[khumprp]

Hello -

I am new to the Linksys VoIP technology, and trying to learn fast. I have two quick questions regarding the SPA400 integration with the SPA9000.

1. I am able to access outbound and inbound calling without any problems. For my test setup, I only have one POTS line to the SPA400, which is setup as Line 1 on the SPA9000. No other lines are setup now. I also have two SPA942 IP Phones connected. What I am trying to figure out is how to show on the second SPA942 phone that the line is busy when I am using it on the first phone, or just disabling this all together.

2. I have a fax machine hooked up to the FSX port 2 on the SPA9000. I also have the default AA setup and running. How does the SPA9000 know if a fax is coming in to that number? Is this even possible? Do I need to set the Contact List on my FXS 2 to accept faxes if the Contact List is a certain phone number? I wasn't sure if I could setup the Contact List with a phone number because the SPA400 is acting as a proxy...

In the end, what I will probably have setup is 3 POTS line to the SPA400. two lines will be voice and one will be fax. The two voice lines will also be configured from the phone company to do a rollover is the first is busy (so callers only need to know the first number).

And on a final side note, I've noticed that there is noise with the SPA400 with outbound and inbound calls (IP phone to IP phone is ok). The end user doesn't have any problem, but I hear noise when no one is talking.... No echo, just static noise kind of. Any suggestions? I've read a couple links about Comfort Noise Generator, but haven't found a way to disable it. Would this be on the SPA400, 9000, or 942 phone?

If anyone knows a good tutorial posting out here, please let me know as well. I have gone through all the documentation from Linksys, which is ok, but I find myself learning more from these posts.

Thanks!
Pat

[Bheavner]

I'll address this part of the question:

2. I have a fax machine hooked up to the FSX port 2 on the SPA9000. I also have the default AA setup and running. How does the SPA9000 know if a fax is coming in to that number? Is this even possible? Do I need to set the Contact List on my FXS 2 to accept faxes if the Contact List is a certain phone number? I wasn't sure if I could setup the Contact List with a phone number because the SPA400 is acting as a proxy...

In the end, what I will probably have setup is 3 POTS line to the SPA400. two lines will be voice and one will be fax. The two voice lines will also be configured from the phone company to do a rollover is the first is busy (so callers only need to know the first number).

First, just a note, if you're not already aware: If you have all three lines (including the fax) hooked to the spa400, any open line will be available for outbound calling. It works in order - L1, L2, L3, L4 are used on the SPA400, which ever one is available. For that reason, I'd recommend that you plug the fax line into L3 or L4 so it's used last in outbound calling (to leave it open for incoming faxes). As a side note - outgoing fax calls use the same logic - L1, L2, L3, L4 - there is no way to guarantee that an outgoing call use any particular phone line. Of course, inbound calling is different, L1 & L2 will roll over from the phone company and get to your AA. L4 will be the one that goes to the fax directly.

Ok - now to answer the question about directed inbound calling...
First, on the 9000, pick the FXS port to use for the fax. Enable the line, give it an extension (UserID) and DisplayName. We'll use userid 4002 as an example. I think you've already done this, based on your post. Make sure you can dial that extension from an internal phone, and the fax should ring. FXS1 & 2 are just different extensions - they should show up in the phone directory too.

On the SPA400, Setup / SPA9000 interface section, pick the port that you have the fax line plugged into. In my example, we have L4 as the fax line, so in the field for port 4, put your fax number. This is the identifier that is sent to the spa9000 for DID purposes. I think you could leave it at the default of "FXO_Port_ID_4" and use that in your dial plan, but instead put the fax number of 8885551212. Don't bother with dashes or anything.

Back on the spa9000, go to Line 1 (the one you have configured for the spa400 interface). Using our example, the contact list should be 8885551212:4002|aa While you're here, change the call capacity to the number of POTS lines you will have. (3)

With this total configuration, calls that come in will follow this path:
spa400/L1 --> aa
spa400/L2 --> aa
spa400/L3 --> aa (except L3 isn't connected, so n/a)
spa400/L4 --> 4002

All outgoing calls (including fax - make sure fax calls include the same prefix to pick up the outside line) will go out the first available line, L1/2/(3 - n/a) /4.


I think that should cover it - let me know if you have any other questions.

[humba3]

1. I am able to access outbound and inbound calling without any problems. For my test setup, I only have one POTS line to the SPA400, which is setup as Line 1 on the SPA9000. No other lines are setup now. I also have two SPA942 IP Phones connected. What I am trying to figure out is how to show on the second SPA942 phone that the line is busy when I am using it on the first phone, or just disabling this all together.

Since you're going to have 2 lines for voice, won't that be a moot point anyway? I mean, if you have multiple lines for outbound calls and lines are taken in the order they're available, it won't matter if line 1 is busy, will it?

Or am I missing something and you're looking for key system functionality (ugh.. I really suggest you give up on that concept, modern telephony is a lot more flexible and allows many things you cannot do with a key system), you can do that, too, by configuring the lines on the phones a shared lines, and then use the call routing that Bheavner lined out to route calls on Line 1 to the shared line 1 on all phones, calls from Line 2 to the shared line 2 on all phones, etc. So now if a call comes in on line 1 and somebody picks it up, all other users see that line 1 is in use. However, they can still use line on the phone to make outbound calls (but now the outbound call will go out via line 2 on the spa400.. and you now don't see that line2 is busy on the other phones, unless whomever makes the call presses the line2 button on the phone before making the call). Basically you cannot guarantee that you see the proper FXO port status on the phones at all time (works for inbound, doesn't work for outbound) with your chosen hardware, you'd need a gateway that support selecting which port to use for an outbound call (e.g. the Grandstream gateway series)

[Bheavner]

I was just thinking about your noise question. To isolate if it's a problem with your system, plug a regular old phone into the jack, instead of the spa400. Make (or receive) a call and see if you get noise without any talking. If you do, then it's not a problem with the linksys stuff. I'm pretty sure that the comfort noise thing is a VoIP term - there is no analog wired connection and hence no background noise to be had. The noise is generated in a digital way so VoIP calls will have some feedback rather than just talking to dead air. At least - I think that's right - I'm shooting from the hip here...

I had a similar problem with call capacity being lower than I thought it should be - turned out I had a dead line that couldn't even get a dial tone from.

[humba3]

Without CNG you'll find your user will start asking "are you still there" a lot more often.

[khumprp]

Hey Guys -

Thanks for all the feedback. I did setup the phone (with 3 lines, one of which is a fax... sorry for the confusion) and got it to work properly. It receives faxes on the specific number as it should. It's good to know about the outbound faxing, how it will take the first available number. It makes sense, but I'm glad you pointed it out.

As far as having the phones show if an available line is free, I think I am going to hold off on that feature now and settle for the fast busy signal. I need to read-up on shared lines to understand them more. I'm not sure how to implement them, or if that's even a good solution for me. If I was using multiple true lines on the SPA9000 (L1 - Analog, L2 - Sip Prov 1, L3 - Sip Prov 2) then this would be more useful.

And finally regarding the CNG, I don't receive the noise when I plug a phone directly into the wall, so I'm guessing it's a feature of the SPA942 or SPA9000, or maybe even the SPA400. It's not horrible, but knowing my boss, he'll think it's a problem. I'm just going to mess around with the gain and noise supression settings to make it as bearable as possible.

Thanks again for all your help!
Pat

Oh - Now I understand shared line extensions.... For some reason I was thinking they would be used for outbound lines. Makes a lot more sense now. Not very practical for my purposes, as a hunt group would make more sense.