2 Lines into 1 softphone

[mhawke]

Newbie Alert! Be gentle...

I have signed up for 2 local numbers. One for each kid away at school. How do I monitor/answer both incoming lines with just one softphone application on my PC or does it 'just know' how to do it?

Mike

[bridonca]

You really cannot do that with the application freephoneline provides. 1 account per computer sadly. If you had 2 computers set up, you could do it that way. If you paid around $150 for 2 sip settings and an ATA device like a PAP2, that could be another option.

[laurent]

Or, open a free account at PBXes.org and set those two accounts as incoming trunk lines, and make it ring outbound to your house's ATA device.

You'll need to purchase the sip settings at 50$ a pop though, same as the previous post's suggestion of using a dual-line ATA (but you'd need two phones for that, too)

[mhawke]

I guess that's why it's called freephoneline and not freephonelines

Before I found freephoneline, I purchased a DID number from DIDWW for $5/month in one of the cities where my kid lives. The DIDWW control panel allows me to forward this DID number to one of my freephoneline numbers so I guess that's what I'll do. I don't know if it's a good business model to push interested customers over to other companies services but I guess it's free so I can't complain.

EDIT - Well that didn't work because without the SIP details, DIDWW wants $15/month to forward to a PSTN phone number (i.e. my other fpl number). Back to the drawing board.

[tbrummell]

Not that we would want to push you away from FPL, but if the service doesn't work for you, what can ya do huh? So, as mentioned, you could buy the SIP configs for both of those numbers ($50 each), and buy an ATA (Linksys PAP2...approx $60). Then, add a 2 line phone to the ATA and 1 line would be each number you bought. Done. Bingo.

Or....

Toss the 2 numbers you currently have in the garbage. Sign up for an account at voip.ms, or any other similar provider. Get yourself an ATA (yes, yer gunna need this no matter what), or an IP Phone, buy 2 DID's for your kids from Voip.ms, assuming they service they area's where your kids are. Program each DID to a line on the ATA or IP Phone. Ohhh yah, and if you use the ATA, you still need that 2 line phone.....or 2 single lines.

I was just thinking, you may also be able to do some kludging with the voip.ms programming and get both lines to ring 1 port on the ATA. Might be something to play with.

[laurent]

Back to the drawing board.

I just gave you the solution to your problem, what's wrong with it?

[tbrummell]

Back to the drawing board.

I just gave you the solution to your problem, what's wrong with it?

He doesn't appear to have an ATA and was trying to rely on just a softphone. I guess, instead of buying the ATA, he can use my Voip.ms suggestion and use a softphone (Zoipher or X-lite come to mind) instead.

[laurent]

oh!! Softphone user! Sorry I somehow assumed he had an ATA device.

[tbrummell]

Yah, not sure what I was thinking, easy peasy to use a softphone with the voip.ms solution. The only gotcha part is it's not free. Cost would be anywhere from .99/line/mnth to 1.99/line/mnth, plus the $0.0100 to $0.0149 minute per use. Or, $4.95/mnth/line with $0 per minute.

Outside of the scope of this forum though, and this thread may just end up getting deleted. LoL

[laurent]

Or, in the spirit of supporting FPL, we recommend this user purchases the SIP accounts from FPL and an ATA!

Or just use skype to call your kids

[mhawke]

Or just use skype to call your kids

Me calling out is not a problem. I use Skype at $3/month for unlimited NA but I was trying to get local numbers for them to call me on their cellphones. Both their cellphones have free local calling in their respective cities so I was trying to get a free solution so that they (along with other members of our family) could call us for free. Since we're on a website called 'freephoneline', I thought that was the goal of most of us here.

All I really need is for FPL to allow their 'followme' service to forward one FPL number to another FPL number so I have a unified inbox. I'm sure they can do it technically but their must be something about this that somehow negates a source of revenue but I guess I don't understand their business model well enough to understand why this is a problem.

[laurent]

They told me this rule was placed to prevent abuse. It would be easy for someone to open 30 free accounts with a number in each canadian big city, for example, then have all them forward to one number and BAM, you've got yourself a free nation wide call center for your business.

The free part of FPL is "one simple phone line with a number". Anything more complex incurs for very minimal charges, which FPL uses to stay in business.

As an example, I ported my Bell phone number to my FPL account. This way I eliminated Bell completely, saving 30$ a month. this process costs 25$.

Another example is using better phones than the softphone application. This costs 50$ (one time).

If your kids are set to be there for a few years, it's possible that a one-time 50$ per kid will be very acceptable for the purpose you want to achieve. It would be "almost free"

Nothing is ever truly free. How else would they pay their equipment and employees? The line is free, advanced services isn't. You're now venturing into the advanced field

[mhawke]

Thanks for the explanation. I've been in business for 30 years so I certainly sympathize with their need to generate revenue. I have a DID number from DIDWW, 2 free Callcentric accounts and 2 FPL lines and I still can't get them to work together to have my single softphone ring when someone calls either FPL number so I guess there really is no such thing as a free lunch. My big concern is that FPL needs act quickly on presenting a more compelling case before Gmail and Skype figure out how to please the regulators enough to start selling incoming PSTN numbers in Canada.

[Red89GT]

Thanks for the explanation. I've been in business for 30 years so I certainly sympathize with their need to generate revenue. I have a DID number from DIDWW, 2 free Callcentric accounts and 2 FPL lines and I still can't get them to work together to have my single softphone ring when someone calls either FPL number so I guess there really is no such thing as a free lunch. My big concern is that FPL needs act quickly on presenting a more compelling case before Gmail and Skype figure out how to please the regulators enough to start selling incoming PSTN numbers in Canada.

With all those numbers use PBXes

example:
have the following as trunks:
DIDWW
Call centric line
call centric line
FPL

all going to your 2nd FPL as an extension (which will ring on your soft phone)

you will still need to purchase sip config files from FPL but it will solve your problem

if any of your lines are called, your softphone should ring.

[Jake]

Thanks for the explanation. I've been in business for 30 years so I certainly sympathize with their need to generate revenue. I have a DID number from DIDWW, 2 free Callcentric accounts and 2 FPL lines and I still can't get them to work together to have my single softphone ring when someone calls either FPL number so I guess there really is no such thing as a free lunch. My big concern is that FPL needs act quickly on presenting a more compelling case before Gmail and Skype figure out how to please the regulators enough to start selling incoming PSTN numbers in Canada.

It's more than possible.
I have two FPL numbers (one I bought when I first found FPL, and the second I got as part of the DSl bundle). A US number with Whistlephone and several UK numbers for my family to call back there. They all ring my house phones, and my softphone I have on my computer. It all is connected to a PBX, but my point is it is possible.

Your easiest way will be to buy the two config files for those numbers you have, and then use a softphone that will allow you to register two connections at a time, or use a service like pbxboxs (sorry I forgot the actual website URL again) or sipsorcery if you have an account there.

I think the 3CX sofphone will allow you to make 2 concurrent connections to different VOIP providers, an x-lite phone may allow you to also. The FPL softphone wont.

What you could also try geting a number from FPL's Budphone, or budlight phone, etc. This would mean you would have to have two softphones open on your computer at once. With a bit of fiddling it should work, but it is two softphones.

For about $100 you should be able to do it. But to go the free route I would try getting a number through one of the 'Branded' phones as well as FPL.

Good luck, and let us know how you do it, if you manage.

[laurent]

To put it simply, all you need to do is upgrade your two FPL accounts to be SIP enabled. Once that's set, these lines become compatible with a large set of crazy systems and connectivity mashups. There's a million ways to do what you want (once your accounts are SIP capable). PBXes.org, like we've suggested a few times, is a great (and free) solution that would allow you to tie up all your lines and numbers together nicely.