Follow me problem - need help urgently

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Follow me problem - need help urgently

Postby JeffF » 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!!
JeffF
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Re: Follow me problem - need help urgently

Postby Liptonbrisk » 06/08/2018

JeffF wrote: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.


It doesn't. Also, FPL was never developed for anything other than a home phone service (using FPL for business purposes, strictly speaking, breaks its terms of service unless the user receives permission first).

https://www.freephoneline.ca/terms

"5i
Acceptable Use Policy
The Customer may make use of the Services solely for his/her own personal, residential use"

Same as the acceptable use policy from https://www.fongo.com/legal/terms/ (section 4)

I'm only raising this point to indicate Freephoneline's service was never developed for business use.

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.


You'll hear that message under these conditions:

1) FPL's voicemail is already engaged with a caller and another incoming call is routed to FPL's voicemail while it's already in use, or

2) a call is already in place, Follow Me is enabled; and someone else not dialing from an FPL, Fongo Mobile, or Fongo Home Phone number calls you.

b) If the second call is from a FPL, Fongo Mobile, or Fongo Home Phone number, then the call will be forwarded to the Follow Me phone numbers, and after not being answered after ringing the Follow Me numbers, the second call eventually gets dropped to the "The user you are trying to reach is not available" message.

https://support.freephoneline.ca/hc/en- ... Follow-Me-
"*Please note that you are unable to forward from a Freephoneline phone number to another Freephoneline phone number."

One would think that with features like call waiting and such, multiple sessions


A. FPL allows any combination of two simultaneous channels at any given time (1 outgoing and 1 incoming; 2 incoming; or 2 outgoing).
Often, with other VoIP services, if a customer wants more than 2 channels, the user needs to pay more.
FPL doesn't offer the option to offer more channels at an increased cost as far as I can tell.

B. FPL to FPL, FPL to Fongo Mobile, FPL to Fongo Home Phone are all SIP URI calls.

FPL doesn't normally allow inbound SIP URI calls from other VoIP networks, but it does within its related sister companies.

SIP URI calls don't count as a channel being used.

C. When I have Follow Me enabled and am engaged in a call, I get the "user you are trying to reach is not available" message when there's an incoming call from anything other than an FPL, Fongo Mobile, or Fongo Home Phone number.


So unless the second call is coming from a FPL, Fongo Mobile, or Fongo Home Phone number, then Call Waiting is not going to work if Follow Me is enabled. Basically, Follow Me = No Call Waiting unless the incoming call is from a Fibernetics VoIP call.
Please do not send me emails; I do not work for nor represent Freephoneline or Fongo. Post questions on the forums so that others may learn from responses or assist you. Thank you. If you have an issue with your account or have a billing issue, submit a ticket here: https://support.fongo.com/hc/en-us/requests/new. Visit http://status.fongo.com/ to check FPL/Fongo service status. Freephoneline setup guides can be found at viewforum.php?f=15.
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Re: Follow me problem - need help urgently

Postby JeffF » 06/08/2018

OK, I understand; 2 active connections - call waiting works to the connected phone because each is a single connection (you'd STILL think the call would overflow to voicemail, mind you) and one active forward because the inbound call and the outbound forward are each a connection.

It would have been nice to know, though it doesn't explain the inconsistent behavior which depends on who seems to originate the call or who the destination is - Each time the operation I am testing is the same - 2 incoming calls to the common destination - It shouldn't matter in what order the lines to which the calls are forwarded are arranged.

So, the obvious question to ask would likely be; Do you know of there is there some way to get FPL to sell me additional capacity on the affected number (can't call it a line per se I suppose), providing enough concurrent connections to allow me to forward to all 4 lines ? Or am I screwed and need to port that number somewhere else and suffer the issues while waiting?

Thanks for the quick reply, by the way.
JeffF
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Re: Follow me problem - need help urgently

Postby Liptonbrisk » 06/08/2018

JeffF wrote:
So, the obvious question to ask would likely be; Do you know of there is there some way to get FPL to sell me additional capacity on the affected number (can't call it a line per se I suppose), providing enough concurrent connections to allow me to forward to all 4 lines ?


I strongly suspect that is impossible unless you switch to Fibernetics or one of their business offerings. But you can contact support: https://support.fongo.com/hc/en-us/requests/new. I would try "my account inquiry" and also "billing and payments."

Or am I screwed and need to port that number somewhere else and suffer the issues while waiting?


I'm truly sorry, but that's what I suspect. I have no experience with Fibernetics business services (or their pricing), but transferring a phone number would be quick (it's the same CLEC): http://www.fibernetics.ca/contact-us/.
Obviously, there are other VoIP services available that can accommodate you (at higher pricing/per usage than FPL), but I'm uncomfortable discussing them on FPL's forums.
Please do not send me emails; I do not work for nor represent Freephoneline or Fongo. Post questions on the forums so that others may learn from responses or assist you. Thank you. If you have an issue with your account or have a billing issue, submit a ticket here: https://support.fongo.com/hc/en-us/requests/new. Visit http://status.fongo.com/ to check FPL/Fongo service status. Freephoneline setup guides can be found at viewforum.php?f=15.
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Re: Follow me problem - need help urgently

Postby JeffF » 06/08/2018

Thanks for your help. I will try asking support first . . . .
JeffF
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Re: Follow me problem - need help urgently

Postby Liptonbrisk » 06/08/2018

JeffF wrote:Thanks for your help.


By the way for syntax involving call forwarding using Obihai ATAs, I suggest going through the links that are listed at
https://forums.redflagdeals.com/newegg- ... #p28423556.

If you don't want a call going out over FPL (911 or otherwise) in an Obihai ATA, don't define anything that would work (or alter an existing rule) for that specific call in the specific ITSP's Digitmap ([2-9]xx for example) or route the call elsewhere in the Phone Port's Outboundcallroute if you want the 911 call to go out using another service provider. However, I feel it's irresponsible for me to be helping anyone disable 911 on FPL, so I'm not going to provide further assistance with that.

It should also be noted that you can bridge an incoming call from FPL and connect it (make another outgoing call) using another service provider using an Obihai ATA (so you can forward an incoming call to an FPL number to another number using a different Service Provider, in other words, but it's really call bridging). One possible service provider, which I won't discuss on FPL's forums, should be obvious given Obihai's partnership or connection with that service provider. However, you're still going to be limited to two channels with any FPL number regardless, so it's not a solution for what you want. But you can start to see the flexibility that an Obihai ATA offers.
An Obihai ATA is almost a mini-PBX. They're that powerful (unfortunately, their support policies are angering a number of their existing customers). For example, visit https://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=4944.0 (if you're interested in using an Obihai ATA in that manner, it would be best to ask in that thread).
Please do not send me emails; I do not work for nor represent Freephoneline or Fongo. Post questions on the forums so that others may learn from responses or assist you. Thank you. If you have an issue with your account or have a billing issue, submit a ticket here: https://support.fongo.com/hc/en-us/requests/new. Visit http://status.fongo.com/ to check FPL/Fongo service status. Freephoneline setup guides can be found at viewforum.php?f=15.
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Re: Follow me problem - need help urgently

Postby JeffF » 06/08/2018

I got that up front, Strangely, however, the 911 thing should not have worked as a function of the settings I chose since the Obi portal specifically requires that you check the box to enable calls to 911.

The solution WAS to modify the dial plan, but of course they don't adhere to the Sipura dial plan rules, putting the bar at the beginning of the string, rather than the end for digit sequences that users wish to block. I don't need e911 anyway, because we call the dispatch studio directly, so there is a redirect in the rule I came up with.

Interesting enough, Support just now wrote back to tell me that 2 channels is it and referred me to read a thread on the forum here . . . . THIS thread. So now we're dealing with circular references.

Ah well.

One of the problems is that no one who sits at a telephone actually seems to understand the concept of how call forwarding works, how many channels the call requires or how line equivalence works. All very frustrating.

I DO have a possible solution, because it doesn't seem like Fibernetics has one for me . . . Rogers Wireless Home Phone; No limitation on the number of concurrent forwards as confirmed by second level techs there,

Again, thanks
JeffF
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Re: Follow me problem - need help urgently

Postby Liptonbrisk » 06/08/2018

JeffF wrote:I got that up front, Strangely, however, the 911 thing should not have worked as a function of the settings I chose since the Obi portal specifically requires that you check the box to enable calls to 911.


I rarely use the Obitalk.com portal and avoid it whenever possible (if Obitalk Service is enabled in the ATA, which is required to use Obitalk.com with an ATA, Obihai can force firmware updates on the ATA without the user's explicit permission), so I can't comment on that. Presumably it attempts to modify the dialplan in some manner. I prefer developing and parsing the dialplan for myself (I do dislike the work involved when creating dialplans for other people though) instead of relying on the website.


Interesting enough, Support just now wrote back to tell me that 2 channels is it and referred me to read a thread on the forum here . . . . THIS thread. So now we're dealing with circular references.


Okay, I was pretty sure that was the case, but I wasn't positive (I've never asked them, and I certainly have never seen an option to pay in order to increase the number of channels).


Anyway, it appears as though you found a solution. I wish you well and hope you have a good weekend.
Please do not send me emails; I do not work for nor represent Freephoneline or Fongo. Post questions on the forums so that others may learn from responses or assist you. Thank you. If you have an issue with your account or have a billing issue, submit a ticket here: https://support.fongo.com/hc/en-us/requests/new. Visit http://status.fongo.com/ to check FPL/Fongo service status. Freephoneline setup guides can be found at viewforum.php?f=15.
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Re: Follow me problem - need help urgently

Postby Liptonbrisk » 06/08/2018

Oh, one last thing: if you port away from FPL, your FPL account, by default, will be closed, which would, in turn, mean the loss of the VoIP unlock key.

You would need to receive special permission with Fongo Support if you want that to not happen, and I'm unsure whether they will allow the account to remain open. Also, I'm not sure what the refund policy is (never having used it). I suggest contacting them before porting away: https://support.fongo.com/hc/en-us/requests/new.

Please don't kill the messenger.
Please do not send me emails; I do not work for nor represent Freephoneline or Fongo. Post questions on the forums so that others may learn from responses or assist you. Thank you. If you have an issue with your account or have a billing issue, submit a ticket here: https://support.fongo.com/hc/en-us/requests/new. Visit http://status.fongo.com/ to check FPL/Fongo service status. Freephoneline setup guides can be found at viewforum.php?f=15.
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Liptonbrisk
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Posts: 2763
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