911 OutboundCallRoute for Obi 202

[KevKan]

Presently my Obi202 has PhonePower for SP1 and GV for SP2.  To utilize the features of the E911 service, 911 calls from either PH1 or PH2 need to always go out on SP1.  My question is, if SP1 is in use by PH1, and PH2 attempts to make a 911 call, what happens?  I suspect the call would be rejected and you would just get a busy signal of some sort.   This leads me to ask if there is a way, using OutboundCallRoute, for a 911 call from either PH1 or PH2 to seize SP1, if it is in use by the other PH#, to complete the emergency call?  This being somewhat similar to the way an RJ31X Jack functions.

[azrobert]

Most providers support multiple simultaneous calls per trunk, so the 911 call should work when PH1 is on an active SP1 call. You can test this by making a call from PH1 then make another SP1 call from PH2. If SP2 is the primary line for PH2, you can force the call out SP1 by dialing the number with a **1 prefix.

[drgeoff]

Unlike POTS, VoIP is not technically constrained to only one call at a time over the "line". However whether the ITSP supports more than one is another matter. Many do and I suspect PhonePower does too.

You can easily test. Make a call from phone 1 and while it is still in progress try dialling another call from phone 2 but prefix the number with **1.  (If you haven't changed the defaults that makes the call use SP1.)

[KevKan]

Thanks drgeoff and azrobert for the enlightening information! I have got to quit thinking in the POTS world.    I ran the test on both PhonePower and GV and, just as you thought, they both supported simultaneous calls from PH1 and PH2.  Now that I know these service providers are able to do to this, I would like to come up with an OutboundCall Route that routes all outbound calls, except 911 calls, to SP2 and the 911 calls to SP1.  I trust such an arrangement would also make it less likely inbound traffic on SP1 would experience a busy signal.

[azrobert]

Change the Phone Port Primary Line to SP2 Service. Now all calls will be routed to SP2. Then add the following rule to the beginning of the Phone Port OutboundCallRoute:
{911:sp1},

[KevKan]

Thanks, I made the changes you suggested.  I confirmed the ability to make two simultaneous calls by calling the local time and temperature and listening to the recordings.  It remains to be seen if the call quality will be compromised when engaging in two normal conversations simultaneously.

[azrobert]

There is another parm on your OBi202 that should be changed. The default on the OBi202 is a max of 2 sessions on a trunk. If you have 2 active calls on a trunk, the OBi202 is using 2 sessions. If someone calls you while both calls are active, it will require a 3rd session and they will get a busy signal and you won't hear the call waiting tone. Change the following to fix this problem:

Voice Services -> SP2 Service -> MaxSessions: 4