SUGGESTIONS single pots

[Brianmac]

NEWBIE!!!
I am testing a new system. I have a new office(not moving in for another month/month and a half), with 1 POTS line from Verizon business. I want all incoming call to come in through this number. Can I have every call forward to a my incoming VOIP numbers or do I need to pay Verizon business for call hunting? I want to make sure that multiple calls to this number don't get a busy signal.

Thanks,
Brian

 

[islandtech]

Have multiple call forward paths put on the Verizon POTS line

 

[atsak]

Verizon doesn't do multiple paths for inbound POTS lines as a matter of policy. I have spent some time on this with them.

You have to have as many lines as you'd like paths. So if you have one line, they'll give you one path, two they'll give you two, etc.

 

[Brianmac]

Can I just have every call, forward to my call hunt of inbound VOIP numbers? I'm just guessing here.
thanks,
brian

 

[Brianmac]

Let me explain a little better, can I have the pots line forward to one of my inbound VOIP numbers, which in turn can forward to my other VOIP inbound hunt group. And again, I am guessing......

Thanks,
brian

 

[islandtech]

Strange I have two customers that are using call forwarding with multiple paths for years started with Verizon and continuing after Frontier acquired Verizon

 

[atsak]

Strange I have two customers that are using call forwarding with multiple paths for years started with Verizon and continuing after Frontier acquired Verizon

I was on the phone for hours about this in August arguing with them and being willing to pay. I spoke to three different people and "supervisors" and they all confirmed it. It may well be a new policy, who knows.

Brianmac - to answer your question, you can forward your pots line to a SIP line, but Verizon will only forward one call. You can try and see if you can ask them for multiple paths; one thing they did mention in my conversation is that the type of switch you're on does influence how much flexibility they have with their forwarding options. Perhaps that's part of it as well.

 

[briankelly63]

can you get your POTS line from AT&T or a Cable provider who may be able to provide multi-path call forwarding (switch your number)? Another route is a wireless carrier. I assume you want to do this so that your number is held by someone substantial and can be re-directed during an emergency.

 

[phonebuff]

I have done *72 Fording from all sorts of POTS lines and never had the Multi-Path issue. On the other hand I have also had switch based Remote Call Forwarding (RCF) for many customers over the years and that was a paid path for every simultaneous call to the VoIP provider / answering service we wanted to support.

Also, Brian for your SIP trunks most providers charge by the talk path, and you can have one number with many, many, many talk paths no "Hunt Group" on SIP. Just $$s here as well.

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[briankelly63]

I'm not sure your getting to the right people on this request with Verizon. Maybe a call to the PUC in the state with the POTS will get you a high level contact.

 

[kenn10]

Folks, if the Central Office switch serving Brianmac customer is a Nortel DMS100 or Lucent 5E, multipath call forward is supported by all Baby Bells on Business class service (1FB, 1MB, etc.) If he is served by a Lucent 1A of older generic, Siemens EWS, or a Nortel DMS10, he likely will not be able to get multipath call forward. Most phone companies will not do multipath call forward on a residential number by policy, not by switch limitation. Otherwise, these are limitations of the operating system and hardware on these switches. Not all things are equal in the Central Office world.

The obvious solution is to port the number to a reputable VOIP carrier like Vitelity or Flowroute and cut Verizon out of the picture. The VOIP companies with longevity are not going to bolt away with your number.

 

[Brianmac]

Thanks for all the replies!!!
The reason the client got the phone service from Verizon is they needed to print up business cards and such and needed a main number. This is a business line. In reading Ward Mundy's "The Definitive VoIP Quick Start Guide: Introducing PBX in a Flash 3". he stated

For businesses, we strongly recommend that you stick with Ma Bell for your main business number only.

This is why I went this route, thinking if the client loses internet, they could still receive and send phone calls(PBX is on a UPS, along with one phone).

I am going to call Verizon and see if multi-forward can be done, but as the dark cloud usually follows me wherever I go, I would bet the farm it doesn't. I know single call forward is support, I just don't know about multi...

thanks again!
Brian

 

[kenn10]

Keep in mind with a number of VOIP providers, you can have auto-failover to a cellular or landline should the registration to your server be lost. I do this with Vitelity. If I lose internet connectivity, my calls route (by DID) to a specific cell number.

I understand Ward's concern about porting to a VOIP provider, but reputation and longevity of a VOIP provider come into play. The major players aren't going to shut down and leave town with your number.

As to your call to Verizon, God help you. Every time I have to call Verizon I want to throw my phone out the window. In one place I have a house, Frontier bought Verizon's area and customer service actually improved.

 

[BeerCan]

Keep in mind with a number of VOIP providers, you can have auto-failover to a cellular or landline should the registration to your server be lost. I do this with Vitelity. If I lose internet connectivity, my calls route (by DID) to a specific cell number.

I understand Ward's concern about porting to a VOIP provider, but reputation and longevity of a VOIP provider come into play. The major players aren't going to shut down and leave town with your number.

As to your call to Verizon, God help you. Every time I have to call Verizon I want to throw my phone out the window. In one place I have a house, Frontier bought Verizon's area and customer service actually improved.

This is what I did. If my internet goes down voip.ms forwards to a cell phone. Switching from verizon to voip has been one of the best things I have ever done. CS with verizon was terrible and since switching our bills are smaller and service is better.
FWIW I did have the ability to have a callforward on busy with verizon when I used them.

 

[briankelly63]

I'm not worried about my internet I'm more worried about the VOIP carrier going down or some big Level 3 failure (likely). So I'm looking for the protection that is offered by having the Main number at a Verizon where I can remotely change the forwarding number or worst case they can change the forwarded number for me in an emergency.

 

[Brianmac]

Does anyone know how long it takes to port a number from Verzon(pots) to any of the popular VOIP providers?
Thanks,
Brian

 

[rossiv]

Does anyone know how long it takes to port a number from Verzon(pots) to any of the popular VOIP providers?
Thanks,
Brian

I've done it three times. Once when it was Verizon, and twice since Frontier took over. The first time it took about 6 weeks because VZW kept rejecting the billing number. Not sure if VoIP.ms was sending the wrong one or what. The number I was porting wasn't the billing number. The other two were on the same exact account and took about two weeks if I recall correctly with 0 issues.

 

[Brianmac]

Cr@p, I can't deal with 6 weeks. Anyone have an ideas(tricks) how to port the number and limit downtime?

Thanks,
Brian

 

[phonebuff]

I am trying to do one with IPComms right now, as the Verizon number is idle. Owner on overseas assignment for two years but does not want to loose the number.

Due date was about 2 weeks, and Verizon rejected the port because the Billing Key was not supplied / correct.

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[BeerCan]

My verizon to voip.ms port took about 12 days