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Obi110 and Panasonic KX-TA624 PBX system

Started by 00aas, July 02, 2011, 04:50:08 PM

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00aas

Hey everyone, amazing forum and I've learned so much reading about this wonderful product.

Does anyone have any experience using the Obi110 with the Panasonix analog PBX hybrid system KX-TA624?

We use the KX-TA624 to coordinate 15 phones throughout the house, and just wondering if anyone has used this successfully to replace one of the main outside CO lines.

thanks and appreciate anyone's help/insight with this!
sincerely,
-A


00aas

Thanks Ron, looks like it will work perfectly if I just use the phone port of Obi into the key system's CO2.

I don't think I understand the conversation in the rest of the thread that you directed me to (i.e., plugging the line port into an extension and doing all that fancy auto attendant stuff-- actually no idea what that means or whether that can also apply to the KX-TA624 system).

One additional related question though-- how long a phone cord can I run from the Obi110 and still get good voice quality?  Our internet modem is on the second floor of the house, and the KX-TA624 main unit is all the way downstairs in the basement.  Each floor is 9 feet, so that's a maximum of 27 feet to get down, and the about 40 feet to cross the basement (although probably less since it will follow other lines)...

thanks again for all your help!  really appreciate it and hope you're having a wonderful day!
-A

MichiganTelephone

#3
Quote from: 00aas on July 03, 2011, 06:12:45 AMOne additional related question though-- how long a phone cord can I run from the Obi110 and still get good voice quality?  Our internet modem is on the second floor of the house, and the KX-TA624 main unit is all the way downstairs in the basement.  Each floor is 9 feet, so that's a maximum of 27 feet to get down, and the about 40 feet to cross the basement (although probably less since it will follow other lines)...

There's no problem whatsoever with a cable that length (remember, phone companies have copper pairs that extend for miles) but if it were me, I'd run Cat 5 rather than the flat stuff normally used in shorter phone cables.  The twisted pairs are somewhat more immune to picking up electrical noise and interference from nearby radio transmitters.  Besides, if you run cat 5 you have four pairs, so should you ever decide to add additional VoIP lines (up to 4) you won't have to pull cable again.

At each end of the run, you can connect the Cat 5 to a standard phone jack, then use a regular short cable (like the one that came with your OBi110) to connect that jack to your devices (unless your KX-TA624 has screw terminals that can be used to connect the cable directly - in that case, just use a jack at the OBi110 end).

Alternately, it may be possible to find an unused pair in existing phone wiring that could be used to make the connection, as long as you can ascertain that it's not connected to any lines coming from the telephone company, and you can ascertain that it never will be.  See How to Distribute VoIP Throughout a Home for more information.
Inactive, no longer posting or responding to messages.  Goodbye and good luck.  Some of my old Obihai-related blog posts have been moved to http://tech.iprock.com - note this in NOT my blog; I have simply given the owner permission to repost some of my old stuff.

RonR

Quote from: 00aas on July 03, 2011, 06:12:45 AM
One additional related question though-- how long a phone cord can I run from the Obi110 and still get good voice quality?

I wouldn't be concerned about this.  A long phone cord is not much different than the wiring in your home would be.  The OBi also has Rx and Tx gain adjustments that can be made if there is a little additional loss.

00aas

#5
Thanks guys, just a quick update-- after 3 hours with the phone service guy, I think I'm all set to try this out.

The guy came, was able to find exactly what MichiganTelephone mentioned as an alternative:

"Alternately, it may be possible to find an unused pair in existing phone wiring that could be used to make the connection, as long as you can ascertain that it's not connected to any lines coming from the telephone company, and you can ascertain that it never will be..."

He found two extra unused pairs in the existing phone wiring-- so I asked him to install two extra phone lines running from the upstairs office (where the modem is) all the way down to the basement (where the KX-TA624 main unit is)-- took a bit of time since there was a bridge in the attic, but with his fancy toner and equipment he was able to find the lines in the bridge and follow them all the way back down to the basement.  Great bootstrapping if you ask me!

Anyways I now tested both of these new lines out with an Ooma Core that I've been running upstairs in the office as a fax line-- it used to stay completely separate from the main house phone wiring-- simply modem to router to Ooma core to fax machine and it's worked perfectly.  I now sent it from modem to router to Ooma core to one of the new phone jacks that the guy installed, it runs all the way down to the basement and from the new jack downstairs straight into the CO3 port of the KX-TA624.  It works perfectly and now I have an Ooma line as CO3 throughout the house and all 17 of its extensions!

I just ordered the Obi110 and will use that for the second new line and install that into the CO2 or CO4 port of the KX-TA624.  It should work, so I'm excited.  At that point, I'll probably switch Ooma back to just using it as a dedicated fax line (since Ooma works with fax, and I don't think the Obi does, no?), and use Obi as a voice line throughout the house, or I'll use both since I have two lines to play with (and just split the Ooma so it goes to fax and to the KX-TA624)...

Anyways I'll keep you posted once my Obi110 shows up in the mail, but for now things are looking good.

Last question-- has anyone put an Ooma Core phone line into the FX port of the Obi110?  Is there any possible reason one would want to do this? :)

thanks again!
-A

RonR

Quote from: 00aas on July 05, 2011, 03:15:07 PM
Last question-- has anyone put an Ooma Core phone line into the FX port of the Obi110?  Is there any possible reason one would want to do this? :)

Others have reported successfully using an Ooma and OBi connected together.

MichiganTelephone

Quote from: 00aas on July 05, 2011, 03:15:07 PMLast question-- has anyone put an Ooma Core phone line into the FX port of the Obi110?  Is there any possible reason one would want to do this? :)

You certainly can do that, but keep in mind that with your setup, if you were using a service provider (such as Google Voice) via your OBi110, and a call came in on the Ooma, there would be no way to take both calls at once (on different extensions) and probably no way to send a switchhook flash to switch between the two services (unless your PBX actually is capable of passing flashes through).  I think several people have connected an Ooma device to an OB110, but in the majority of such cases their phone(s) are connected directly to the phone port.  By having the PBX in between, it may create some additional issues.

On the other hand, you might want to do it if you wanted to access the Ooma device from another OBi device (or softphone) on your account, or in your "Circle of Trust."  Although with your setup, that's not how I'd do it — I'd run an actual extension of the PBX to the Line port and then access that from your other devices, giving you access to all your lines and connections.
Inactive, no longer posting or responding to messages.  Goodbye and good luck.  Some of my old Obihai-related blog posts have been moved to http://tech.iprock.com - note this in NOT my blog; I have simply given the owner permission to repost some of my old stuff.