link did number -->pbxes.org-->voipcheap-->UM mobile - Page 3

Grampa · 25-10-2007, 21:15

bbob, thanks for all your suggestions, but I still cannot get this to work with PBXes. I have confirmed that each leg of the connection is working:

I can dial my IPKall number from any phone, and it rings in to my FWD account using the FWD softphone. Audio is fine.

I can dial in and talk from my FWD softphone to my VoipCheap softphone using my VoipCheap SIP address.

I can dial out and talk from my VoipCheap softphone to any phone, including my UM+ number.

However, when I try to do this through PBXes, I get a busy signal. This happens even when the extension is my home PSTN number or my home VoIP number.

My PBXes configuration is as follows:

Classical extension 100 is my home PSTN number (for testing); all other fields are the defaults.

Ring group 1 uses extension 100. Ring strategy is ringall, ring time is 60. All other fields are the defaults.

Two SIP trunks: FWD and VoipCheap. The General Settings for both are the defaults. Account information is correct (username, password, sip server), as indictated by the Status page, which has grayed icons when the information is incorrect. The FWD trunk registers for both inbound and outbound calls, the VoipCheap trunk is also set for both inbound and outbound, although I have tried it both ways. No dial rules or other optional settings for either trunk.

The Inbound Route uses the FWD trunk, with the Destination Ring Group #1. All other fields are the defaults.

Outbound Route 0 has the name Outbound, Dial Pattern XX, Trunk Sequence SIP/VoipCheap. All other fields are the defaults.

All other settings are the defaults.

I've tried variations on this configuration, but usually I just get a busy signal. On the inbound route, you can set the destination as an extension, a ring group, or Callthru. I've tried all of them. I believe I got a dial tone rather than a busy signal when I used Callthru, but I couldn't dial anything from that dial tone. On the Incoming Route page, you need to enter the name of the trunk rather than select it from a drop-down list, so it's possible I didn't identify it properly. However, I also tried the FWD username in identifying the trunk, and that didn't work either. On the Trunk page for FWD, it says that the trunk is not used by any routes. However, since that statement appears to refer to OUTBOUND routes, I didn't think it was a problem.

The best hint about what is going wrong is probably on the Call Monitor page. The incoming call is usually correctly identified. Depending on the configuration, the destination might be identified as "s" (whatever that means), or 1 (for Ring Group 1), or 100 (for Extension 100), or it might give the number of the extension. The only trunk that is identified in that log is fwd.pulver.com. I do not see sip.voipcheap.com anywhere on the log, even though PBXes appears to be registering properly -- the Status page shows the trunk as lit, and if I put in an incorrect password, it goes gray.

I've done a lot of troubleshooting, but at this point I'm stumped. Any advice would be appreciated.

Grampa · 25-10-2007, 22:17

I found the problem. The Dial Pattern in Outbound Routes needs a period, i.e., XX. rather than XX

But it works great now. Thanks for all your help.

bbob · 26-10-2007, 09:15

great you solved it.

My advice was make a sip extension 101, have a sip softphone conect to extension 101. add 101 to ring group.

Now you have this working you can still do this.

This means you would have extension 100 which is a pstn extension which forwards to your mobile.
You have extension 101 which is a sip extension and you have a softphone or hardware sip device at home connect to this extension.

When at home you can just answer the call on your normal sip connected phone, when away you pickup your mobile.

Grampa · 26-10-2007, 14:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by bbob

This means you would have extension 100 which is a pstn extension which forwards to your mobile.
You have extension 101 which is a sip extension and you have a softphone or hardware sip device at home connect to this extension.

When at home you can just answer the call on your normal sip connected phone, when away you pickup your mobile.

Great idea, but I wanted to set this up so that I and others could call my wife, who is traveling and has the UM+ card. I don't want it to ring my phone every time she gets a call. In fact, at this point I'm not even directing the call to her cell, but to the landline at the apartment where she is staying.

I did not see a way from the free account to put in several extensions and give the caller a choice of which one to ring, e.g., with an outgoing message telling the caller to press one for me, two for her apartment, three for her cell, etc. Can that be done with pbxes?

bbob · 26-10-2007, 16:29

It can be done with pbxes but you need the pro version.

In the pro version you can setup a complete voice response system (digital receptionist) and have the caller press a button to make a selection, this can be connect to an extension or to voicemail.

You can make different menus, so you can say did line 1 is going to menu nr 1 where the caller can press 1 to get connected to you or 2 for your girlfriend.

On did line nr 2 you can have the caller select between your home or your mobile.

When they call you digital receptionist will answer the phone straight away.

Grampa · 26-10-2007, 18:33

Pbxex Pro sounds great, but at 10 Euros per extension per month, I can't justify it. I'm doing this more for sport than because I need it.

I did try to set up a second inbound trunk (with a free sipdigits/clickdigits number). Pbxes registered the trunk, but I couldn't get it to work. I did it exactly the same way as the FWD trunk, trying both the same Ring Group and a second Ring Group/extension. I suspect that either the free pbxes account doesn't allow a second trunk or sipdigits is somehow blocking.

I like pbxes, but there is not really a lot of information on how to use it.

bbob · 26-10-2007, 18:47

my mistake, pbxes premium will work, also cost 10 euro per month. pbxes pro add lots of things for keeping track of sales, phones etc = total office solution which you don't need.

I have premium myself and use digital receptionist also, including a small menu where people can leave a voice mail.

Grampa · 28-10-2007, 00:31

I'm sure you know this already, bbob, but I discovered that an incoming route linked to Callthru allows the caller to dial either an extension or an external number, which will then go out over the VoipCheap trunk. Of course I needed to get an additional DID in order to do this and still allow dialing in to my wife's apartment in Europe over the other DID.

Amazing that all this can be done essentially for free!

Grampa · 02-11-2007, 07:21

I've been playing with this FWD -> pbxes -> Voipcheap combination over that last few days, and it occurs to me that it may provide a good solution for outbound calling as well as inbound calling. Is there any reason why you couldn't purchase a local sims card, and then call the SIP Broker access number for that country, enter the SIP code for FWD, and get a dial tone from Voipcheap using pbxes's Callthru feature? It's a lot of numbers to key in I know (although speed dial helps), but you could actually call the U.S. and about 35 other countries for the cost of a local cellular call. AND, your friends could call you with a local number as well -- either your DID number or a SIP broker number. I've tried it with a couple of SIP broker numbers, and it seems to work fine.

Is there enough difference in the rates and costs of local sim cards versus international sim cards that it makes sense to do something like this?

andy · 04-11-2007, 17:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grampa

Is there any reason why you couldn't purchase a local sims card, and then call the SIP Broker access number for that country, ...

I haven't done all this, but here's something to read

http://scopezoom.com/guide6.htm

	(#21)
Grampa (Offline) Member Advanced Member Posts: 97 Join Date: 01 Oct 2007 Country:	25-10-2007, 21:15 bbob, thanks for all your suggestions, but I still cannot get this to work with PBXes. I have confirmed that each leg of the connection is working: I can dial my IPKall number from any phone, and it rings in to my FWD account using the FWD softphone. Audio is fine. I can dial in and talk from my FWD softphone to my VoipCheap softphone using my VoipCheap SIP address. I can dial out and talk from my VoipCheap softphone to any phone, including my UM+ number. However, when I try to do this through PBXes, I get a busy signal. This happens even when the extension is my home PSTN number or my home VoIP number. My PBXes configuration is as follows: Classical extension 100 is my home PSTN number (for testing); all other fields are the defaults. Ring group 1 uses extension 100. Ring strategy is ringall, ring time is 60. All other fields are the defaults. Two SIP trunks: FWD and VoipCheap. The General Settings for both are the defaults. Account information is correct (username, password, sip server), as indictated by the Status page, which has grayed icons when the information is incorrect. The FWD trunk registers for both inbound and outbound calls, the VoipCheap trunk is also set for both inbound and outbound, although I have tried it both ways. No dial rules or other optional settings for either trunk. The Inbound Route uses the FWD trunk, with the Destination Ring Group #1. All other fields are the defaults. Outbound Route 0 has the name Outbound, Dial Pattern XX, Trunk Sequence SIP/VoipCheap. All other fields are the defaults. All other settings are the defaults. I've tried variations on this configuration, but usually I just get a busy signal. On the inbound route, you can set the destination as an extension, a ring group, or Callthru. I've tried all of them. I believe I got a dial tone rather than a busy signal when I used Callthru, but I couldn't dial anything from that dial tone. On the Incoming Route page, you need to enter the name of the trunk rather than select it from a drop-down list, so it's possible I didn't identify it properly. However, I also tried the FWD username in identifying the trunk, and that didn't work either. On the Trunk page for FWD, it says that the trunk is not used by any routes. However, since that statement appears to refer to OUTBOUND routes, I didn't think it was a problem. The best hint about what is going wrong is probably on the Call Monitor page. The incoming call is usually correctly identified. Depending on the configuration, the destination might be identified as "s" (whatever that means), or 1 (for Ring Group 1), or 100 (for Extension 100), or it might give the number of the extension. The only trunk that is identified in that log is fwd.pulver.com. I do not see sip.voipcheap.com anywhere on the log, even though PBXes appears to be registering properly -- the Status page shows the trunk as lit, and if I put in an incorrect password, it goes gray. I've done a lot of troubleshooting, but at this point I'm stumped. Any advice would be appreciated.

	(#22)
Grampa (Offline) Member Advanced Member Posts: 97 Join Date: 01 Oct 2007 Country:	25-10-2007, 22:17 I found the problem. The Dial Pattern in Outbound Routes needs a period, i.e., XX. rather than XX But it works great now. Thanks for all your help.

	(#23)
bbob (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Expert Posts: 499 Join Date: 20 Feb 2007 Country:	26-10-2007, 09:15 great you solved it. My advice was make a sip extension 101, have a sip softphone conect to extension 101. add 101 to ring group. Now you have this working you can still do this. This means you would have extension 100 which is a pstn extension which forwards to your mobile. You have extension 101 which is a sip extension and you have a softphone or hardware sip device at home connect to this extension. When at home you can just answer the call on your normal sip connected phone, when away you pickup your mobile.

	(#25)
bbob (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Expert Posts: 499 Join Date: 20 Feb 2007 Country:	26-10-2007, 16:29 It can be done with pbxes but you need the pro version. In the pro version you can setup a complete voice response system (digital receptionist) and have the caller press a button to make a selection, this can be connect to an extension or to voicemail. You can make different menus, so you can say did line 1 is going to menu nr 1 where the caller can press 1 to get connected to you or 2 for your girlfriend. On did line nr 2 you can have the caller select between your home or your mobile. When they call you digital receptionist will answer the phone straight away.

	(#26)
Grampa (Offline) Member Advanced Member Posts: 97 Join Date: 01 Oct 2007 Country:	26-10-2007, 18:33 Pbxex Pro sounds great, but at 10 Euros per extension per month, I can't justify it. I'm doing this more for sport than because I need it. I did try to set up a second inbound trunk (with a free sipdigits/clickdigits number). Pbxes registered the trunk, but I couldn't get it to work. I did it exactly the same way as the FWD trunk, trying both the same Ring Group and a second Ring Group/extension. I suspect that either the free pbxes account doesn't allow a second trunk or sipdigits is somehow blocking. I like pbxes, but there is not really a lot of information on how to use it.

	(#27)
bbob (Offline) Senior Member Prepaid Expert Posts: 499 Join Date: 20 Feb 2007 Country:	26-10-2007, 18:47 my mistake, pbxes premium will work, also cost 10 euro per month. pbxes pro add lots of things for keeping track of sales, phones etc = total office solution which you don't need. I have premium myself and use digital receptionist also, including a small menu where people can leave a voice mail.

	(#28)
Grampa (Offline) Member Advanced Member Posts: 97 Join Date: 01 Oct 2007 Country:	28-10-2007, 00:31 I'm sure you know this already, bbob, but I discovered that an incoming route linked to Callthru allows the caller to dial either an extension or an external number, which will then go out over the VoipCheap trunk. Of course I needed to get an additional DID in order to do this and still allow dialing in to my wife's apartment in Europe over the other DID. Amazing that all this can be done essentially for free!

	(#29)
Grampa (Offline) Member Advanced Member Posts: 97 Join Date: 01 Oct 2007 Country:	02-11-2007, 07:21 I've been playing with this FWD -> pbxes -> Voipcheap combination over that last few days, and it occurs to me that it may provide a good solution for outbound calling as well as inbound calling. Is there any reason why you couldn't purchase a local sims card, and then call the SIP Broker access number for that country, enter the SIP code for FWD, and get a dial tone from Voipcheap using pbxes's Callthru feature? It's a lot of numbers to key in I know (although speed dial helps), but you could actually call the U.S. and about 35 other countries for the cost of a local cellular call. AND, your friends could call you with a local number as well -- either your DID number or a SIP broker number. I've tried it with a couple of SIP broker numbers, and it seems to work fine. Is there enough difference in the rates and costs of local sim cards versus international sim cards that it makes sense to do something like this?