I am looking for a box that will allow me to effectively connect one
phone to two phone lines.
Here is how the box would work:
1) If either phone line is ringing, the box would ring the phone and
send the incoming caller-id to the phone.
2) If either line was ringing, picking up the phone would connect
the phone to the ringing line.
2) If I was talking on one line and the other line started ringing,
the box would generate a call-waiting tone to the phone. To be
perfect, the box would also send a call-waiting caller-id message to
the phone with the caller-id of the new call coming in.
3) If I was talking on the phone on one line and pushed FLASH, the box
would put the current line on hold and connect the phone to the other
line.
4) If I picked up the phone and neither line was ringing, the box
would connect me to the first line.
Why would you want this? I want to get a VOIP phone line to save money
on outgoing calls, but I want to keep my existing TELCO phone line for
incoming calls. I also need to keep my existing one-line
phone/answering machine.
So far, the closest thing I've found is this...
http://www.sandman.com/lineshar.html
...which is pretty close. The only real problem with this box is that
if I am talking on line A and line B rings, I don't know it and line B
will keep ringing until either the line B caller hangs up or I hang
up.
Thanks! |
Request for Question Clarification by
sublime1-ga
on
24 Sep 2005 23:58 PDT
bigjosh...
So why not get a 2-line phone? I'm not sure what your
box might do that a 2-line phone wouldn't:
http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?type=category&id=cat06008&_requestid=101364
sublime1-ga
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Clarification of Question by
bigjosh2-ga
on
26 Sep 2005 12:32 PDT
Getting a two line would be an obvious answer but as I said,
I do not want replace my one line phone. It is a large wireless system
with many handheld units skattered across many floors. There is no
equivalent 2-line system available, and even if there was it would be
costly and disruptive to install.
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Request for Question Clarification by
jbf777-ga
on
26 Sep 2005 17:13 PDT
This should be a service of your VOIP provider -- it's called
"simultaneous ring": you can set up multiple phone numbers to ring at
the same time when a call is coming in.
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Clarification of Question by
bigjosh2-ga
on
26 Sep 2005 19:12 PDT
As stated, my primary goal is to keep my existing phone number and
phone line with the phone company whille being able to use a new VOIP
line as well.
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Request for Question Clarification by
jbf777-ga
on
27 Sep 2005 10:14 PDT
You may not be interested in this, but if you did port your existing
number over to the VOIP provider, get a new number for your landline,
then a simultaneous ring setup with the VOIP provider would ring your
VOIP phone and your landline on incoming calls, and would seem give
you the setup you're trying to achieve. The VOIP provider is acting
like the device you're trying to buy. You'd have your landline for
incoming calls, and your VOIP phone for outgoing. Both would ring
simultaneously when a call comes in. Call Forwarding on Busy and Call
Forwarding on X # of rings would give additional functionality for
call routing when you're on the phone, or when one isn't picked up in
X number of rings. Caller-ID would be displayed to both. For
additional savings, you could have a "message rate" with your
provider, such as Verizon, for your incoming telco line, and pay $15
or so for a dial tone only (with a per rate of around $.10 per call if
you happen to make a call on the telco line).
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Request for Question Clarification by
jbf777-ga
on
28 Sep 2005 14:37 PDT
Rewrite on first line:
"... but if you did port your existing number over to the VOIP
provider, get a new number for your landline, then a simultaneous ring
setup with the VOIP provider would ring your VOIP phone and your
landline on incoming calls made to your original/existing phone
number, and would seem to give you the setup you're trying to
achieve..."
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Clarification of Question by
bigjosh2-ga
on
30 Sep 2005 09:01 PDT
The whole point is that I want to keep my current incoming phone
number and line with the phone company and just use the VOIP for
outgoing calls and not switch my main number away from the phone
company.
If I switch my main number over to the VOIP provider and they have any
technical problems (which they do occasionally), my phone stops
ringing and I am out of bussiness until the VOIP provider fixes thier
problem - there is nothing I can do to. I might not even know that
there is a problem becuase my phone just stops ringing for a while.
If I do it my way, I am only temporarily unable to make outgoing calls
until I unplug the box and then everything is back to normal. Even
before I unplug the box, my phone is still rining and everything is
ok. I'll know there is a problem when I go to make an outgoing
phonecall.
That's why I am looking for a solution that lets me my existing phone
number and line with the phone company while using a new VOIP line for
outgoing calls on my existing one line telephone system.
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Request for Question Clarification by
jbf777-ga
on
30 Sep 2005 20:57 PDT
Understood. However, I would think any technical problems are going
to be chiefly with your actual VOIP connection only. We're talking
more about the VOIP company's ability to forward a call vs. actually
maintaining a VOIP connection to you. If it were me, I would check
into how frequently their ability to forward calls actually goes down.
That may be hardly ever happen compared to VOIP outages.
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Clarification of Question by
bigjosh2-ga
on
03 Oct 2005 08:52 PDT
I know that the VOIP provier is more likely to go down than Verizon,
so it is not a chance I want to take - especially when there is a much
better solution anyway. If since order this switchbox off ebay...
http://cm.ebay.com/cm/ck/1065-29392-2357-0?uid=17101547&site=0&ver=EOIBSA080805&lk=URL&Item=5239562228
It looks perfect with the one downside that it busies out the second
line when a call comes in on the first line. This is not optimal, but
it servicable. I still think there must be a product out there that
does exactly what I want, I just can't find it.
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