Hello all. Sorry for the long post, but I wanted to include as much detail as possible.
I've been happy with using my OBi200 for over a year now - up until recently, I had the Obi connected directly into a port on my Wireless Router, and it's worked flawlessly alongside other devices that have been connected to the same Wireless Router - which includes a large Cisco SOHO router that keeps me connected to my work/agency across the county, via a VPN connection. With that VPN connection, I work remotely using a Windows 10 laptop.
Within the last week, however, I have changed my network config. Previously, all of the aforementioned network devices (including my ISP's cable modem) were all physically located in the same room - my office/den in the corner of my home. But because I wanted the cable modem and my wireless router to be in a central location of my home, I've moved those 2 components to a utility room, and have a single run of cat5 Ethernet cable running to my office. This required me to purchase a 5-port gigabit switch (Linksys SE3005) so that I could "split" the single connection into at least two ports, so that I could plug in both my agency's Cisco SOHO router and my Obi device to the internet, and have them both in my office. So, just to be clear, my internet connection goes from my cable modem in my utility room, to my Wireless Router in the same room, through the wall(s) to my office, to a 5-port switch. In one switch port is the Obi device (connected to my house phone). In another switch port is my agency's Cisco SOHO router (which then connects downstream to a Cisco VoIP desk phone, to a Dell "docking" station, and then to my work Windows 10 laptop).
I don't often receive calls on the Obi, but when I did just yesterday my house phone connected to the Obi Device, as expected, rang.... BUT SO DID THE WINDOWS 10 LAPTOP. By "ring", I mean that my work Windows 10 laptop made a special "ringing" sound like there was incoming call... but there was nothing else - nothing on the laptop's GUI, nothing on my agency's Cisco VoIP desk phone, nothing. Just a ringing sound emanating from the laptop, that ended once the call was picked up.
I'm baffled as to why this is happening. First, while I know that the laptop is running some local services, most of what it does it's doing through the VPN, so I don't know why it would "react" to a local call going to/through the Obi. Second, I started to blame the new switch for this, because it's the new element in the mix... however, I'm beginning to wonder if it's the Obi200 itself. Does the Obi200 act as a network HUB that broadcasts the incoming call signal to any/all devices on the network? If so, that might explain this.
TIA for any help.
