Ooma gives me a BUSY on Local Number Dial-outs??

[Soundjudgment]

Heya. Another happy OOOOOOma customer here... well hopefully. Ran into one sticking issue after installation:

Everything works just fine in getting and receiving calls with the new OOMA number... except I get the 'fast busy' signal in the local desktop phone when I try to dial out local (to me) telephone numbers. Calling anyone outside of my Area Code works great and is loud and clear.

So I read in the manual that I need to make sure I have my WALL wire is connected. Huh? Say what? I have no WALL Wire. I have no local phone service to begin with! I have only Cable Internet and I wanted this OOMA station to be my Hub over the Internet ONLY. So why then would I need any wire connected to the RJ11 jack and hooked up to the local Telco?? If I wanted Local Telco service, then I wouldn't need OOMA in the first place, right?

So please, tell me it is some secret-handshake wooozie-whaaatee setting in the OOMA Hub itself, that would allow it to make ALL outgoing calls local and long-distance, while ignoring the fact that I do not have (or plan to have) any local Ma-Hell phone service. And I would be happy-happy. Thanks.

SJ

[vimsam]

I am not too sure whether this is the problem that you are facing.

When dialing a Local Area code number you get a busy tone!

If thats the case just dial the last 7 digits of the number.

For example - You would dial 123-456-7890 as only 456-7890 assuming that 123 is your local number.

Hope this helps.

Rahul

[Soundjudgment]

Thanks for the rapid Reply, but nope that is not it. Whether I dial with or without the local Area Code (most all VoIP systems as well as standard Ma-Bell now expect all 10 digits of a phone number to be dialed, Local or Long-Distance) I still get that Fast-Busy signal and no call goes through.

As soon as I dial a number that is not within my local range, the call goes through all nice and purdy.

Up to now I have had and used Vontage, Skype and ATT Call Vantage VoIP Internet services, and they dial both local calls and Long-Distance numbers just fine. So I don't understand what the problem might be with Ooma's dial-out switching service over the Internet and such. But of course none of those other VoIP services care whether you have any local Ma-Bell wiring in the House in order to use those services. I certainly hope Ooma's system isn't the exception to this. :/

I am looking for Ooma to be my main bridge for voice-call communications. So I guess it boils down to this: CAN I instruct the Ooma Hub to dial EACH and EVERY call I make out through the Ooma servers over the Internet and switch? Every...Single... Call... whether it is local or Long Distance to me or not??

SJ

[Bobby B]

Both local and long distance calls should work through ooma. Right now we only support 7 digit and 11 digit dialing (10 digit dialing is coming soon). Let's assume your phone number is 650-555-1234, and you're trying to call 650-555-4321.

Dialing the following should place the local call:

5551234
OR
16505554321

Thanks for the rapid Reply, but nope that is not it. Whether I dial with or without the local Area Code (most all VoIP systems as well as standard Ma-Bell now expect all 10 digits of a phone number to be dialed, Local or Long-Distance) I still get that Fast-Busy signal and no call goes through.

[Soundjudgment]

Here is something you might find interesting:

It turns out that the problem with the Ooma not dialing LOCAL numbers was simply due to not all the settings sticking, and a simple AC Power recycle enabled the Ooma Hub to be able to dial out both Local and Long-Distance numbers just fine. Thanks to the folks at Ooma Support for that 'fix.'

Now the interesting thing is that at least in my case, I don't need to dial only 7 digits (for Local numbers) or dial a 1+ Prefix (for Long Distance numbers).

That's right! All I do is dial the full 10-digit phone number (area code and number) to be able to reach BOTH Local numbers and Long Distance numbers. I tried this numerous times over this weekend and they all worked just fine with only 10 digits. Now dialing on Ooma is just as easy as with any cell-phone call.

So keep up the good work, Ooma. Now my next task is to rush around the web to the myriad of Site Accounts, with my new phone number and get them all updated.

SJ

[mk11]

I'm surprised you were able to successfully connect dialing 10-digit numbers Soundjudgment. That doesn't work for me. I even tried unplugging the Ooma device and waiting for a while before plugging it back in, hoping it would reset and allow 10-digit dialing, but it did not.

When is 10-digit dialing supposed to become available? It is necessary in order to use the Caller ID call back function on my phone. As it is now, I have to write down the number of a missed call and redial it starting with a "1" first instead of just pushing one button.

Also, that information should be added to the Quick Start Guide. I set up my Ooma Hub yesterday which was quick and easy, but then spent a long time trying to figure out why all the numbers I tried to dial had a fast busy signal.

It was because my expandable cordless phones are all programmed with 10 digit numbers.

I thought the Ooma device was defective. It took some digging on this forum to find out it was because I had to first change all my stored numbers to 7 or 11 digits.

Unless the 10-digit dialing will be rolling out any day now, please edit the Quick Start Guide to save your new customers a lot of frustration. It should at least be added to the Troubleshooting section.