Hi all,
This weekend I bought a cool old Western Electric telephone, the kind with a real bell.
Some google searching for how I could use it with my gvoice account led me to the OBi110 as a candidate.
Looking at the product descriptions, I see that the 'line' port acts as a sort of bridge to an "active" POTS line. My house has phone jacks, but I do not have a dialtone - just the slightest amount of noise.
With the 110, if I plug the 'line' in downstairs, would it provide a dialtone to all other phones in the house?
tfox,
If you connect it properly, you can have the whole house running off the OBi (max 5 phones). Make sure that the CO is really disconnected from the telco.
CO = central office? Would that mean ensuring that the household phone lines are disconnected entirely from any outside service?
The 5-phone max is no issue, I only have one phone. I had reservations that the device might not provide enough current to ring the bell, but I saw an amazon review which mentioned the phone I have working properly.
With that setup, would the line port be used, or the phone port? It seems to me that the line port is intended for use when there is already active service.
tfox
Quote from: tfox on August 06, 2012, 08:16:39 AM
CO = central office? Would that mean ensuring that the household phone lines are disconnected entirely from any outside service?
Yes
There are a few people who have set up vintage phones. You might gain from their experience. Have a look.
Problem with DTMF on vintage phone
http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=1885.0
Pulse dialing
http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=449.msg5768#msg5768
Good info, thanks. Mine's a touch tone model, so it should work without any changes as long as the DTMF tones are still on-pitch.
I am still not totally clear on how I'd set this up for my intended use. Should it be the line port of an OBi110, or the Phone port of the OBi100 running to one of the jacks in my dead-line house?
Thanks for the help
tfox,
I feel like a table of contents today. Have a look here and the related threads.
Using Existing Home Phone Jacks
http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=3293.msg22102#msg22102
Sorry, most of the 'existing lines' sources I'd seen in the past were to use the device in conjunction with existing service.
I ordered the 110, I guess I'll see if it works.
Thanks again for the help.
tfox,
Connect the Phone port to any jack in the house. If the house wiring is good you should be able to plug a phone in any other jack around the house and get the OBi to deliver a dial tone.
The line jack of the OBi can still be used for other equipment:
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.msg184#msg184
Good Luck