Simul Ring - Any chance of increasing the number of called phones?

**gls101** · 11-19-2009 12:09 AM

At the risk of making Tim think to himself "Can't we EVER make these people happy?", and knowing that this question has been discussed before (several times), I'll ask it again......

Since the cutover to the new simul ring system, I haven't seen too many comments about problems for a month or so. Could it possibly be time to expand the number of simul ring callees by one to a total of three (the Voipo line plus 2 additional called numbers? I'm speaking here of true simultaneous ringing of all phones, rather than sequential ring.

I'll give my scenario. When we leave the house, we always forward the Voipo line to our two cell phones. Since we can't currently simul ring to two cell phones, we forward the Voipo line to Google Voice, which does support simul ring.

This method works pretty well, except for 2 or 3 issues:

1) Google Voice is an additional point of failure, and Google services in general have been known to have some spectacular failures.

2) It takes a while to figure out where messages may have been left - the cell phone, Voipo or Google Voice. And by the way, EACH of these voicemail systems operate just differently enough to drive us crazy when we try to check for messages. (Let's see, do I push "0" or "*" while the message is playing to get to voicemail? etc.)

3) When I forget to unforward the Voipo line when I get back home I'm screwed, because an inbound call to a forwarded Voipo line doesn't ring locally. It may be hours, days or weeks before my mistake is discovered, and another several days to get myself out of the doghouse

.

I realize that there are work-arounds for some of these issues - for example I could disable voicemail on the cellphones. But my wife and I call each other directly from cellphone to cellphone when we are out, and when we're in poor signal areas (common on AT&T in central Florida) sometimes we have to leave messages. Yes, we could call to the Voipo or GV number, but then it wouldn't be a free call, and we'd be back to trying to figure out which VM system the message was left on.

All of the above issues could be resolved if the simul ring feature could ring the Voipo number and two additional phones simultaniously. Then I could dump Google Voice, reduce the voicemail system count by one, always have my local phone ring, and live happily ever after.

Gary Sanders

**usa2k** · 11-19-2009 12:14 PM

So bottom line, one more number would cover it?
I kinda thought one would be better than the current Primary+2.

**caseydoug** · 11-19-2009 02:07 PM

Isn't it currently Primary + 1? I don't see a way to add another number to Ring All.

**usa2k** · 11-19-2009 03:31 PM

You know (you are correct), I really only looked at Call Hunt and didn't realize SimulRing was more limited! I would say Primary+3 is my ideal choice.

I guess Call Hunt may get used because it at least has two numbers besides the VOIPo line.

**gls101** · 11-19-2009 10:35 PM

I suppose call hunt would work for some applications, but for me it just isn't practical. By the time the home phone rings ~4 times, then the first cellphone rings ~4 times, then the second cell rings, the caller has given up. And shortening the ring cycle per phone won't work for us either, because it frequently can take us 4 rings to get to the phone for various reasons.

Yes, 1 +2 would work for us, but I fully understand others may need more than that. 1 +2 would allow me to dump Google Voice.

On the other hand, since Google just bought Gizmo5 (and I already have a Gizmo5 account

), there's always the chance GV will come out with it's own VOIP service. Right now I'm just looking for a solution that best meets my needs via one service provider.

Gary Sanders

**lgreaney** · 12-08-2009 11:32 PM

I too would like to see simul ring allow more ring locations.

I would think many users would like primary + 2 (at least)
Home(primary) + cell + other (office/other parent's cell/vacation home).

I have signed up for GV, but have not tried to simul ring VOIPO to GV for the reason
of too many voicemail systems. Cell and VOIPO is enough - I do like some of the
features, not limited to number of simul rings. Capability to connect to VOIPO
from another phone and dial out using VOIPO number in caller ID would be nice, like GV and (now defunct) ATT CallVantage have.

**caseydoug** · 12-10-2009 04:13 AM

Originally Posted by lgreaney

Capability to connect to VOIPO
from another phone and dial out using VOIPO number in caller ID would be nice, like GV and (now defunct) ATT CallVantage have.

VOIPo has that now: VOIPo Connect! I don't remember what CID is displayed.

**usa2k** · 12-10-2009 08:07 AM

Originally Posted by caseydoug

VOIPo has that now: VOIPo Connect! I don't remember what CID is displayed.

It is the verified cell phone's CID.

You could set outgoing VOIPo line to the same outgoing CID too.
Not quite the same ...

I'm not sure from this post, if all customers have this?

**fisamo** · 12-10-2009 08:38 AM

Keep in mind that Voipo Connect is still in beta. IIRC, once this feature is 'fully baked' it will be rolled out with numerous access numbers, etc.

**usa2k** · 12-10-2009 11:11 AM

I find it easy to confuse VOIPo Connect with VOIPo Residential.
There I've used remote dial-in with then outgoing to Canada over the cell phone.
(I hope my confusion has not hindered this discussion!)