Re: How to integrate a landline after activation?
Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2009 8:59 am
I am trying to figure out land line integration with Ooma, and that aspect of the system does not seem to be very well documented (or if it is, that documentation is difficult to find).
In particular, the integration seems to work differently than I expected, based on what I read when deciding to purchase the system (not that I read anything that contradicted how things seem to be - but I had made some assumptions that were incorrect). Ooma is still a great system even with this limitation, and I will be keeping it.
Here is how I thought things would work:
1) I could have a new Ooma number that would be used for all my outgoing calls (including local calls), just as is the case when there is no landline tied to the system.
2) I could have my old number ring my ooma phones either by:
a) Porting my old number to ooma
b) Forwarding my old number to ooma.
c) Plugging my existing landline into the ooma hub.
In my case, I get few calls on the old number since almost all my contacts use my GrandCentral number instead, which I simply update to ring my ooma phone, rather than my landline (that works fine).
For the few callers (only one) that actually know my landline number, I would still like them to get through, but don't want to add forwarding to my landline phone, since I want to minimize its cost, using it only as a backup, for the occasional incomming FAX, and these few callers.
When I plug my landline into the wall outlet on the hub, the phone will ring through when power is off, but calls are not recognized when my landline rings when the ooma hub is on. I am guessing that this is because I might have initially set up the box without the landline.
I do not want OOMA to "provision" anything on my existing landline. I want to leave the service on that line as it is with no changes to my service from ATT.
Question 1: How do I configure the hub to recognize the landline. I can not find a place to do this in the lounge, nor on the setup page.
When I called customer support to ask about this, I was also told that if I connect the landline, then the landline will be used for all my local outgoing calls, and the hub only used for LD and voicemail.
Question 2: Is there a way to configure it so that it uses the Ooma for all outgoing calls when connected to the internet, and basically uses the landline only for backup dialtone when disconnected, and to accept inbound calls which should then ring on the phone connected to the phone port on the hub?
I don't really care what number is displayed on caller ID when I call out, since I have it set up to be blocked anyway.
In particular, the integration seems to work differently than I expected, based on what I read when deciding to purchase the system (not that I read anything that contradicted how things seem to be - but I had made some assumptions that were incorrect). Ooma is still a great system even with this limitation, and I will be keeping it.
Here is how I thought things would work:
1) I could have a new Ooma number that would be used for all my outgoing calls (including local calls), just as is the case when there is no landline tied to the system.
2) I could have my old number ring my ooma phones either by:
a) Porting my old number to ooma
b) Forwarding my old number to ooma.
c) Plugging my existing landline into the ooma hub.
In my case, I get few calls on the old number since almost all my contacts use my GrandCentral number instead, which I simply update to ring my ooma phone, rather than my landline (that works fine).
For the few callers (only one) that actually know my landline number, I would still like them to get through, but don't want to add forwarding to my landline phone, since I want to minimize its cost, using it only as a backup, for the occasional incomming FAX, and these few callers.
When I plug my landline into the wall outlet on the hub, the phone will ring through when power is off, but calls are not recognized when my landline rings when the ooma hub is on. I am guessing that this is because I might have initially set up the box without the landline.
I do not want OOMA to "provision" anything on my existing landline. I want to leave the service on that line as it is with no changes to my service from ATT.
Question 1: How do I configure the hub to recognize the landline. I can not find a place to do this in the lounge, nor on the setup page.
When I called customer support to ask about this, I was also told that if I connect the landline, then the landline will be used for all my local outgoing calls, and the hub only used for LD and voicemail.
Question 2: Is there a way to configure it so that it uses the Ooma for all outgoing calls when connected to the internet, and basically uses the landline only for backup dialtone when disconnected, and to accept inbound calls which should then ring on the phone connected to the phone port on the hub?
I don't really care what number is displayed on caller ID when I call out, since I have it set up to be blocked anyway.