answers,
1. Yes. Easiest way to do this is to select "Trunk Group 1" as your PHONE Port's Primary Line.
   By default trunk group 1 includes SP1 and SP2, where SP1 has higher priority. You can
  change the order by modifying Trunk Group 1 config (or define your own Trunk Group; up to
  4 can be defined per OBi. It's a bit more work but not too bad; refer to OBi admin guide for more info).
  The Trunk Group concept is used for outgoing calls.

2. OBi itself can support 4 concurrent calls (your Internet uplink bandwidth usually the
  limiting factor instead of the OBi; it may take about 100kbps per call).
  However, since your method of connecting
  the OBi to the PBX is via OBi's PHONE Port, there can be only 1 call per phone line.
  So indeed you will need to have 4 OBi in order to provide 4 phone lines to your PBX.
  This is the limitation of using analog PBX to interface with OBi.
  (On the other hand, OBi can interface with IP PBX, such as Asterisk, using SIP; in that case
  the number of calls is not limited by the number of PHONE Port)

3. Similarly, incoming call is subjected to the same physical interface limitation. You can only have
  1 incoming call per OBi phone port. The 2nd incoming call, if accepted by the OBi, will be presented
   to the same PHONE Port as call waiting.



OBIHAI Support Staff

RonR

Quote from: cijlevy on May 04, 2011, 06:00:31 AMI understand Google voice has up to two channels but GV doesn't allow forwarding to a second GV number

Just for clarification...

While it's true that Google Voice doesn't allow setting up another Google Voice number as a forwarding phone on their web site, this does not prevent the OBi from forwarding an incoming Google Voice call on channel 1 to another Google Voice number on channel 2 of the same Google Voice account.  The OBi forwards calls by making a new outgoing call and bridging the incoming call to the outgoing call.

jimates

Quote from: RonR on May 04, 2011, 09:57:50 AM
Quote from: cijlevy on May 04, 2011, 06:00:31 AMI understand Google voice has up to two channels but GV doesn't allow forwarding to a second GV number

Just for clarification...

While it's true that Google Voice doesn't allow setting up another Google Voice number as a forwarding phone on their web site, this does not prevent the OBi from forwarding an incoming Google Voice call on channel 1 to another Google Voice number on channel 2 of the same Google Voice account.  The OBi forwards calls by making a new outgoing call and bridging the incoming call to the outgoing call.

I am not quite sure what RonR said because he referenced "another google voice number" of the "same google voice account". but I will add something for further clarification.

You can set up 2 GV numbers on sp1 & sp2, and the Obi can use one of them to forward calls to the other one.

You can't forward a call out on channel 2 of the sp service to the same sp service when using GV as the provider. The forwarded call is placed as a new call, and will carry the caller id of the sp provider (google voice), not the caller id of the original caller. So a call forwarded using the same sp service will be recognized by google as it's own number and the call will be sent direct to the google voice IVR.

RonR

Quote from: jimates on May 04, 2011, 06:20:08 PMSo a call forwarded using the same sp service will be recognized by google as it's own number and the call will be sent direct to the google voice IVR.

This is not true.  Before posting, I confirmed that with only one Google Voice account, an incoming call to my Google Voice number can be forwarded back out on the same Google Voice account, even to another Google Voice number.

jimates

RonR said
This is not true.  Before posting, I confirmed that with only one Google Voice account, an incoming call to my Google Voice number can be forwarded back out on the same Google Voice account, even to another Google Voice number.
"another" is the key word.

My first sentence
You can set up 2 GV numbers on sp1 & sp2, and the Obi can use one of them to forward calls to the other one
Says exactly what you said.
You can forward it to any # you want, except the same gv number for the service you are forwarding on.


Now read what I said in the other sentence

You can't forward a call out on channel 2 of the sp service to the same sp service when using GV as the provider.

Meaning you can't forward a call coming in to a gv # out to the same gv # using that gv account.


RonR

Quote from: jimates on May 04, 2011, 07:05:08 PMMeaning you can't forward a call coming in to a gv # out to the same gv # using that gv account.

Why would anyone try to forward an incoming Google Voice call back out that Google Voice account to his own Google Voice number?  Even if it worked, you'd have an endless loop.

jimates

Plenty of people don't understand the features and limitations of google voice, especially those new to both GV and the Obi.
You, yourself did not know you couldn't use another gv number as a forwarding number, when we first started on this forum. http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=331.msg1707#msg1707


Look at how many times people post about not being able to call their google voice number without getting the IVR.

If they think the caller id is going to be passed through from the original call it is easy to misunderstand. Especially when Obi says each gv account supports 2 simultaneous sessions.

Many, many people are saying every day, "what does what I just read mean".

RonR

Quote from: jimates on May 04, 2011, 08:37:45 PMYou, yourself did not know you couldn't use another gv number as a forwarding number, when we first started on this forum.

That's only true for setting up a forwarding number on the Google Voice web site.  It's not true for forwarding from the OBi.

jimates

Point is, you and many many others do not, or did not, understand the limitations of google voice.

That statement was not directly related to this situation, only a general statement that says exactly what it says.

cijlevy

Not sure if anyone will see this - but THANK YOU for all of the responses.

I added the 'second' Google Voice account to each phone i.e.

Obi #1
SP1 = GV Acct. 1
SP2 = GV Acct. 2

Obi #2
SP1 = GV acct. 2
SP2 = GV acct. 1

The 'system' (not sure of Obi - Google or other) kicked me off of both lines and my phone system froze.

Any hints - ideas - thoughts?

Thanks!

QBZappy

cijlevy,

Hi, How many different/unique GV accts are you using. If you want to populate all 4 slots (on 2 OBi units) with GV accts your best experience would be to use 4 different accounts, unless you have something in mind you want to try.
Owner of the 1st OBi110/100 units in service in Canada & South America. 1st OBi202 on my street. 1st OBi1032 in Montreal.

jimates

You can't have multiple devices with the same Google accounts. Well, you can but which ever unit connects last is the one that rings.

If you want both to ring with the same accounts you can set one up and then fork the incoming call to the second device. Of course you will not get the caller id of the incoming call for the forked call. You will get the id of the device that forked the call.


cijlevy

If 4 GV accounts is the answer I am happy to organize this.

My goal is simply to be able to take advantage of the Google's ability to 'carry' two calls at once - i.e. if Google voice is busy I would like the second call (to the same Google Voice number) to go to the second OBI device and eventually if that one were busy go on to the third device...

Does that clarify things?

Perhaps I am better off purchasing a number (SIP?) from another provider and registering this to the Obi #2 and then forwarding overflow calls from Google Voice to this number?

Thanks! 

jimates

the first item in the chain is the weakest, Google Voice. Google's voicemail is going to pick up after 25 seconds (~4 rings), so forwarding a google voice call is pretty much a pain.