Need help setting up oversea OBI110

[thaychua]

I need help setting up Obi110 currently in vietnam. GV -> sp1. PSTN -> line. This is what I want to do:

1. When my sister calls from her cell phone( vietnam cell phone) to her PSTN line number, it rings her pstn line normally unless she wants to access the obi110 to get to GV with mininal hassle. I know I can add her number to the Trusted callers, but if I do that then she will be greeted with AA. I dont want that. I want her call to ring her PSTN line normally unless she wants to access to obi110 by pressing a number within the first 3 seconds to access the GV. Will the obi110 do this?

[QBZappy]

thaychua,

Welcome,

The OBi is either handling the call or not. The only way that I can think of reproducing something similar to what you want is by delaying when the OBi takes control of the call is as follows:

You will need two telephones attached with a simple line splitter for this to work. Connect the OBi with the attached 1st phone AND the second telephone to the line splitter. The devices are setup in parallel. Increase the RingDelay in the OBi to some number of rings where most people will probably hang up (5+ rings). When she calls in, the telephone NOT attached to the OBi will ring normally. After a preset number of rings the AA will take the call since you put the number in the COT, allowing the person to use the services of the OBi. You can set up the AA with or with a PIN.

Can anyone think of a better way?

[Stewart]

It would not be possible for the OBi to do exactly what you want, because until a POTS call is "answered", a device cannot "listen" for tones.

If her VN mobile can block caller ID on a per-call basis, she could use that to call home and the AA would not answer.

You can set up the OBi so her call would ring the phone port for say, two or three rings, then be answered by the AA.

It may be easier for her to call a different number to access the AA, e.g. a Rebtel access number (which would be free, if it routed to her OBi via iNum).

Or, some other arrangement may be more suitable.

For more specific advice, please post:
Do you also have an OBi in the US?  If so, with which service(s)?
Will she mostly be calling you, or will she be calling many other international contacts?
Does she have a smartphone with Internet access?
On her mobile plan, what does a local call cost?  An incoming call?
What have you set up (or are planning to set up) for you to call her?  If it involves the OBi calling her mobile from the PSTN line, is that free?

[thaychua]

I do have another Obi here in the US. The main objective is for her to call us when she is a way from the house without internet access. If she is at home or somewhere with internet access, then there are no problem of calling us. She either using FaceTime or Sipgate ( on PAP2/iphone). International call for her is expensive. Local call could be free if she subscribe to it.   My plan is to use the Obi thru PSTN line to call her cell phone. It is not free, but way cheaper then international call for me.  I guess she has to use the AA and speed dail.

I have another problem: the phone does not ring with incoming call.  The phone is working fine when connecting to the PSTN.  There must be a setting somewhere on the Obi to make it work. A little background on this. The Pap2 does not ring the phone either. She has DSL router with 4 ports. 1->TV. 2->desktop. 3->wireless router 3rd floor. 4-> wireless router 1st floor. Pap2 is connecting the port on the wireless router on the 3Rd fl is working fine. another Pap2 is connecting to the port of wireless router on the 1st fl is working fine, but does not ring same as the OBi. The same credentials and setting on the pap2s. Is the port 5060/5061 causing this problem? I have changed the ring frequency from sinoudal to trapzaoid, but does not work.

[Stewart]

If the SP2 slot of the US OBi is registered to a provider that offers iNum (Callcentric, Localphone, VoIP.ms, etc.), she could simply dial a Rebtel number (they have Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh) and it would ring your OBi directly and at no cost (except for her cellular airtime, if applicable).  If desired, you could fork those calls to your US cell phone as well.  If this won't work for you, please provide details.

For calling her VN mobile, I've seen rates as low as ~$0.02/min., e.g. cheapvoipinc.  What does it cost from her landline?

If a PSTN call through the OBi does not ring her phone, this is not a port conflict problem; the path should work even without Internet access.  Make a test call and while the phone should be ringing, refresh the Phone and Line Status page in the OBi and confirm that the Phone port is in Ringing state.  Also, confirm that the phone can ring when connected to the PSTN via a two-conductor cord (some phones use a third wire for the ringer, which might not be connected when plugged into the OBi).  If these are both ok, for the Phone port, try changing RingFrequency to 25 or 30, or RingVoltage to 85.  Also, try turning off CallerIDEnable (that protocol might be messing up the ring).  Also, you might test the OBi with the phone that does work with the PAP2.