POTS and VOIP line switching/device sharing
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Posted by Jeff Kowalski on January 2, 2005, 5:50 pm
Please log in for more thread options (a VoIP line and a POTS line), and am looking for devices with this support. The most uncomfortable thing I find about VoIP presently is the limitation of 911 service (http://slate.com/Default.aspx?id=2106424&). You cannot simply dial and hang up, you must wait to leave your location (in contrast to landline service which requires only the call to connect). And of course if the VoIP provider, the internet, or power are interrupted, 911 on VoIP will be unavailable. With a small kid, guests in the house while I'm away, etc., I feel more comfortable with a phone system that doesn't carry caveats and works as one has come to expect when one has come to expect it to work. Consequently, I've kept my landline, stripped of features, for the express purpose of dialing 911. I'm now looking for a solution which will bind my landline and my VoIP line into one single line phone. I've got only single line phones in my house now, and replacing them with two line phones would eliminate the cost benefits of switching to VoIP in the first place. My second guiding principle therefore is to not outlay more money than I'm saving. Here's my ideal setup: I'd connect both incoming lines to some box which also has a single output to a telephone. When a call comes in to either line, the phone will ring, and on pickup it'll be attached to the active line while the other line is simultaneously placed off hook to generate a busy signal should someone call on that other line. The two incoming lines would operate completely symmetrically. When placing outgoing calls, lifting the receiver should by default attach to the land line (again busying the other VoIP line). If however, I dial a prefix (typically something line #0), the outgoing call would swap to VoIP and busy the landline. Power outages should affect only the ability to select the VoIP line, although it's permitted that the "busy the other line" function might be unavailable; in other words, even during a power failure, I should get a straight connection from my phone to landline for incoming and outgoing calls. These features of the solution would permit me to make calls on VoIP with only a small change in behavior (adding the prefix), and importantly permit use of the landline with absolutely no change in behavior, satisfying my initial goal. I've found a few of these boxes, but none of them are perfect. Here's what my research has uncovered: 1. http://www.artech.com.tw/html/english/ax520/Ax520.htm An interesting choice. On the plus side, it approximates what I want somewhat closely, and could be quite cheap (<$50). However, when the power goes out, it defaults to the formerly prefixed number. In other words, if you dial #0 to get VoIP, then when the power goes out, you get the VoIP line by default with no prefix and can no longer get to the landline. If you connect it the other way, then you'd get landline during power outages automatically, but would be required to dial #0 to get it otherwise. There's no configuration that permits you to get to 911 universally with no extra digits. Perhaps there's some hardware hacking possible. Unfortunately, the company is in Taiwan with distributors only in France, from what I can tell: http://www.cazenave.fr/freebox/ http://www.boxtoo.com/ Interestingly, the French have apparently been doing this for a while. Most of the sites I've found on this topic are in French, but maybe because the search terms I'm using are located in the French posts. There may be German folks, for instance who are active in the area but using other terms, presumably German. 2. http://natcomm.com.au/america/index.cfm?page=product_details&id=37&product_id=37 Looks good, but appears to be in Australia. AUD 116 translates to USD$90, a bit steep, and that's before shipping. 3. http://www.testequipmentdepot.com/skutch/telecomacc/as50.htm Good again, but man it's expensive. $200. 4. http://yellowbox.free.fr/ A build-it-yourself version, but requires a manual switch to select the alternate line. The device will not be conveniently placed, so I've got to have one that permits line selection from the handset. Have any of you looked to solve the same problem? What solutions did you investigate and what did you finally implement? jeff | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted by p on January 3, 2005, 1:36 am
Please log in for more thread options I realize after reading your posts, that you have a locked device you want to do this with. I am only aware of a device that does this with a POTS line and an open BYOD provider, the Sipura 3000. Includes free service too. But, it appears you've already done your research and came up with some devices that might fit the bill. AAMOF, this might not even be what you are looking for at all! http://store.voxilla.com/customer/product.php?productid=16144&cat=0&page= The SPA-3000 features VoIP adapter functionality found in Sipura's wildly successful SPA-2000 and SPA-1000, with the additional benefit of an integral connection for legacy telephone network "hop-on, hop-off" applications. SPA-3000 users will be able to leverage their broadband phone service connections more than ever by automatically routing local calls from cell phones and land lines to a VoIP service provider and vice versa. A typical user calling from a land line or mobile phone can reduce - and even eliminate - international and long distance telephone charges by first calling their SPA-3000 via a local phone number or by using a telephone connected directly to the unit. The advanced authentication and call routing intelligence programmed into the SPA-3000 connects the caller via the Internet to the far end destination with security and ease. At the far end, calls can be answered immediately or further processed as a local call to any legacy land line or mobile phone allowed by the SPA-3000 dial plan. The SPA-3000 may also be used for life line applications. For example, depending on the service provider’s set-up, callers who dial 911 can be automatically routed via the IP or legacy telephone network. If power is lost to the unit or the VoIP service is down, calls will still be sent to a traditional carrier via the FXO interface. Sipura is currently working with several service providers to further define requirements for life line support in products such as the SPA-3000. In addition to the hundreds of programmable features available with VoIP phone adapter functionality, the SPA-3000 provides specific features to allow calls to be routed to and from the FXO interface. Some of the features available on the SPA-3000 include: Multiple, Configurable Dial Plans Activated for Individual or Groups of Users; Single and Dual Stage Dialing; FXO / VoIP Line Sharing. Bonus: Sipura SPA-3000s purchased from Voxilla include the following: One free month, with all activation fees waived, of any Broadvoice's unlimited plan, including "Unlimited World Plus"; Up to 100 free calling minutes through iConnectHere; One free month, with activation fee waived, of VoicePulse unlimited US-48 calling (US residents only, see Terms and Conditions ); Access to Voxilla's Sipura user group forums for technical support. Quantity Discounts: Price: $ 99.95 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted by wkearney99 on January 5, 2005, 10:10 pm
Please log in for more thread options > I realize after reading your posts, that you have a locked device you want
to
> do this with. I am only aware of a device that does this with a POTS line
and
> an open BYOD provider, the Sipura 3000.
How well, if at all, does the Sipura 3000 intergrate with an asterix setup? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted by p on January 6, 2005, 12:39 am
Please log in for more thread options
>> I realize after reading your posts, that you have a locked device you want
>to
>> do this with. I am only aware of a device that does this with a POTS line
>and
>> an open BYOD provider, the Sipura 3000.
>
>How well, if at all, does the Sipura 3000 intergrate with an asterix setup? I honestly have no experience with Asterik.It looks like it should work fine. http://asterisk.org/index.php?menu=hardware Internet LineJack Single FXS or FXO interface. Supports Linux telephony interface. DSP compression built-in. http://www.sipura.com/products/spa3000.htm 1 port FXS and 1 port FXO. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Posted by Martin² on January 3, 2005, 4:15 am
Please log in for more thread options Draytek Vigor 2500V router has VoIP phone socket (2600V has two), which can
connect to the POTS line, and in case of power failure default to the POTS line. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
>(a VoIP line and a POTS line), and am looking for devices with this
>support.