Best pulse to tone converter for Ooma Telo?

[Mister Mike]

To update my earlier statement that Alldav.com is out of commission, more than 3 weeks after my inquiry if any converters were still available, I received an invoice for $25! I no longer have a need for one because of the Dialgizmo, but those Alldav units have a good reputation, and a price that can't be beat. If you need a solid DTMF converter and have a little patience (assuming this is a hobby for him), go to the "contact us" section of Alldav.com and fire him an email.

[recrum]

I realize this is a very old thread but I recently got ooma and am using it to run the whole house.  So now I'm in the market for a pulse converter that I can use the same way.  I have too many rotary phones to be able to afford one for each phone lol.

[markosjal]

I would say the weakest link in the Ooma/Pulse to tone converter set up is the Ooma!

Those things are horrible to use on the analog ports. Too high of transmit and receive gain and no way to adjust it. GOOD LUCK!

See this search

Google Link


My mother never understood that she had this issue as she (with Ooma) never heard it. I surely did each time we would speak on the phone. Later I discovered there were people with old copper POTS  lines that were also distorted, and that manyt calls to/from cell phones were garbled , all for much the same gain issues. The problem is far less obvious when using Ooma Telo HD2 or HD3 handsets, but analog ports, forget it.

Do yourself a Favor get a Google Voice account with an Obi200 attached. You can then even use a pulse compatible ATA configured to send calls directly to the Obi200 while still using the Obi200 phone port for Touch Tone Phones.  This set up also allows multiple simultaneous calls. Port your number in if you like. Pay only $12.00 annually to GV911.com for 911 service  .

No hidden fees no taxes no BS lies from a company like Ooma. 

Of course if you love fees, pay money to a company like VoIP.ms and get a Grandstream  or other pulse capable ATA. The cost would probably be a few dollars a month and you might be convinced it is better or more reliable (because you pay for it?) .

[RotoTech99]

Dear Forum:

Right now, I'm using the OPW pulse-to-tone converter on a Suddenlink landline... outside of the beep when you dial a digit, it does good. but it won't with Ooma & U-verse. (sad but true)

I'm thinking of getting another "non-OPW" one, but for now I'll keep looking at others to see what a good #2 would be.

RotoTech99

[LarryInMichigan]

I have been using a Dialgizmo (https://www.dialgizmo.com/) with Ooma.  It seems to work fairly well, though it does not dial the '*' and '#' like it is supposed to do, and I have to wait a bit longer between digits than I used to do, or it fails to interpret the pulses correctly.  i am not especially thrilled with the Ooma service though.

Larry

[19and41]

I'm still using the Dialgizmo/OOMA combination for my rotary phones with a DECT6.0 phone for the other DTMF functions.  I still like the OOMA service, the call blocking, call logging, call forwarding and the alarm and video monitoring.

[dsk]

We may end up with different solutions, just depending on what experience and needs we have.  This is based on that you have to use the OMA adapter or another that is delivered by your provider. I have a hate/love relation to Dialgizmo, it works with all telephone adapters I have tested so far, it is pretty often problems with * and #, sometimes depending of the phone connected. I do not like to hear the tone after each digit, but it may not be that important.  I have a Panasonic exchange, that is a great solution without  * and # but it needs a place to be hung on wall. Still maybe the best for most of us collectors.  I have also in use a Smart1 adapter, it supplies dial tone, you dial what you want, and it sends it without sounds for each digit, but it is big, and you have to set up parameters...

I end up with a conclusion, the dialgizmo (or equal) is the best and easiest way for those who want it simple and easy to set up and use. Other solutions are for collectors with room, time and knowledge to put up more complicated systems.

I did choose a telephone provider that let me use my own equipment and still keep my phone number. Then I have put up a lot of equipment, spent a lot of time failing and learning... and will probably keep on that way.

Callcentric seems to be a great company, I have had an account there for many years, but when I had to port my Norwegian number, they could not solve that. For America they solve that.

I ended up with my Norwegian number at Zadarma that has an OK product, still not as good as Callcentric, but now I keep Zadarma until something forces me to change, then the alternative will probably be to stop using that Number because we are not allowed to port it to mobile.

[markosjal]

IMHO... There is No way, nor was a rotary phone ever intended to be able to determine how long the fingerwheel was held before being released.

What any pulse to tone converter that claims to use this method relies on is inconsistent from phone to phone. It is not a reliable method and it never existed prior to these devices! Take a western Electric rotary dial Trimline for example. It has a dial with only 2 wires to it. There is no change in the (electronic) phone state whatsoever when dialing until the dial is released.

With that said the options for Rotary phones to VoIP are broken down as follows.

Rotary support (Native) ATA
This is like the UTStarcom IAN02EX where the pulses are detected directly and converted to SIP messages. This is not compatible with tone overdialing. A DTMF tone is never generated from a rotary signal.

Rotary Supported (Converted) ATA This is like many current Grandstream ATAs where the rotary is detected then DTMF tone generated to again be converted to SIP. Tone overdialing usually works on these.  Use of * and # is sketchy (if at all) as there is no reliable detection method for anything other than digits 1- 0  It is much like an integrated pulse to tone converter on the ATA.

Pulse to tone converter
Connects inline between phone and ATA and converts pulses to tones. Overdialing usually works on these. Use of * and # is sketchy as there is no reliable detection method for anything other than digits 1- 0

On a side note the Obi20X devices although Google Voice compatible are Not Rotary compatible. There is however a method to connect a second   pulse compatioble ATA to an Obi20x, in a back to back sort of manner with nothing between them.

[dsk]

You are so right!
The phones that sometimes is able to send a signal about holding the dial is those who shorts the line totally when the dial is out of rest position.  If those phones has automatic compensation, or long line the difference in resistance (current) will be to small to detect holding the dial, You may e.g. get a WE 500 to do that by moving the wires shorting the receiver to short the entire voice path.
dsk

[tabormeister]

I have the Dialgizmo and I'm very happy with it.  The Dial and Hold function, which allows you to dial # and*, among other things, will not work with WE 500 series phones unless you modify the wiring on the network. 

Do tell - how does one modify the wiring? resistor? capacitor? I found one thread that talks about 300 series phones: http://www.classicrotaryphones.com/forum/index.php?topic=15103.0

[markosjal]

I'm trying to find the best bet for a solid pulse to tone converter that will work with my Ooma Telo VOIP system.

My Ooma is plugged in to the house phone line, so all jacks are wired to it, replacing the phone company. I'd like to wire a pulse to tone converter to that same setup in the same way, so an external unit would be ideal.

It looks like the Alldav unit would have been my best bet, but that site is inactive now. That leaves Dialgizmo and OldPhoneWorks. Has anyone had success with these units and the Ooma Telo (ideally with multiple phones)? Any other external units I'm missing?

My suggestion would be to get rid of ooma coompletely. Even the analog port yields the wrong audio xmit volume and years now with no fix.

[tabormeister]

My suggestion would be to get rid of ooma coompletely. Even the analog port yields the wrong audio xmit volume and years now with no fix.

Fair, but is there anything comparable for the price that does e911 and has enough juice to ring rotaries? It's about $6/mo for me which is hard to beat.

[markosjal]

Yes , there are plenty of low cost VoIP services WITH NO HIDDEN FEES