Re: Multiple telephone lines & Comfort system

["psghome2002" <psghome@xxxxxxx>]

Thanks for the very comprehensive reply Graham. A few extra
questions for you:

1) Does MSN cost you extra?
2) You're obviously using a separate POTS or DECT phone for each of
the private/business lines. Is there a way of combining both systems
and getting access from a single phone? (i.e. I would ideally like
to be able to make business or personal calls from the same phones
but keep the billing separate).
3) Where is the Capitel software available from?

Thanks,

Paul.

--- In ukha_d@y..., graham@s... wrote:
>
> I have ISDN2e, Comfort and Homevision, so my set up is simialr to
yours,
> however I have no standard BT line at all (we have mobile phones
to use if
> there is a power cut). Comfort can not handle multiple lines, nor
can it
> handle ISDN direct, so you have to have a PBX or TA or something
that can
> convert from ISDN to POTS. My setup is as follows:
>
> ISDN2e comes in to the house to the BT 'box' (I think this is
called an NT
> but Keith or someone will no doubt correct me).
>
> There are two ports on the BT box, one is connected to a Terminal
Adapter,
> the other to a Router.
>
> The router (Zyxel Prestige 202) has two analogue ports on it, but
I don't
> use them because I have three numbers through MSN (multi subscriber
> numbering) on the ISDN service.
>
> The router handles network traffic for the LAN and as a bonus
distributes
> CAPI information around the network, this allows me to have CAPI
software
> (e.g. caller ID) running on networked machines.
>
> The terminal adapter (Speeddragon) is no longer used for data at
all as
> router (a more recent purchase) handles all that.
>
> The terminal adapter does have PBX and 3 analogue ports built in,
so these
> are assigned to Home, Business and Fax.
>
> The fax port has an analogue modem attached to it which is in turn
attached
> to my server for faxes in and out. I could use software only fax
across the
> CAPI but it is very resource hungry and I had the modem anyway.
>
> The business phone port connects to a Krone block where it is
split into 5
> CAT5 leads. These can be patched through to any 5 ports in the
house
> through the patch pannel (smug Graham awaits his pat on the back
>from
> for using true structured wiring ;-).
>
> The home phone port connects to the incoming phone connector on
comfort.
> The outgoing phone connection on comfort connects to another Krone
block
> where it too is split into 5 CAT5 leads for patching through.
>
> Comfort is the answer phone for home calls, with mail boxes set up
for
> Graham and Orla. Of course I can also dial into the home number and
> interact with Comfort. Also Comfort has access to the phone for
calling me
> with problems or door phone users when the alarm is armed.
>
> The answer phone for business calls is actually a piece of CAPI
software
> running on the server (no direct connection to the router or the
terminal
> adapter) called Capitel. It records caller ID information on
multiple
> machines but on the server it also takes messages and can
interpret DTMF
> tones. This means that I can dial into the business number to
retrieve
> business messages or to trigger programs to run. For example I can
call in
> to the business line and trigger my server to open a web page on
the server
> located at my ISP. This web page captures the visitors IP address.
I can
> then hang up the phone and browse to another page on the ISP
located server
> where I can view the last connected IP address. This allows me to
force my
> router to connect out and then allows me to pick up it's current
dynamic IP
> address so that I can then connect to home, all without using
permanent
> connections, static addresses or dns services.
>
> Finally I could say the Homevision is irrelevant in this scenario,
but
> there are a couple of points worth making. First off, Homevision
can not
> get caller ID or even detect that a call is coming in with ISDN
(unless
> someone knows better). However my caller ID software (Capitel)
creates a
> log file with all caller ID information in it. So I put together a
custom
> video screen in Homevision that displays the contents of a text
file. I
> also wrote a little batch program that picks up the Capitel CID
log file,
> places it in the Homevision directory and overwrites the original.
I then
> attached the video screen and the batch program to a macro and
attached the
> macro to an IR code (along with commands to pause the video or
dvd, switch
> the channel etc etc). I also have the video from Homevision piped
around
> the house through a mosulator. Now when the phone rings I can
press a
> button on the remote (Pronto) if I want to know who's calling and
the video
> source will be paused, the channel will change, the HV screen will
be
> displayed containing the CID information and the CID log used by
Capitel
> will be cleared ready for the next call. I also have another
button/macro
> combination that reverses this to switch the channel back and
restart the
> original video source (I have simplified this a little as there are
> separate macros to be run depending on which video source I am
currently
> watching and whether I am sitting in front of the projection
screen or a
> normal TV).
>
> I hope this is useful to you, feel free to ask for further
information.
>
> Graham