Have POTS routed thru OBI110 to a Different locations OBI

[Creditcardjoint]

Hi,

I am looking for guidance as to which devices to buy, and how to set up the following.

I have POTS from Verizon coming to my home.
I want to have that service accessible at my work.
I want to buy the obi110 plug it in my home, to upload the POTS and then have another obi device at my work to connect to that POTS, which device should I get?

And how will I set up the link.

Thanks

[azrobert]

Do you just want to receive inbound POTS calls at work or do you want to also place outbound POTS calls? There are several solutions you can use. All require configuration changes on your OBi device(s).

Solution 1
An OBi110 at home and an OBi200 at work. You can also use an OBi100 at work, but for about $10 more the OBi200 is a newer/better box. You would route calls over the OBiTalk network. Inbound and outbound calls will work. Make sure work doesn't have a firewall or some other security that would block VOIP traffic.

Solution 2
OBiHai provides a free softphone for Android and iPhone. You would only need and OBi110. Inbound and outbound calls on your smartphone will work. OBiHai has not updated these apps for a long time and a lot of people have problems with them. You won't know if OBiON will work until you try.

Solution 3
The CSipSimple Android softphone and the free Sip2Sip service. You would only need and OBi110. Inbound and outbound calls on your Android will work. This is a more complex setup.

Solution 4
Setup a free Google Voice on the OBi110. Route calls to any phone number. Inbound only. You won't see the original inbound callerid. You will see the GV callerid. You won't be able to call phone number and an extension.

Edit:
OBiHai provides a free network call OBiTalk. Each OBi device is assigned a unique 9 digit number (OBi Number). When you setup a device it is automatically connected to the OBiTalk network. You can easily communicate between 2 OBi devices using the 9 digit OBi number.

[Creditcardjoint]

Do you just want to receive inbound POTS calls at work or do you want to also place outbound POTS calls? There are several solutions you can use. All require configuration changes on your OBi device(s).

Solution 1
An OBi110 at home and an OBi200 at work. You can also use an OBi100 at work, but for about $10 more the OBi200 is a newer/better box. You would route calls over the OBiTalk network. Inbound and outbound calls will work. Make sure work doesn't have a firewall or some other security that would block VOIP traffic.


Edit:
OBiHai provides a free network call OBiTalk. Each OBi device is assigned a unique 9 digit number (OBi Number). When you setup a device it is automatically connected to the OBiTalk network. You can easily communicate between 2 OBi devices using the 9 digit OBi number.

Thank you so much for your detailed and prompt response.

Solution #1 is exactly what I am looking to do.
I would like to receive and make outbound calls by my work using the POTS that will be plugged into the obi110 at my home.

Will I be able to send Faxes too? That is also very important.
Will I get CID at my work, also - will my outbound # show up as my POTS #?

One last thing, what do I do at my work obi to link it to my obi110 at home? (I am somewhat familiar with the obitalk interface, not a total newbie )

Thanks again!

[azrobert]

Will I be able to send Faxes too?

I have an OBi110 and a POTS and when I tested FAX it was inconsistent. I ended up putting the fax directly on the POTS line. That was a very long time ago and I don't remember the percent of success. There have been several firmware upgrades since then, so I don't know if things have changed.  In my case the fax was connected directly on the OBi110. You are adding more complexity by sending the fax over OBiTalk.

I've had very good luck sending/receiving faxes using Google Voice. I don't use a fax very often, but other people have also reported good luck. Get a free GV account and define it on the OBi200. You can setup distinctive ring, so the fax machine won't interfere with inbound calls from your POTS. You would have to dial a prefix to send a fax to GV. The OBi200 has features for fax that the OBi100 doesn't.

Will I get CID at my work

You will see the inbound POTS CID and outbound will also have the POTS CID.

what do I do at my work obi to link it to my obi110 at home?

You need to create an OBiTalk account then add your OBi110 and OBi200 to your account. Now you can communicate with any OBi device on the OBiTalk network by using the OBi number of the other device. Inbound calls you just route the call to the OBiTalk with the destination OBi number. To send an outbound call the format is OBi number, star and outbound number (290123456*18005551212). The OBi200 can be configured to automatically add the OBi number and star to an outbound number.

You can setup everything at home and when working you can take the OBi200 to work without any configuration changes. 

[Creditcardjoint]

Will I be able to send Faxes too?

I have an OBi110 and a POTS and when I tested FAX it was inconsistent. I ended up putting the fax directly on the POTS line. That was a very long time ago and I don't remember the percent of success. There have been several firmware upgrades since then, so I don't know if things have changed.  In my case the fax was connected directly on the OBi110. You are adding more complexity by sending the fax over OBiTalk.

I've had very good luck sending/receiving faxes using Google Voice. I don't use a fax very often, but other people have also reported good luck. Get a free GV account and define it on the OBi200. You can setup distinctive ring, so the fax machine won't interfere with inbound calls from your POTS. You would have to dial a prefix to send a fax to GV. The OBi200 has features for fax that the OBi100 doesn't.

In regards to Fax, that is very important to me. People will be dialing my home POTS # to send me faxes, I want to be able to receive those faxes in my office. What would be the most stable way to get those faxes?

Thanks

[azrobert]

I have an OBi110 and an OBi200. I just successfully sent 4 one page faxes over my POTS line. The 1st two the fax machine was connected directly to the OBi110. The 2nd two the fax machine was connected to the OBi200. On the 2nd test the call setup is done over the OBiTalk. Once that is complete the fax is sent from the OBi200 to the OBi110 over my local network. In your case the fax will be sent over the OBiTalk network, so there is no guaranty you will get the same result. Also, the quality of your network and POTS line will make a difference. I'm not setup to send a fax to myself, so I couldn't test inbound faxes. This is the best I can do. Maybe someone else can chime in.

[SteveInWA]

I'm not setup to send a fax to myself, so I couldn't test inbound faxes.

If you'd like to test it, I use faxzero.com for testing fax receipt.  You can send a one-page fax to your own fax number for free.  For testing fax sending, faxtoy.net is handy.

[SteveInWA]

In regards to Fax, that is very important to me. People will be dialing my home POTS # to send me faxes, I want to be able to receive those faxes in my office. What would be the most stable way to get those faxes?

If this is "very important", then don't decrease reliability by chaining several points of failure together.  Get a fax mailbox.  The faxes get received at the provider's data center, and are then converted to a PDF or JPG file.  You can have the service email you the file wherever you want, immediately.  I use Callcentric for this purpose.  You can get one of their free NY State inbound numbers (DIDs), and assign it to their fax server.

[Creditcardjoint]

I have an OBi110 and an OBi200. I just successfully sent 4 one page faxes over my POTS line. The 1st two the fax machine was connected directly to the OBi110. The 2nd two the fax machine was connected to the OBi200. On the 2nd test the call setup is done over the OBiTalk. Once that is complete the fax is sent from the OBi200 to the OBi110 over my local network. In your case the fax will be sent over the OBiTalk network, so there is no guaranty you will get the same result. Also, the quality of your network and POTS line will make a difference. I'm not setup to send a fax to myself, so I couldn't test inbound faxes. This is the best I can do. Maybe someone else can chime in.

[StanBlue]

what do I do at my work obi to link it to my obi110 at home?

You need to create an OBiTalk account then add your OBi110 and OBi200 to your account. Now you can communicate with any OBi device on the OBiTalk network by using the OBi number of the other device. Inbound calls you just route the call to the OBiTalk with the destination OBi number. To send an outbound call the format is OBi number, star and outbound number (290123456*18005551212). The OBi200 can be configured to automatically add the OBi number and star to an outbound number.

Can you help with a little more explanation:
1) How do I do this.. "Inbound calls you just route the call to the OBiTalk with the destination OBi number. "
2) How do I do this.. "The OBi200 can be configured to automatically add the OBi number and star to an outbound number."

Where do I change the configuration, and what do i enter?

Thanks!

[azrobert]

I'm assuming you have a local OBi110 connected to a POTS line and a remote OBixxx. You want inbound POTS calls to be routed to the local and remote phone ports.
You need to use OBi Expert to make the following changes.

Local OBi110:

Physical Interfaces -> Line Port -> InboundCallRoute:
ph,pp(510123456)

Replace 51012345 with the OBi number of the remote OBixxx.

Remote OBixxx

Voice Services -> OBiTalk Service -> InboundCallRoute: ph

This is the default, but sometimes this is automatically altered to send calls to the Auto Attendant.

To send outbound calls from the remote to the local OBi110 I will need more info.
Do you currently have a provider defined on the remote OBi and are you routing outbound calls from the remote phone port to the provider or are you only going to use the remote OBi to route outbound calls to the local OBi110 POTS.
What is the format of the numbers you are going to route to the POTS? 7, 10 and 11 digits?
Do you want to route calls to another provider, other than POTS on the OBi110?

[azrobert]

This is a general OBi Expert guide:
From the OBiTalk dashboard click Edit Profile on the left column.
At the bottom of the page check "Enable OBi Expert..."
Click Submit Query.
Now you can go directly to OBi Expert from the dashboard.
If you don't enable the OBi Expert button, you need 4 clicks to get to OBi Expert like this:
Click on the gear ICON, select OBi Expert, confirm and select OBi Expert again.   

Click OBi Dashboard.
On the right of your OBixxx is an icon with a red E.
Click on it to enter OBi Expert.

To navigate click on the titles with the +
Then click on a sub-title
An example click on Service Providers
Then click ITSP Profile A General
There are 2 boxes to the right of each parameter
To change a value uncheck the box under OBiTalk Setting
Then uncheck the box under Device Default
Now change the value
After you have made all the necessary changes for that page, click Submit at the bottom of the page.
OBiTalk will download the configuration changes to the OBi and reboot it.
Wait until this process is complete before continuing to the next page.

[Creditcardjoint]

To send outbound calls from the remote to the local OBi110 I will need more info.

Do you currently have a provider defined on the remote OBi and are you routing outbound calls from the remote phone port to the provider or are you only going to use the remote OBi to route outbound calls to the local OBi110 POTS.
What is the format of the numbers you are going to route to the POTS? 7, 10 and 11 digits?

Do you want to route calls to another provider, other than POTS on the OBi110?

I want to route calls from remote obi - to pots on obi 110 - that's the only SP that I have. All # will be 10 digit format, 1-212-555-1212.

How will I set that part up?

Thanks for the other info.

[azrobert]

OBi200

Voice Services -> OBiTalk Service -> DigitMap:
(222222222|<200123456*>1?xxxxxxxxxx)

Replace 200123456 with the OBi number of the OBi110.
This rule will add prefix "200123456*" to the dialed number.
222222222 is the echo test number

Physical Interfaces -> Phone Port -> DigitMap:
([1-9]x?*(Mpli)|[1-9]S9|[1-9][0-9]S9|911|**0|***|#|##|**70(Mli)|**8(Mbt)|**81(Mbt)|**82(Mbt2)|**1(Msp1)|**2(Msp2)|**3(Msp3)|**4(Msp4)|**9(Mpp)|1?xxxxxxxxxx)

I replaced the last rule, (Mpli) in the phone digit map with "1?xxxxxxxxxx".
This will validate the dialed number.

Physical Interfaces -> Phone Port -> Primary Line: OBiTalk Service

Physical Interfaces -> Phone Port -> OutboundCallRoute
The last rule "{(Mpli):pli} will route calls to the OBiTalk service because you set the Primary Line to the OBiTalk Service.

OBi110:

Voice Services -> OBiTalk Service -> InboundCallRoute:
{510123456>(1?xxxxxxxxxx):li},{ph}

Replace 510123456 with the OBi number of the OBi200.
This will route calls from the OBi200 to Line.
Dial **9222222222 for the echo test.

You said "10 digit format", but then gave an 11 digit format example.
The "1?" will accept a number with/without a "1" prefix.

[Creditcardjoint]

You said "10 digit format", but then gave an 11 digit format example.
The "1?" will accept a number with/without a "1" prefix.

I am sorry for putting the "1" in, I will not dial one first. Do I change anything from your above post?

[azrobert]

Both 10 and 11 digits numbers will work, so you don't have to change anything. If you want 11 digits to fail, change rule "1?xxxxxxxxxx" to "xxxxxxxxxx" in 3 places.