Obi202 Dial Plan / Digit Map UK configuration

[kknb0800]

Hi,

I live in the UK (London) and recently bought an Obi202. I've only just started to use it but I can already see what a fantastic device it is. The main reason for buying it is to call the UK, Cyprus and Greece. I've read the admin guide and many many forum posts and I was able to put together the below configuration.

My setup is:
UK / GR / CY landline calls routed through sp1
CY mobile calls routed through sp2
GR mobile calls routed through sp3
UK mobile calls routed through sp4
(all SIP providers are in the US)

I'm probably trying to run before I can walk but what I'm attempting to do is to allow the user to dial a number as if they were in the country. I don't know if this is a good idea but from the information out there, it seemed to me as though this is possible.

The other issue I was unsure about is were it's actually best to do these number transformations? I decided upon doing the transformations in OutboundCallRoute and passing the resultant number down to the individual ITSP Profile digitmaps for validation before dialling out. This seemed the most logical way to go but I'd like to know which is best.

Physical Interfaces > PHONE Port > DigitMap:
([1-9]x?*(Mpli)|[1-9]S9|[1-9][0-9]S9|999|**0|***|#|##|**70(Msp1)|**8(Mbt)|**81(Mbt)|**82(Mbt2)|**1(Msp1)|**2(Msp2)|**3(Msp3)|**4(Msp4)|**9(Mpp)|(Mpli))

Physical Interfaces > PHONE Port > OutboundCallRoute:
{([1-9]x?*(Mpli)):pp},{(<##:>):li},{(<#:>):ph2},{(<**70:>(Mli)):li},{(<**82:>(Mbt2)):bt2},{(<**81:>(Mbt)):bt},{(<**8:>(Mbt)):bt},{**0:aa},{***:aa2},{(<**1:>(Msp1)):sp1},{(<**2:>(Msp2)):sp2},{(<**3:>(Msp3)):sp3},{(<**4:>(Msp4)):sp4},{(<**9:>(Mpp)):pp},{(Mpli):pli},{(<0:><:0044>0[12]xx.):sp1},{00357xx.:sp1},{<:0030>2xx.:sp1},{<:00357>9[97]xx.:sp2},{(<:0030>69xx.):sp3},{(<0:><:0044>07xx.):sp4}

Service Providers > ITSP Profile A > General > DigitMap:
(0044[12]xx.|00357xx.|00302xx.)   --> UK / GR / CY landline

Service Providers > ITSP Profile B > General > DigitMap:
(003579[97]xx.)   --> CY mobile

Service Providers > ITSP Profile C > General > DigitMap:
(003069xx.)   --> GR mobile

Service Providers > ITSP Profile C > General > DigitMap:
(0447xx.)   --> UK mobile


Number formats:
UK landline & mobile: 14 digits incl. country code / 11 digits if calling within the country
GR landline & mobile: 14 digits incl. country code / 10 digits if calling within the country
CY landline & mobile: 13 digits incl. country code / 8 digits if calling within the country

I would really appreciate it if someone can take a look at the above to see if what I'm doing looks correct and if it's the best way to go about implementing my desired solution. I've only been looking at this stuff for a day so I'm definitely in the learning stage and keen to ensure that I follow best practices when setting up my obi box.

Many thanks in advance!

[kknb0800]

Having read a bit more I have since made the below changes in bold:

Physical Interfaces > PHONE Port > DigitMap:
([1-9]x?*(Mpli)|[1-9]S9|[1-9][0-9]S9|999|**0|***|#|##|**70(Msp1)|**8(Mbt)|**81(Mbt)|**82(Mbt2)|**1(Msp1)|**2(Msp2)|**3(Msp3)|**4(Msp4)|**9(Mpp)|(Mpli)|0[12](Msp1)|2xx.(Msp1)|9[9765](Msp2)|69(Msp3)|07(Msp4))

Physical Interfaces > PHONE Port > OutboundCallRoute:
{([1-9]x?*(Mpli)):pp},{(<##:>):li},{(<#:>):ph2},{(<**70:>(Mli)):li},{(<**82:>(Mbt2)):bt2},{(<**81:>(Mbt)):bt},{(<**8:>(Mbt)):bt},{**0:aa},{***:aa2},{(<**1:>(Msp1)):sp1},{(<**2:>(Msp2)):sp2},{(<**3:>(Msp3)):sp3},{(<**4:>(Msp4)):sp4},{(<**9:>(Mpp)):pp},{(Mpli):pli},{(<0:><:0044>0[12]xx.):sp1},{<:0030>2xxxxxxxxxx:sp1},{<:00357>2xxxxxxx:sp1},{<:00357>9[9765]xx.:sp2},{(<:0030>69xx.):sp3},{(<0:><:0044>07xx.):sp4}

Would this work?

[ianobi]

kknb0800 – welcome to the forum.

The first thing to say is that there is more than one way of achieving your aims. I'll suggest one way.

I'm assuming that your Primary Line is SP1 Service. Leave Phone Port DigitMaps and OutboundCallRoutes at default.

Service Providers > ITSP Profile A > General > DigitMap:
(<**200357>9[97]xxxxxx|<**30030>69xxxxxxxx|<0:**40044>7xxxxxxxxx|<0:0044>[12]xxxxxxxxx|0044[12]xxxxxxxxx|<:00357>[1-8]xxxxxxxS4|00357[1-8]xxxxxxx|<:0030>2xxxxxxxxx|00302xxxxxxxx)

Service Providers > ITSP Profile B > General > DigitMap:
(003579[97]xxxxxx)

Service Providers > ITSP Profile C > General > DigitMap:
(003069xxxxxxxx)

Service Providers > ITSP Profile D > General > DigitMap:
(00447xxxxxxxxx)

Try to avoid xx. where possible, it introduces delays as your OBi will wait a long time to see if you have finished dialling as it does not know how many digits to expect.

Try this solution and see if it works. I have not checked it very thoroughly, so I may have missed or added an x here or there! We may need a few posts to get it exactly right. We have not mentioned emergency numbers etc yet.

You are welcome to a full explanation of how it should work (if it does work), but not today – brain worn out now until tomorrow  


Edit: Are you sure that all of your sip providers use the international prefix "00" - it's worth checking.

[kknb0800]

Hi ianobi,

Many thanks for replying so quickly - really appreciate you taking the time to help me.

Primary Line is indeed SP1 Service.

Just one initial question...do the maps you suggested require the user to dial **1 etc.? I can't figure out how the number would be passed to the ITSP digitmap without dialing **1 etc.

Yes, all of the providers I use require the international prefix "00" to be used.

I will give it a try and let you know how I get on 

Many thanks again!

[ianobi]

Just one initial question...do the maps you suggested require the user to dial **1 etc.? I can't figure out how the number would be passed to the ITSP digitmap without dialing **1 etc.

It should all work automagically! The OBi is very powerful at transforming and routing numbers. The Phone Port DigitMap and OutboundCallRoute work as a two-stage processor doing all the work for you. Read the first post here:

http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=513.msg3001#msg3001

In your setup note that ITSP Profile A = Msp1 = Mpli

Mpli is "Primary Line DigitMap". This is where digits go that are not prefaced by ** codes.


I'll work through the UK examples, as I live in the UK I should be on safe ground:

User dials 01xxxxxxxxx (UK landline). In the first stage Msp1/Mpli rule <0:0044>[12]xxxxxxxxx will replace the leading 0 with 0044 so the number becomes 00441xxxxxxxxx. In the second stage 00441xxxxxxxxx is passed to the Phone Port OutboundCallRoute. It is compared to all rules from left to right until a match is found. The only match is 0044[12]xxxxxxxxx in Msp1/Mpli. This means the number will be routed out via your Primary Line, which is sp1.

User dials 07xxxxxxxxx (UK mobile phone). In the first stage Msp1/Mpli rule <0:**40044>7xxxxxxxxx will replace the leading 0 with **40044 so the number becomes **400447xxxxxxxxx. In the second stage **400447xxxxxxxxx is passed to the Phone Port OutboundCallRoute. It is compared to all rules from left to right until a match is found. The match is found in this rule {(<**4:>(Msp4)):sp4}. The first part <**4:> removes the **4, then 00447xxxxxxxxx matches the only rule in Msp4 so the call is routed out to sp4.

Note that we have not altered the Phone Port DigitMaps or OutboundCallRoutes in any way. The OBi is designed to do a lot of the work for you. The only changes needed may be for your emergency number calls. Normally in the UK we replace 911 in the Phone Port DigitMap with 999|112. Then in the Phone Port OutboundCallRoute we create a rule such as {(999|112):sp1} which will send emergency calls out to sp1 without any reference to any other digitmaps. However, this depends upon having a local UK Voip provider to send the emergency call to.

May I ask how you are intending to receive calls? A local UK voip provider would be useful for this and for 999/112 calls. Sipgate.co.uk are good value for landline calls and provide 999/111 for free. They give you a free UK landline number. However, they are quite expensive for mobile phone calls. Maybe you could combine your Greek and Cypress mobile calls onto one voip provider to leave a space for a UK voip provider.

There's a few other issues to explain, such as Greek and Cyprus calls maybe both starting with "2"? However, this post is already long enough, so we'll leave that for another time!

[kknb0800]

My understanding of the routing was completely wrong. Thanks for explaining it...things have all of a sudden become much clearer 

I plan to use the obi box just for outgoing calls so that I can take advantage of the much better rates. I have BT broadband so I have to have a fixed PSTN line anyway. I looked at Sipgate but their rates are just too expensive for what I want. Although they do provide a number, I'd be better off just dialing an access code from my BT line which is a shame as they could have been a good option.

I am actually considering purchasing an  "OBiLINE - FXO to USB Phone Line Adapter" so that I can use both through obi. If I did, I'd still keep SP1 as primary line as that's the one I use the most and simply have the pstn line for incoming and emergency 999/112 calls. I guess this would be a separate discussion if I was to go down this route.   

So, back to the matter at hand; I tried calling Greek and Cyprus mobiles and that works a treat - everything  routed correctly. Even the wife was impressed which is no mean feat in iteself! As for the Greek and Cyprus landlines, I haven't tried these yet but I'm sure there won't be any issues. However, I (think I) can see what the issue is. In this case, would the impact simply be on the time it takes to match the dialed number or am I looking at a bigger problem?

[ianobi]

It may be academic now, but you might have been ok with an OBi110. It only has two spX, but has PSTN capability built in and eight Voice Gateways that can be used for outgoing calls only. The OBi202 also has the Voice Gateways if you need them.

The point about the Greek and Cypriot numbers is that I think that they can both start with a "2". I'm guessing somewhat here, you know more than me on this subject! Anyhow Greek numbers are 10 digits and Cyprus numbers are 8 digits. The problem now is what happens if someone dials a Greek number slowly. After 8 digits the OBi will think it's got a match for a Cyprus number and will send those 8 digits as a number out on sp2. Looking at my proposed ITSP Profile A DigitMap there is this rule:

<:00357[1-8]xxxxxxxS4

Oops, I've just noticed I missed a ">". The rule should be:

<:00357>[1-8]xxxxxxxS4

I'll correct the original post in case someone copies it. So this rules says an eight digit number starting with 1 to 8 will have 00357 prepended to it. The S4 means that after the eighth digit the OBi processor will wait for 4 seconds before accepting the eight digits as a complete number. If someone is dialling a Greek number, as soon as the ninth digit is dialled the OBi processor will ignore the above rule and after the tenth digit is dialled it will match the Greek number format. So the only impact is the addition of a four second delay when calling a Cyprus landline.

The S4 is unnecessary if you are dialling with say a DECT phone where you put the whole number in then press the "go" button. However with a conventional corded phone you may pause after eight digits to look up the rest of the Greek number and find yourself calling Cyprus instead!

[kknb0800]

When I first bought the obi202, I knew nothing about any of this stuff. The reason I went for the obi202 is that I  read that it supports up to 4 voip accounts whereas the obi110 only supports 2 and thought that's what I needed. I had no idea about voice gateways and still didn't until you mentioned it. All things considered the obi110 would have been a better solution for me. Rather than ordering the OBiLINE adapter, it's only and extra £15 to get the obi110 and I'll find another use for the obi202 i.e. send it to another family member abroad.

I played around with voice gateways last night and managed to get everything working through them rather than through the ITSP profiles. If anyone wants, I can post my config up. I did this just in case I did move to the 110.

Thanks again ianobi for all your help! I wouldn't have got this far without it.

[drgeoff]

There are a few gotchas with Voice Gateways.  They don't register with the ITSP which obviously means no incoming calls and, possibly more crucial, can only be used with ITSPs which allow calling without registration.  Some do, some don't.

That said, Voice Gateways are indeed useful.

[kknb0800]

At the moment I'm using Betamax providers and so far so good but the 202 may prove to be more future proof in case my requirements change. Something to consider I guess...

[ianobi]

At £35 the OBi110 is good value at the moment. I have two and they work very well with PSTN here, although you will have to make changes to various Line Port settings to match a British Telecom line - the info is available.

I have no experience of the OBiLINE adapter, but some posts here have caused me to doubt that it is an exact replacement for the OBi110 built in PSTN facility. The OBi202 has two phone ports and a bit more processing power than the OBi110, which may be important to some people. I have tested an OBi110 with four simultaneous calls going on and found it coped very well.

There are big advantages to having all your services (PSTN and VOIP) on the one OBi device as this allows all sorts of bridging to happen. For instance may wish to dial in via your BT line from a remote location and bridge a call out on a VOIP service.

Voice Gateways are indeed useful. They do need to "piggy-back" off sp services configured for SIP. That's no problem, it does not even have to be a real SIP VOIP provider. I have my sp2 set up as a fake SIP provider and use various services like voipcheap on Voice Gateways piggy-backed on sp2.

Anyhow, it looks like you have got a good understanding very quickly if you have already tried Voice Gateways and reconfigured your dial plans!