Two phone numbers, one phone. Why doesn't this work?

Need extra help installing your Ooma Hub or Telo system? Let us know.
Post Reply
ksandler
Posts:1
Joined:Fri Aug 21, 2009 6:26 am
Two phone numbers, one phone. Why doesn't this work?

Post by ksandler » Fri Aug 21, 2009 9:37 am

Hi everyone,

I've just installed my hub and scout this week after having nothing but a mobile phone for the last 10 years. I've had some issues setting the system up -- called customer support and spent a few hours trying to get it straightened out -- but a few things just aren't making sense to me.

For instance -- is there a way to get my phone (which is attached to a Scout, which is assigned its own number) to ring when someone calls the primary number? The "1" button lights up, I can pick up the call, but it won't ring my phone no matter what. I was hoping that there could be a setup such that if someone calls my primary number, all the phones in the house ring, but if they call my work number, only the phone in my office rings. I don't quite understand why the system can't ring the phone through the Scout, since it *can* flash the lights and pick up the call.

Is there a clever way to wire this system to make it work?

The other question, which is almost identical to the first one, but is more (I think) about account settings, is whether there's some ingenious way to set up an ooma system so that there are two phone numbers, each with independent voicemail greetings ... but the catch is, there's only one phone. I only own one phone. I don't want to go buy another if I don't have to. I just want people to get a voicemail greeting dependent on the number they dialed. But apparently, if you only have one phone, and you provision a Scout for personal use (to get a second voicemail box), that means that one of your numbers will never audibly ring no matter how you set it up?

Thank you. I appreciate all the helpful answers here on the forums. I have consulted a lot of threads here in the past week and they've all saved me a lot of frustration!

-- Kate

Groundhound
Posts:2711
Joined:Sat May 23, 2009 9:28 am
Location:Atlanta, GA

Re: Two phone numbers, one phone. Why doesn't this work?

Post by Groundhound » Fri Aug 21, 2009 9:42 am

What you want is possible with a two-line phone and an additional unused wire pair (second line wire) in your home wiring.

atici
Posts:176
Joined:Fri Oct 03, 2008 8:22 am

Re: Two phone numbers, one phone. Why doesn't this work?

Post by atici » Fri Aug 21, 2009 9:44 am

You can achieve both of your requests through Google Voice. However you can't port your existing numbers over there yet. If using a brand new number is not a big deal to you, give it a shot.

Groundhound
Posts:2711
Joined:Sat May 23, 2009 9:28 am
Location:Atlanta, GA

Re: Two phone numbers, one phone. Why doesn't this work?

Post by Groundhound » Fri Aug 21, 2009 9:54 am

Check out this post: http://forums.ooma.com/viewtopic.php?p=10478#p10478

Edit: More Info
If your hub and scout are in different rooms, then you can accomplish the same thing as described in the linked post by connecting your hub's Phone Port to your home's line1 wiring and then connect the hub's wall port to your home's line2 wiring using a ln1/ln2 splitter. At the scout end use another ln1/ln2 splitter to connect line 1 directly to one of your two-line phone's line-in ports and connect the second line from the splitter to the scout's Wall Port, and then the scout's Phone Port would be connected to the phone's other line-in port.

Post Reply