Need verification of setup

Hello Experts,

While I had an earlier post, it was resolved (Thanks dicko) and I did not want to mix up the two hence the new post… here goes…
Right now my configuration is made up of two (2) POTS in a hunt group. The original carrier numbers are being forwarded to the actual number we have for the lines from the new carrier. Seems to work but I don’t really like it. Anyway I have a few questions on setup that I’m a little confused on.

I have two (2) entries in DAHDI Channel DID’s both are using the actual main DID (not the forwarded), so two entries , channel 1 POTS 1 2095551212 and channel 1 POST 2 2095551212, my first question is do I need to put both incoming DID’s in there, i.e. channel 1 POTS 1 2095551212 and channel 1POTS 2 2095552121? I ask as when a phone is in use, and another call comes in it just rings, never picked up by the IVR.

Another issue, is on the DID’s I am assuming that I need to put the actual DID’s for incoming and not the forwarded, as when they make a call out the call shows as the actual number. I am going to ask the provider to change that so the forwarded number is what shows in caller ID, will that change anything?

All of the lines are associated with Group 0, and right now I have two (2) inbound routes one with the actual DID and one with the forwarded DID. I probably do not need both, but just in case something changes I want to capture both.

any help appreciated.

Im on FreePBX build 6.x with Asterisk 11

thanks!

b

I ran into a similar situation with my system. I use a single POTS line (from the days when VOIP couldn’t do E911) and a VOIP trunk from an online provider. If the POTS line is busy or out of service, the phone company forwards that line to my VOIP number. The DID was correct when the number was redirected, so using the normal DID-based inbound routes worked just fine.

The tricky part was on the POTS line. The way I set it up, it didn’t know it’s own DID. I had to use a special inbound context (in extensions_override_freepbx.conf) for the line so that it would set the Asterisk system up to use DID identification for that phone. I’m sure there was a more correct solution, but for me, this worked. Once the POTS line knew it’s own DID number, the rest was easy.

***From: extensions_override_freepbx.conf
[from-dahdi-1]
_X.,1,Set(DID=5555558250)
[from-dahdi-2]
_X.,1,Set(DID=5555558250)


Doing this allowed me to have all of my inbound routing be based on DIDs, which made my management life easier. I can now swing the old POTS circuits over to VOIP (since my E911 problems are handled) and save that money by having all my numbers routed through VOIP.

Now, I think your issue with outbound CID is going to be trickier. Many VOIP providers prevent CID masquerading and require your set CID to match one of the ones on your account. Others aren’t as particular (for them, it’s considered a feature for “outbound backup”), so setting the outbound caller ID through your VOIP providers may well depend on their particular perspective. The phone company will sometimes balk at setting the CID to something other than the assigned number. They are both conversations worth having with your providers.

Remember, though, that outbound POTS CID is not set by you - it is set by the phone company.