Obi200 connected to elevator keypad

[k9tag]

I have my Obi200 hooked to my router and to the phone wiring in my house.  The only phone that I have right now is the one in my elevator.   I get a dial tone on the elevator phone, and when I try to dial any number in the elevator, I get the "go to OBI.com to get configured" message.  I went to the web site and registered, but when I tried to configure the elevator keypad for use with the OBI200, I couldn't, because the * key is required to configure the device, and there is no * key on the keypad in the elevator.  Is there any way to configure an elevator keypad like mine to work with the obi?  Or do I have to get a land line – exactly what I was trying to avoid by getting the OBI?   

[SteveInWA]

Whuuuuuuuut?  Is your sole purpose for buying the OBi to use with an elevator phone?  Why?

If you want to actually use the product as designed, plug any standard analog telephone into its phone jack and configure it with the service provider of your choice.

How do you plan to use this setup?  I assume it is not so that you can make 15-second phone calls in your elevator, like, "Hey, I'm riding the elevator, see you soon!"  Is it for an emergency call box?  Is it only necessary for it to call one number, like the elevator company's emergency service line, or a building superintendent? 

If you'd provide more details, we can help.  You can set up a OBi from its local web page (the device has its own embedded web server, like a router), but you need a service provider, either a SIP VoIP telephone service or Google Voice.  You can't set up Google Voice without a phone to press **5 to initially get it registered on OBiTALK.

[k9tag]

Hi Steve,

Just moved into a new home.  Haven't owned an analog phone in about 20 years.  Cell phone only.  I don't want  a land line.  Noticed this Obi200 product as a possible way to get a phone line in the elevator and a line that I can connect to the alarm system without getting a plain old telephone line.  All looked good, got a dial tone in the elevator, and an Obi voice over the elevator speaker saying I needed to configure the phone.  Went online to get the phone configured, which is when I discovered that the phone in the elevator had no * key, which is required to configure.

So ... what I am hearing now is that to configure the Obi200, I need to go buy an analog phone and plug that into the jack on the back of the Obi.  OK, I can probably find a reasonably priced one or borrow one from a friend.  I will never use the phone after configured.   My question then would be, once configured, and google voice is added,  would the Obi200 work will all devices connected to the local phone line, including the elevator phone, and the alarm system?  Or am I SOL on the elevator phone without getting a land line from ATT?  In other words, am I configuring the Obi, or do I have to configure each device that I attach to the Obi?

I know that if the power and wifi go out, I will have no phone in the elevator.  We don't use the elevator very much, so I don't see this as an issue.  If my wife gets stuck in there and can't call me to rescue her ... well,  we have had many good years together.    

[SteveInWA]

Ha ha about the wife joke.

I hesitate to offer any advice on this, since there are national and state building codes and laws involved with elevator safety requirements.  If this is a private home with a private elevator, you may be exempt, but I just wanted to put that disclaimer out there.

Don't use Google Voice for this solution.  It cannot make 911 emergency calls.

The bigger picture is:  yes, the OBi is an analog telephone adapter, that connects to a standard analog telephone or telephones to make and answer calls.  Yes, you can, in theory, hook it up to your home's telephone wiring, if you first make darn sure that the telephone company's external connection is disconnected at the point of demarcation (the box on the outside of the house or in some place like a basement, garage, etc.).

Also:  Obihai advertises using the product with alarm panels, but it is highly unreliable for this purpose, due to the very old and primitive communications method used by alarm panel dialers.

If you actually want to use the OBi for a landline replacement, you'd need to subscribe to service from an internet telephone service provider (SIP ITSP), such as voip.ms or Callcentric, on a per-minute basis for minimal use.  The monthly cost would be around $2.  Those ITSPs provide E911 service.

Alarm companies have mostly moved to monitoring/communicating via a cellular/LTE communicator, often with a dedicated internet connection for backup.  That's how mine works now.  Both the alarm panel and the mobile radio have backup batteries.

And, with regard to the need for an analog telephone, surely a friend or relative has one you can borrow temporarily. If not, you can buy a basic analog phone at any big-box store or Amazon for perhaps $10-15.  Example:  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GA7JR8C

[azrobert]

I might have a solution for your * key problem. The OBi200 can modify the digits you dial. I modified my OBi to change 005 followed by 4 digits to **5. Normally when you dial **51234, the response is "**51234 was sent to the server". When I dialed 0051234 with my mod, the response was "0051234 was sent to the server", so I'm not sure this will work. I think it's just repeating the original number dialed and the correct string was sent to the server.

Sign into the OBi200 by entering its IP address into an internet browser. The userid and password are both "admin" without the quotes.

On the left of the screen click on Physical Interfaces then click Phone1 Port.
Uncheck the box to the right of DigitMap.
After the beginning parenthesis of the DigitMap Value add the following:
<00:**>5xxxx|

Click Submit at the bottom of the page and confirm.
When you get message "Configuration Update Successful" click reboot at the top of the page.

Now go thru the process to add the OBi200 to OBiTalk, but dial 005xxxx instead of **5xxx.

FYI you can use a cell phone with a softphone installed with the OBi200. You can't use a cell to add the OBi200 to OBiTalk.

[k9tag]

Thanks for the help guys.  You have given me multiple avenues to check out and I will do so before checking back here with the results that I find with my house / system.

One thing that you mention Steve ... to make "darn sure" that the house phone lines are disconnected from the outside world, in my case from ATT.  When the previous owner discontinued service, I am sure that ATT disconnected on their end, but inside of the basement, all wires seem connected, and I wasn't going to mess with them for fear of screwing up the "phone wiring loop" - if there is such a thing - inside of the house.  What trouble am I asking for if I don't make darn sure the basement lines are disconnected?

[SteveInWA]

Thanks for the help guys.  You have given me multiple avenues to check out and I will do so before checking back here with the results that I find with my house / system.

One thing that you mention Steve ... to make "darn sure" that the house phone lines are disconnected from the outside world, in my case from ATT.  When the previous owner discontinued service, I am sure that ATT disconnected on their end, but inside of the basement, all wires seem connected, and I wasn't going to mess with them for fear of screwing up the "phone wiring loop" - if there is such a thing - inside of the house.  What trouble am I asking for if I don't make darn sure the basement lines are disconnected?

Good question:  the problem is:  the telco may say that they disconnected service, but they may have simply canceled the service on their end, while leaving their pair of copper wires electrically connected to your house's wiring.  That pair of wires may still have 48 volts DC on it, which can (at best) prevent the OBi from working, or (at worst) fry it if a power surge or lightning strike hits their lines.  So, if you want to use your home's telephone wiring (i.e. have all the hardwired telephone jacks in the house connected to the OBi's phone signal), then it's important to open that box in the basement, find the pair coming into the box from outside, and physically detach (and insulate with electrical tape and/or wire nuts) those wires.  In a single family house (vs. an apartment building), the wires coming from the telco will typically be a heavier gauge, and may be part of a 4-conductor cable with black insulation.  The wires going into your house are usually part of an 8-conductor cable (like a Cat-5 or 6 Ethernet cable), and will be in color-coded pairs.  Blue + white with blue stripes is line 1, orange + white with orange stripes is line 2, and green + white with green stripes is line 3...

If you have a new house, with some sort of fiber optic or cable service, the wires from the telco's fiber/cable terminal will be connected to your house's telephone demarc box, but it may use the multi-colored cable instead of the ancient telephone wire.

[drgeoff]

Perhaps your cellphone, possibly with an app, can generate the acoustic DTMF pair corresponding to the missing * key.

[k9tag]

Thanks for the info Steve.

drgeoff ... thanks  ...sounds like something out of "Three Days of the Condor", but I will check into it.

[azrobert]

You can define any SIP provider using the local interface without adding your OBi200 to OBitalk. You only need OBiTalk to define GV. If you use Simon Telephonics gateway, you won't need OBiTalk.

https://simonics.com/services/

[SteveInWA]

All this nerding-around, just to avoid buying a cheap telephone at Walmart or Target or Costco?  You could have solved this problem days ago.