2 SJPhones on one BroadVoice line?

[greinert]

I'm considering swithing from standard phone service to BroadVoice for my 2-person office. Need to have this work:

*Call comes in on single VoIP line. Rings simultaneously at my desk and my partner's desk. Either of us can answer call.
* If I answer and call is for her, I put call on hold and she picks it up on her phone. Alternately, I can transfer the call to her.

Can I do these if I elect to use softphones, one on my computer and one on my partner's computer? Does it depend on the softphone's specifications/capabilities?

If it's of any importance, I'm considering BroadVoice with a
Linksys RT31P2-NA router and possibly the eyeBeam softphone, which is basically the pro version of the X-Lite softphone.

Having trouble getting knowledgeable answer from BV. One phone tech rep told me they have a softphone for download on their website, but email support person said no. Email support person said only one device per line, but their website (http://www.broadvoice.com/support_fa...tml#extensions) shows 4 ways to connect multiple phones. So I'd really appreciate any clear useful information anyone can provide to my softphone question!

Thanks in advance for helping a VoIP newbie.

-- Jeff

[ymhee_bcex]

My Panasonic multi-handset phone can do that with any VoIP provider. Do you want a softphone or just assume that you have to have one? I am not sure if eyeBeam can do that - but in any event, what you want to do doesn't depend on provider's capabilities...

[md_27514]

The basic limitation is that BV allows only one device registered at the same time. That excludes use of 2 softphones simultaneously (unless you use asterisk or something similar) - you'll get into trouble with BV. What BV is sugesting on their web site is to use 1 ATA into with you plug in ordinary line splitter and into it 2 different phones. When phone call comes, both of them will ring. There is not security however, if a person is talking on one phone, the other person can pick up the second phone a listen to the whole conversation. If this is acceptable for you, don't look any further.....

Again, solution using softphones will not work due to mentioned limitation (1 registered device per account).

[stufried]

Originally Posted by md_27514

The basic limitation is that BV allows only one device registered at the same time. That excludes use of 2 softphones simultaneously (unless you use asterisk or something similar) - you'll get into trouble with BV. What BV is sugesting on their web site is to use 1 ATA into with you plug in ordinary line splitter and into it 2 different phones. When phone call comes, both of them will ring. There is not security however, if a person is talking on one phone, the other person can pick up the second phone a listen to the whole conversation. If this is acceptable for you, don't look any further.....

Again, solution using softphones will not work due to mentioned limitation (1 registered device per account).

A line splitter and an ATA is the best solution. If you really want to do it with softphones, here is a way.

Sign up for a free account with pbxes.com. Be sure to pick an American time zone so that you are connected to their American rather than European server (it reduces latency unless you are in Europe). Create two extensions -- one for each of you. Create a ring group that rings both phones. Register your Broadvoice account with them and tell it to ring the ring group. Either of you can answer the phone and you can transfer the calls between the two of you. If you are in different locations when you work, you also have a free intercom.

I would suggest beefing up your system as follows. Sign up for a free incoming phone number from free digits, voice stick, etc. Put it in your account. Program your Broadvoice to forward to that number on busy. That way you have effectively two incoming numbers with a hunt group.

Step two, sign up for a payg account with voicepulse (connect.voicepulse.com). It will give you a penny a minute calls to US destinations and will allow you to spoof your Broadvoice outbound caller-id. Program it as a secondary outgoing trunk on pbxes.com and program it as your primary trunk for calls to 800 numbers (free).

With this in place you've increased your capacity sufficiently and will make it possible to probably survive with one phone number with two business users on it.

[greinert]

Thanks for the great info. VoxHound, I'm intrigued w/ your solution. In your opinion/experience, would the extra complexity hurt the quality or reliability? I know there's some risk in going w/ VoIP in the first place, but I do need good quality and reliability since it's my business.

-- Jeff

[stufried]

Originally Posted by greinert

Thanks for the great info. VoxHound, I'm intrigued w/ your solution. In your opinion/experience, would the extra complexity hurt the quality or reliability? I know there's some risk in going w/ VoIP in the first place, but I do need good quality and reliability since it's my business.

-- Jeff

Broadvoice runs fine over pbxes.com. Just remember what I said about using the American server unless you are in Europe.