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OBi110 Works Great -- now how do I connect other 'extension' phones?

Started by wilberfan, February 27, 2013, 09:28:15 AM

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wilberfan

Just moved into a new place, and being tired of paying $30/mo for landline service from AT&T, thought I'd give the OBi a try.

NewEgg sent my OBi110 the other day, and setting it up was not that difficult.  Last night I tweaked router settings etc.   So far, so good.

My next issue is conceptually understanding how I can connect 'extension' phones--phones in other rooms--into this new system.  The 110 IS capable of this, correct?  

Do I understand the concept correctly?: Plug the OBi110 (via the "Telco line" port) into an existing phone jack in this room--and any phones plugged into any of the other jacks in any of the other rooms should work?

When I plug a 2nd phone into the Telco Line jack, I get no dial tone, so I'm beginning to think I'm unclear on how to use that port on the OBi110.

I should add that there is presently NO working landline here, ie I have not transfered my service from my old address to this new address...

Does the OBi110 require a WORKING landline to use the "Telco Line" port?

What am I missing conceptually here...?

Lavarock7

The 110 has a Line port to connect to an existing telephone line (POTS). many people have disconnected that connection but if ATT still supplies 911 service after you cancel service, you might want to keep that. Some states require the old phone companies to continue to supply 911 service to you even after cancelling service with them.

The PHONE port can connect to 1 or multiple phones (there is a limit) but they are all like your current phones in the house, they share the same dial tone.

The Internet connection allows you to access other local or long distance companies (VOIP suppliers).

The 110 has slots for two of those. Many people use GoogleVoice for one provider and perhaps another provider for the second slot.

The 110 (and other Obis) allow you to ROUTE calls from the phone to the old ATT connection or to Googlevoice or the other VOIP companies you have chosen.

Incoming calls could be routed to go to another VOIP provider and call out or to the phone, etc. Usually, the calls come to the connected phone instrument.

Think of the box as your "phone company". You can sign up for services and have them send calls to you. You can decide which company to send certain calls to, depending upon how many minutes you buy from them or whether they serve a certain part of the world with reasonable rates, etc.

If you decide that you want to keep the connection to ATT (for 911 service) and use VOIP providers AND have multiple phones in the house be able to use the OBI, you would IN general:

1) Break the connection between the incoming phone line to your house and the point where all the current phones attach

2) You would then connect the existing phones to the PHONE port and connect the LINE port so it looks out to ATT.

This puts the 110 between your house phones and the ATAT "phone company"

The Obi can be instructed to place 911 calls out through ATT and any other calls through , say GoogleVoice for free. This "routing" of calls is one of the plusses to the Obi.

If you wanted 2 different phone lines (say home and office) and did not need connection to your old phone company, then an Obi202 might have been a better choice. It has 2 phone slots, no line port and has space for 4 VOIP providers.

The 110 does allow you to have 2 incoming telephone connections and many people use that to provide them 2 different telephone numbers to come to their Obi, but they would generally ring on the same phone attached to it. One number might be a FAX number and come in with a differebt ring (selective ringing) and so on.

The Obi boxes are pretty versatile and people keep finding new ways to sue them. because each persons needs differ, some pretty weird and complex routing has been requested and forum volunteers help as best as we can.
My websites: Kona Coffee: http://itskona.com and Web Hosting: http://planetaloha.info<br />A simplified Voip explanation: http://voip.planet-aloha.com

wilberfan

Wow.  Nice, thorough explaination!  It shed a little light.  Let's see if I get it yet:

I have one cordless phone plugged into the 110 (which is set up to use Google Voice) in the room where the computer(s) and router is.  I use this setup to take (and make) calls when I'm at home.  Is there a way to get other (non-cordless) phones in the house to use the 'same dial-tone' as the cordless?  Say I wanted a non-cordless phone in the bedroom, and one in the kitchen.

That would require physical wiring/splitters to share the one "Phone" port on the 110, yes?

RFord

Let us simplify things here.  First thing first, the OP mention that they do not have POTS (Land line) service.  Therefore, all he needs to do is to make sure that the Old Telco Service Line is disconnected from the NID (Network Interface Device) at the side of the house ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_interface_device )

Once this is done, he needs to connect the Phone Port of the OBi110 to any jack in the house.  This will back feed ALL jacks in the house that are interconnected!!!!  The Line port on the OBi110 will go unused...no need for it for here on in!  The key here is that he MUST disconnect the Old Telco line from the NID box and make sure there is absolutely no "current" being fed to the inside jacks from the the old telco Line (including any DSL service line).  I'm assuming the OP is using cable Internet.

wilberfan

Okay!  We're making progress here!   ;D

It makes sense that if I plug the OBi into an inside jack, and other phones into the other jacks, that they would all be able to talk to each other.

And I'm pretty sure that I'm completely disconnected from from AT&T.   Here's what the Network Interface looked like this morning when I opened it:

http://imageshack.us/a/img715/8923/img9885n.jpg

Nothing was connected to anything.

I found two lines with only green and red wires available (yellow & black had been wrapped around the insulation) that ran under the house.  I'm assuming these are to the outlets in the kitchen &/or bedrooms.

http://imageshack.us/a/img802/9439/img9886a.jpg

I connected them to the red & green posts visible in the box--in hopes that that would make them talk to 'each other'...   A lot of the (low-voltage) wiring around here looks to have been do-it-yourself (TV dishes, phone extensions) so who knows what's connected to what...but I think I have a better understanding now of how things SHOULD be set up. 

Worst case scenario, I may have to hire an inside-telephone-wiring guy to get stuff set up nice and pretty?

CoalMinerRetired

This website has a pretty thorough reference on traditional telco wiring and color codes, plus a lot more: http://voip.mi-telecom.org/
- Warning, it's lengthy and others have complained 'give me the one page summary.'  I don't know of any.

The other thing to pass on, the three Obi units are rated at 5 'ringer equivalents,' meaning they produce enough energy to ring five typical/traditional analog telephone sets.

wilberfan

Thanks so much for the link.  I'll go through it--for the education if nothing else.  Immediately I now see why one outlet in one of the bedrooms has MULTIPLE colored wires in it--it must be the newer CAT-5 deal.

RFord

Why not save yourself the hassle and go with a good 5-Handset Cordless units spread around the house?  Would be cheaper than having a Telco guy run new wires, etc.  If you must, then have him (or her) run some CAT6 to various points (Rooms) where you would want LAN access and terminated to a central point for connection to your Main Router, while addressing the internal telephone wiring.

From your pictures, it looks like the previous Owner did the job for you....

LeoKing

Quote from: RFord on February 27, 2013, 01:09:31 PM
Why no save yourself the hassle and go with a good 5-Handset Cordless units spread around the house?  Would be cheaper than having a Telco guy run new wires, etc.  If you must, then have him (or her) run some CAT6 to various points (Rooms) where you would want LAN access and terminated to a central point for connection to your Main Router, while addressing the internal telephone wiring.

From your pictures, it looks like the previous Owner did the job for you....

+1

I was going to suggest the same thing. I am connecting a Panasonic wireless phone system with 6 handsets to each of my 2 OBi110's. Simple and worked great for me.

wilberfan

Great minds think alike...  After this mornings postings,  I was driving around today thinking, "Hmmm...why not just get some more cordless handsets...?"

:)

[edit] While we're on the subject, how easy is it to get just handsets to work with my existing cordless base-unit.  It's a Panasonic KX-TC1503 900MHz base unit...  Can I use handsets from other models--or does it have to be an exact match.  (Or will it be cheaper to buy a new unit with 3 add'l handsets?)   :-\

LeoKing

You need to check the Panasonic website to see which handset model(s) will work with your wireless phone system. Note that not all wireless phones can accept additional handsets. If you can't find the info you need, you can email Panasonic customer service to ask. They will respond to your inquiry within 1 business day.

LeoKing


wilberfan

Yeah, I found that too...   I'm beginning to think I'll get more handsets/bang for my buck with a new system...

LeoKing

Yep, the new Panasonic Dect 6.0 phones are awesome with many advanced features such as call blocking, cell phone linking, sleeping mode... The older 900MHz phones usually are not expandable.

wilberfan

Quote from: LeoKing on February 27, 2013, 03:59:39 PM
Yep, the new Panasonic Dect 6.0 phones are awesome with many advanced features such as call blocking, cell phone linking, sleeping mode... The older 900MHz phones usually are not expandable.

I can see several variations of Panasonic on Amazon...  Any recommendations?   ;D  Something w/4 handsets?  Is there an essential feature that I'd need to be aware of considering my new VOIP setup?

LeoKing

Quote from: wilberfan on February 27, 2013, 04:04:06 PM
Quote from: LeoKing on February 27, 2013, 03:59:39 PM
Yep, the new Panasonic Dect 6.0 phones are awesome with many advanced features such as call blocking, cell phone linking, sleeping mode... The older 900MHz phones usually are not expandable.

I can see several variations of Panasonic on Amazon...  Any recommendations?   ;D  Something w/4 handsets?  Is there an essential feature that I'd need to be aware of considering my new VOIP setup?

The KX-TG7745S is my favorite. It can have up to 6 handsets.