[Using Follow Me] Channel limit is now down to one!

[zombie999]

It used to be that we were able to have two incoming calls and one outgoing at the time.

Then it was reduced to two channels at the time (one outgoing, one incoming, or two incoming). This was still fine.

But now it's down to ONE CHANNEL only. I you receive incoming call, second caller gets a message "this user is currently unavailable". Attempting to make outgoing call gives you the message "you have reached the limit...".

Now with the monthly fee, it's next to useless.

[Liptonbrisk]

It used to be that we were able to have two incoming calls and one outgoing at the time.

Freephoneline has had two channels since 2010.

viewtopic.php?p=8226#p8226

we limit to 2 channels to prevent abuse and business use

Then it was reduced to two channels at the time (one outgoing, one incoming, or two incoming). This was still fine.

I'm able to make 3-way calls, which indicates there's 2 channels. I just tested two Freephoneline accounts. With the second FPL number I made two incoming calls to it. I can test more FPL accounts, but it's probably a waste of time.

Try disabling Follow Me to see if that makes a difference.

[Liptonbrisk]

If you have Follow Me enabled, try disabling it after logging in at https://www.freephoneline.ca/followMeSettings. Then test again.

I tested a third FPL account. There's two channels. I can't reproduce the problem.

If BYE hasn't been processed (or if there's no 487 response to CANCEL) for whatever reason, then there could be an active call, despite both ends having hung up, that's on your account that you're not aware of until it times out (call duration length is 3 hours with Freephoneline). You could check for unusually long call durations that you don't recognize after logging in at https://www.freephoneline.ca/doGetCallLogs. Another possibility is someone else reaching FPL's voicemail system first on your account right before the second person calls.



The following was true when I was testing in 2019. You will hear the "user you are trying to reach is not available" message under these conditions:

a) 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

b) 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.

c) 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.


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 Fongo-related VoIP call.



Regardless, I just tested 3 FPL accounts, and I am able to merge two active calls on all of them, which means there's two channels. I could test more accounts, but I give up.

[zombie999]

Enable simultaneous follow me.
Answer an incoming call on your voip phone.
Trying receiving or making another call, it doesn't work.

if you answer the call on your follow me number, then yes, you can get another call. Or if you make a call, you can receive incoming.

[Liptonbrisk]

Yes, Follow Me behaves that way while on an active call with the FPL endpoint. I mentioned disabling Follow Me for that reason while testing.

Nothing has changed. See point b above.

Disable Follow Me and test again. Your account has two channels.

[zombie999]

That makes no sense, as you can have follow me set to multiply numbers.

If you were correct, setting follow me to to two numbers would not work (but it does).

[Liptonbrisk]

That makes no sense

Since 2010 . . .

viewtopic.php?p=6853#p6853

When you use follow-me, both account channels are in use, much like having a 3-way phone call, except it's outside world into FPL, then FPL back out to follow-me

If you were correct setting follow me to to two numbers would not work

An active call matters and not the amount of numbers on the list. Follow Me is using 2 channels when an incoming call is connected from outside Fongo's network to a FPL line.

I didn't write the following in January 2019 for fun, and I didn't tell you to disable Follow Me while testing because I was reading tea leaves, throwing chicken bones, gazing into a crystal ball, or guessing.

I know what happens.

viewtopic.php?p=76208#p76208

7. You will hear the "user you are trying to reach is not available" message under these conditions:

a) 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

b) 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.

c) 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.



. . .

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.

Follow Me's incoming call behaviour hasn't changed while an incoming call is active/answered on the FPL endpoint. You've discovered nothing new. I told you to disable Follow Me and test for a reason.

If you want to argue that enabling Follow Me shouldn't do this, complaining here or to me about it probably isn't going to change anything since Follow Me has functioned in that manner for years with Freephoneline.

[zombie999]

For a now monthly fee service, this is not acceptable. Calls should at the very least be sent to voicemail.

[Liptonbrisk]

For a now monthly fee service, this is not acceptable.

I suspect Fongo would argue the fee is for Nothern911 access and not for additional channels.
I have no control over what they decide, and there's no obligation for them to respond on these forums or to read forum posts.
You can submit feedback by submitting a ticket at https://support.fongo.com/hc/requests/new. Choose "Feedback" for "Your Issue Type".

Calls should at the very least be sent to voicemail.

With Follow Me enabled, voicemail not being reached on incoming calls, while an incoming call is active on an FPL endpoint, is the way FPL has always been.

What did happen once in 2010, after a change was made by staff and while Follow Me was enabled with an active call on an FPL endpoint, when another incoming call came in, the caller would reach a busy signal instead of an error message. But now callers are back to hearing an error message.

FPL has 2 channels.
Fongo Home phone has 4 channels, but I've never tested that service.

[zombie999]

b) 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.

c) 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.

I have tested this and you are wrong.

Regardless if the second call is from Freephoneline user, Fongo mobile user or outside user, caller gets a message "this user is currently unavailable".

However, if incoming call was forwarded from Fongo mobile user, then call will be forwarded to follow me number.

Big mess!

[zombie999]

I suspect Fongo would argue the fee is for Nothern911 access and not for additional channels.

It will be fun when 911 tries to call you back and gets the message "this user is currently not available".

[Liptonbrisk]

It will be fun when 911 tries to call you back and gets the message "this user is currently not available".

Because you're talking to someone else other than 911 during an emergency?

[zombie999]

It will be fun when 911 tries to call you back and gets the message "this user is currently not available".

Because you're talking to someone else other than 911 during an emergency?

Exactly.

[Liptonbrisk]

It will be fun when 911 tries to call you back and gets the message "this user is currently not available".

Because you're talking to someone else other than 911 during an emergency?

Exactly.

I would rather be speaking to 911 than to someone else during an emergency, but since you now understand what happens and has happened since 2010, you can make a choice.

I, obviously, would prefer having more channels, so it's not as though I'm going to be unhappy if Fongo listens to you if you choose to submit a feedback ticket. The number of channels is still 2, however.

[Liptonbrisk]

I have tested this and you are wrong.

7b is correct and has always been the case, with the understanding that first answered call is from a non-Fongo number. That's relevant to your initial post.

I admit that 7c has changed from when I tested in 2019, but if we're going to start playing the who's wrong game, you've been factually incorrect the moment you posted about only having one channel, in all caps:

viewtopic.php?p=81868#p81868

But now it's down to ONE CHANNEL only.

My tolerance for this thread has grown increasingly thin.
You've had a forum account since 2009 and could have easily searched and tested within the past 14 years to discover the same thing occurs with Follow Me enabled for incoming calls on FPL lines as it did in 2010 (except an error message appears to have been replaced with a busy response once, and now an error message is heard again):

viewtopic.php?p=10591#p10591

When I use the FPL client to answer an incoming call and someone tries to call in on the FPL number they get 1 ring and then a busy signal . . .

This is way better than it was before! Thank you for removing the "Account is already in use" message . . .

Any chance you guys are working on updating the FPL client so it can handle more than one call at a time?

viewtopic.php?p=81790#p81790

Useless posting will also not be permitted nor will posts with the intent of “creating a reaction” . . . Please make sure your posts have a topic, and that you are including sufficient detail if asking for assistance.

With respect to insufficient details, I had to infer that Follow Me was being used, and I do consider this thread useless because the initial claim is incorrect. You created what amounted to a reactionary thread, and the initial accusation is false.

I don't mind, generally, if someone wishes to advocate for more channels, but I question the usefulness of suddenly doing so here or to me, particularly when you could have made the same criticism when Freephoneline's platform was in active development. I've already explained how to submit feedback to Fongo. If you wish to engage with me in an argument, I suggest it's not a worthwhile pursuit.


Today, with Follow Me enabled, this happens:

1. When the first incoming call is from a non-Fongo (not FPL, not Fongo Home Phone, not Fongo Mobile) number is answered by the FPL line, all subsequent incoming calls to the same FPL number fail with 403 Auth Failed/Forbidden while the first call is active.

a. Any additional outgoing call attempted from the FPL line fails, while there's an active call on the FPL line from a non-Fongo number.

Morgan noticed this in 2010; vinny001 encountered the same problem in 2016; and I wrote about in 2018/2019 (I also noticed before that).

Freephoneline's call logs produce the exact same call entry twice in this Follow Me scenario with the same connect and disconnect times and numbers. In conjunction with the error message heard, 2 channels are being used: PSTN to FPL, and then FPL to the Follow me list again, despite the call being answered locally.


2. When the first incoming call is from a Fongo number (FPL, Fongo Home Phone, Fongo Mobile) is answered by the FPL line, a second incoming call to the same FPL number works, regardless of the incoming carrier number, while the first call is active. I'm also able to reach FPL's voicemail system this time without getting an error message.

a. An additional outgoing call attempted from the FPL line works, while there's an active call on the FPL line from a Fongo number.



In-network calling isn't from the outside world into FPL.

From May 26, 2010

When you use follow-me, both account channels are in use, much like having a 3-way phone call, except it's outside world into FPL, then FPL back out to follow-me

if you answer the call on your follow me number, then yes, you can get another call.

Today, that's only true if the endpoint that answered the call is using a Fongo number from the Follow-Me list.

3. If an incoming call made to an FPL number is answered instead by a non-Fongo line (Rogers, Bell, or Telus number, for example) from the Follow-Me list, all subsequent incoming calls to the same FPL number fail, while the first call is active.

a) Any additional outgoing call attempted from the FPL line fails, while there's an active Follow-Me call on the non-Fongo line.


Inbound call---1 channel-->FPL number
and then
FPL number--->1 channel-->non-Fongo number

2 channels are used. No further calls can occur.



4. If an incoming call made to an FPL number is answered by a Fongo (Fongo Home Phone, Fongo Mobile, or Freephoneline) endpoint from the Follow-Me list (a Fongo number), a second incoming call to the Freephoneline number works, while the first call is active.

a. An additional outgoing call made from the FPL line works, while there's an active Follow-Me call on the Fongo (Fongo Mobile, for example) line.

Regardless if the second call is from Freephoneline user, Fongo mobile user or outside user, caller gets a message "this user is currently unavailable".

If the first incoming call is from an FPL or Fongo Mobile number and answered by an FPL client, the second incoming call also works, regardless of whether the second incoming call is from a Fibernetics (Fongo) number.

In the end, your account still has 2 channels.

Thread closed.