Follow me problem - need help urgently
Posted: 06/08/2018
So, I have just ported over my main number because we are out of area. The main number (which was with Bell Canada) was forwarded to the first number in a group of four Bell Canada lines in my office, all equivalent, so when one calls the main number it goes to the first free line of the four in the office and subsequent calls go to the next and so on. If all are busy we get a busy tone.
I would expect that it should work the same way with FPL.
The first call is transferred to the first available line, as expected. However if that line is still busy and a second call comes in I get a message that "The User You Are Trying To reach is Unavailable" and the call is dropped.
One would think that with features like call waiting and such, multiple sessions would work and that subsequent calls after the first would still be passed through - it doesn't go to voice mail (which itself would not be acceptable for the purpose, but is very strange) - it is just dropped.
I've tried 'always forward'. I've tried 'when unavailable' and then unplugged the ATA. Neither scenario works.
I've tried 'simultaneous ring' and 'sequential'. It still doesn't work - not even transferring to voicemail.
I'm using this with an Obi ATA
REALLY strangely;
1. If I dial the first number in the office group directly from any phone I have it all works as expected; The first call goes to line 1, the second to line 2 and so on
1. If I enable 'follow me' with just the first number and dial the FPL number, the first call goes through as expected, the second caller gets 'the caller is unavailable' and that call is dropped and returns a 'regular busy' signal.
2. If I enable 'follow me' in simultaneous mode and put in a second number (in this case my Rogers cell phone) the first call rings on all phones including on the ATA and the office line answers. The second call comes up with 'the user you are trying to reach is unavailable' after that a blast of static that seems to never end (I admit to only waiting about 5 seconds, because ANY blast of static makes no sense).
3. If I enable 'follow me' in sequential mode with that same Rogers cell as the second number, I get 'the user you are trying to reach is unavailable' followed by the static.
4. Looking a scenario 3 and reversing the order of the numbers (Rogers first, Bell office line second), the second call gets the same 'The user you are trying to reach is unavailable', and the call drops (no static).
So, if I disable the 'follow me' feature and use *72 in the ATA to enable the call forward here's what happens:
1. When forwarding with X_302ToCallForward DISABLED and forwarded to the office number:
- First call goes through as normal
- The second concurrent call gets the 'The user you are trying to reach is unavailable', followed by fast busy
2. When forwarding with X_302ToCallForward DISABLED and forwarded to the cell phone:
- The first call goes through.
- The second call gets the 'The person you are trying to reach is not available, please leave a message' which is FPL's voicemail
3. When forwarding with X_302ToCallForward ENABLED and forwarded to the office number:
- The first call goes through, and
- the second call gets the 'unavailable message, followed by a regular busy signal.
4. When forwarding with X_302ToCallForward ENABLED and forwarded to the cell phone:
- The first call goes through, and
- the second call immediately gets FPL's voicemail, rather than the second office line or the cell phone's (noting that the cell number is first in line).
I can't think of any other scenarios to try, but this just doesn't make any sense.
I would expect that once the office number is reached (or my cell phone, for that matter', subsequent calls should go to the successive available lines (in the case of the office) or to my cell phone's voicemail after the appropriate number of rings.
Bad enough that in testing that 911 calls would NOT go through because I had unchecked Obi's 'use this service for 911 calls' AND changed the dial plan to kill calls to 911, it still did - because heaven help us that Obi would use the block character (!) the same was everyone else does - they require it to be at the start of the string, rather than at the end and the checkbox on Obi's web site is a platitude that does nothing.
Just for the sake of being thorough, I plugged in the SPA-2102 and tried the *72 forwarding
1. When forwarded to the office it goes straight to FPL voicemail
2. When forwarded to the cell phone it does the same.
And, just for the record, call waiting on the connected telephone works fine.
Lastly, if I make the first line bust (by dialing it directly) and then call the FPL number, the call does go through, suggesting that it is not because of something specific to the line equivalence - the number answering the FPL-forwarded call at this point is the second one in the chain.
HELP PLEASE with this forwarding issue!!!! I really need to get this to work, today!!
I would expect that it should work the same way with FPL.
The first call is transferred to the first available line, as expected. However if that line is still busy and a second call comes in I get a message that "The User You Are Trying To reach is Unavailable" and the call is dropped.
One would think that with features like call waiting and such, multiple sessions would work and that subsequent calls after the first would still be passed through - it doesn't go to voice mail (which itself would not be acceptable for the purpose, but is very strange) - it is just dropped.
I've tried 'always forward'. I've tried 'when unavailable' and then unplugged the ATA. Neither scenario works.
I've tried 'simultaneous ring' and 'sequential'. It still doesn't work - not even transferring to voicemail.
I'm using this with an Obi ATA
REALLY strangely;
1. If I dial the first number in the office group directly from any phone I have it all works as expected; The first call goes to line 1, the second to line 2 and so on
1. If I enable 'follow me' with just the first number and dial the FPL number, the first call goes through as expected, the second caller gets 'the caller is unavailable' and that call is dropped and returns a 'regular busy' signal.
2. If I enable 'follow me' in simultaneous mode and put in a second number (in this case my Rogers cell phone) the first call rings on all phones including on the ATA and the office line answers. The second call comes up with 'the user you are trying to reach is unavailable' after that a blast of static that seems to never end (I admit to only waiting about 5 seconds, because ANY blast of static makes no sense).
3. If I enable 'follow me' in sequential mode with that same Rogers cell as the second number, I get 'the user you are trying to reach is unavailable' followed by the static.
4. Looking a scenario 3 and reversing the order of the numbers (Rogers first, Bell office line second), the second call gets the same 'The user you are trying to reach is unavailable', and the call drops (no static).
So, if I disable the 'follow me' feature and use *72 in the ATA to enable the call forward here's what happens:
1. When forwarding with X_302ToCallForward DISABLED and forwarded to the office number:
- First call goes through as normal
- The second concurrent call gets the 'The user you are trying to reach is unavailable', followed by fast busy
2. When forwarding with X_302ToCallForward DISABLED and forwarded to the cell phone:
- The first call goes through.
- The second call gets the 'The person you are trying to reach is not available, please leave a message' which is FPL's voicemail
3. When forwarding with X_302ToCallForward ENABLED and forwarded to the office number:
- The first call goes through, and
- the second call gets the 'unavailable message, followed by a regular busy signal.
4. When forwarding with X_302ToCallForward ENABLED and forwarded to the cell phone:
- The first call goes through, and
- the second call immediately gets FPL's voicemail, rather than the second office line or the cell phone's (noting that the cell number is first in line).
I can't think of any other scenarios to try, but this just doesn't make any sense.
I would expect that once the office number is reached (or my cell phone, for that matter', subsequent calls should go to the successive available lines (in the case of the office) or to my cell phone's voicemail after the appropriate number of rings.
Bad enough that in testing that 911 calls would NOT go through because I had unchecked Obi's 'use this service for 911 calls' AND changed the dial plan to kill calls to 911, it still did - because heaven help us that Obi would use the block character (!) the same was everyone else does - they require it to be at the start of the string, rather than at the end and the checkbox on Obi's web site is a platitude that does nothing.
Just for the sake of being thorough, I plugged in the SPA-2102 and tried the *72 forwarding
1. When forwarded to the office it goes straight to FPL voicemail
2. When forwarded to the cell phone it does the same.
And, just for the record, call waiting on the connected telephone works fine.
Lastly, if I make the first line bust (by dialing it directly) and then call the FPL number, the call does go through, suggesting that it is not because of something specific to the line equivalence - the number answering the FPL-forwarded call at this point is the second one in the chain.
HELP PLEASE with this forwarding issue!!!! I really need to get this to work, today!!