Turn Unconditional Call Forwarding On/Off by Phone with Different OBi?

[pyyhkala]

Hi,

I have the following setup in one location:

Primary OBI
SP1 Google Voice
SP2 other voip provider

Secondary OBi
SP1 A different Google Voice number.  Set with unconditional call forwarding to the GV# associated with the Primary OBi SP1.  This GV# is my old POTS residential number ported from Comcast, T-Mobile, to GV.
SP2 not configured

I only have 2 OBi's setup since a single device can only have 2 service providers.  There are no phones plugged in to the secondary OBi.

Is there a way using a phone connected to the Primary OBi for me to turn on and off the call forwarding on the secondary OBi device?

I don't think from the Primary OBi that I can get a dial tone generated by the Secondary OBi, and then use a code like *72 or *73?  Also I don't think the auto attendant will let you pass a code like *72 or *73?

Right now I can turn the call forwarding on and off through the web portal or interface but would like to also be able to do this with a phone and no computer.

Again no phone physically connected to the Secondary OBi.  Probably on SP2 will add a business GV# to the secondary OBI shortly.

Thanks!

[jimates]

if your primary Obi is a 110 you can daisy chain them.

connect the phone port of the 2nd obi to the line port of the 1st obi.
pressing # on the 1st obi will give you the dial tone from the 2nd obi. From there you can do anything as if the phone was plugged into the 2nd obi.

This will allow you to use the services of both obi's from the same phones that are connected to obi #1.
Pick up the phone, press # and you get a 2nd dial tone. Dial a number and it will be delivered using sp1 of the 2nd obi. Same as having a land line connected to obi #1.

This also may remove the need for you to forward the calls to the other google voice number. If you are only forwarding to have the calls delivered to your home, you won't need to forward them anymore. If you are forwarding them so google voice can fork them to the proper destination phones, you can also do that from the obi itself.

With your forwarding setup you may find that calls don't ring long enough on the 2nd google voice number because the call will ring once before the obi forwards it, then ring once again at google voice before it knows what to do with the call. So that leaves about 2 rings before the voicemail for the original call picks up.

If you do not want the 2nd obi to ring the phones you will need to edit the call route for sp1

voice service -> sp1 service -> X_InboundCallRoute
     default is "ph"  an empty rule {} will do nothing with the call. If forwarding is set the call will be forwarded, if forwarding is not set the call will be delivered (after 25 seconds) to the google voicemail for that number

[pyyhkala]

Nice, thanks for the tips!

Is dialing # the same as **8?  Or the # gives you dial tone where as **8 would route the call over the port?

I do have an OBi110 so this would work.

The 2nd GV# (old landline number) (connected to the secondary OBi OBi100) mostly receives telemarketing calls etc. so most of the time I'll probably want the call forwarding off and for it to be picked up by its own GV voicemail.  But occasionally I will want to be able to get calls on that old# either directly to the OBi110 (primary) or perhaps forwarded to my primary GV (SP1 on the OBi110).

Also is there any work around to the issue you mentioned where it takes several GV# rings for the call forwarding to get activated and call to be placed?

I'm glad I got the OBi110 I figured I *might* need it for something even though I've gotten rid of my POTS landline.

[QBZappy]

pyyhkala

Hi, for the difference in price I think the OBi110 might be better value considering the other ways you can use the line port. In your case you end up with kind of a multiline phone system. You might want to add your Obi110 "daisy chain" setup here for others to learn from.
   
Alternate uses for the Line Port for people who don't need it for POTS line
http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=85.0

[RonR]

Is dialing # the same as **8?  Or the # gives you dial tone where as **8 would route the call over the port?

Dialing **8 + number places a call over the LINE Port using the number you dialed (after the **8 is removed).

Dialing # immediately bridges the PHONE Port to the LINE Port so you can access the LINE Port directly.

[jimates]

I got delayed in my response but am posting anyways.


dialing # connects the phone port directly to the line port (obi 2) without obi 1 in play.

dialing **8xxxxxxxxxx will also deliver the call through obi 2's default service, but the call will be going through obi 1 also.

as far as the delivery delays I don't think there is anything that can be done. The call doesn't have to be answered but it does have to be delivered before it can be forwarded. Everything is based on caller id, which is delivered after the first ring.