GV voicemail indicator

[CarlAron]

I've read several threads here and tried the recommended settings:
MWIEnable    (checked)
X_VMWIEnable (checked)
MessageWaiting (unchecked and default unchecked)

I have the latest firmware update (March 15th). I've deleted all spam, trash, and text messages in my GV account, so there are only VM in there, and yet, I still can't get VM indicator working to correctly show whether I have any unread VMs or not.

First a little background about how I'm using the Obi110, in case it's relevant.

I'm not using it to make outgoing calls at all.

I want to use GV primarily for it's filtering abilities... with GV, I can set it up so only people in my GV contacts list actually ring the GoogleChat (Obi110) line, and everyone else (telemarketers, fund raisers, etc) goes directly to voicemail.

But I'm not ready to port my main number to Google, and besides, I want outgoing calls (especially 911) to use the POTS line.

So I set up the Obi110 with a GV account on SP1, and then unchecked the box for "Make This the Primary Line to Call Out". Then on Verizon, I forwarded ALL incoming calls to my GV number.

Now, incoming calls go through Google, and Contacts come to my Obi and ring my phone, while others get GV voicemail. Outgoing calls use the POTS line and my friends and 911 will see my real Verizon caller ID.

If I don't answer, it goes to my GV voicemail box. So far so good.

However, I have two different, opposite problems with the VM indicator:

1) when a voicemail from a friend comes in, it lights up the VM indicator. I call the GV number and listen to the VM, and mark it to be "Archived" (there is no "delete" option in the dial-in VM tools on GV)... BUT the VM indicator never goes off.... I can log into the Obi and uncheck "MessageWaiting", and reboot, and it goes away, but I can't do that every time I get a voicemail! I'll never know for sure if the blinking light is really a voicemail, or just a "ghost of voicemails past".

2) when a voicemail is left by someone not in my contacts (someone who never rang my phone), the VM indicator never lights up, until another VM is left by someone on the contacts list. I can see the VM right there in GoogleVoice, but it doesn't turn on "MessageWaiting" on the Obi and my phone. I really want to see those voicemails... so that if it is a real caller, I can add them to my Contacts so they ring next time. Most telemarketing robocalls just hang up when they detect voicemail, so if a message is left, it's probably a real person who I don't have in my Contacts yet.

Anyway.... does anyone else have this combination of problems? Any Solutions?

[pc44]

Hi,

I thought the Obi voicemail notification feature was strictly audio -- stutter tone.  I did not think it affected the phone's lights.  On one of my phones, the visual notification was only for new calls in the phone's caller id and not for the voicemail system.  Once I would go through the phone's caller id list, the visual notification would turn off.  Of course, each phone model may function a bit differently.

On the voicemail side of things, the audible stutter tone works for me.  But when I have archived a message, it does take some time before the Obi realizes that there are no longer any new voicemails.  This is usually not very long, but it is not instant.

Hope someone else can shed more light on this for you!  

P.S.  Thanks for providing a detailed and informative description of your problem and setup.  I wish more people did that when asking for forum help.

[CarlAron]

Thanks... I'll look into what you say about the light and the caller ID list. If the light is linked to calls that rang the phone, but which I didn't pick up, rather than to voicemails, then it might well behave the way I described.

This is a Uniden phone, BTW.  Under "normal" use with Verizon, the light will flash when I've got a voicemail, even if the phone didn't ring (for example if the voicemail was left while I was on the line with another person), and will stop blinking after I've listened to and deleted the voicemail on Verizon... (although there is sometimes a delay in turning off the blinking).

I have an update, though. A message I left from a "non-contact" phone eventually showed up (the light on the phone started blinking)... after about 4 hours. I woke up in the middle of the night and saw the light, listened to the message, and "archived" it. The light was still blinking, but when I woke up this morning, the light was off. So in this circumstance, it behaved the way I thought it should, but with a LONG delay in changing the status of the light to match the status of VMs on GV.

[CarlAron]

One more update... It seems that if I call my Google Number using the Obi SP1 line when I check Voicemail, it clears the VM indicator right away.

I still have a problem with new Voicemails not showing up on the indicator for 20 or 30 minutes, sometimes a few hours.

Is there a setting to tell the Obi to check in with Google more often to see if there is any new voicemail?

[pc44]

I still have a problem with new Voicemails not showing up on the indicator for 20 or 30 minutes, sometimes a few hours.

Does the stutter tone do the same thing?  Does it also not indicate until about 20 or 30 minutes?  I'm just trying to see if there is any difference between the audio/tone notification versus the indicator notification.

Also, I wonder if it makes any difference since you do not have this telephone set to receive calls from GV unless they are people on your contact list.  Do the same symptoms/problems occur with 'contact list callers' versus 'non-contact list callers'?

Is there a setting to tell the Obi to check in with Google more often to see if there is any new voicemail?

I'm not really sure.  Unrelated--the only other thing that comes to mind is using a syslog setup, which would provide a bit more detailed information as to what is going on in the Obi... kind of a detailed log.

Just talking out loud here... so if anything I say sounds crazy... take it with a grain of salt and hope for input from some of the more qualified people here

[CarlAron]

Yes, it does seem to take longer for messages from people not in the contact list to show up... also from people in the contact list, but who did not ring, because I was already on the line with someone else.

It seems like maybe the act of connecting to my Obi to ring it refreshes the connection and updates the MWI status right away? Although of course the MWI signal would have to come a minute or so after the ring, since the person has to have time to leave the message... so that doesn't quite make sense.

I've never noticed the stutter-tone thing ... I suppose my phone does that, but to me a ring is a ring ... Maybe I just check voicemails when I see the light, rather than wait for the phone to ring with someone else calling, so maybe it doesn't happen that often?

One clue, though, if I look in the Obi web interface when there is a message in GV, I can see that the Message Waiting state is still off, so I think that it is Google not telling the Obi about a new message (or the Obi not asking Google about new messages), rather than the MWI signal getting through and not affecting the light on the phone.

[pc44]

I've never noticed the stutter-tone thing ... I suppose my phone does that, but to me a ring is a ring ... Maybe I just check voicemails when I see the light, rather than wait for the phone to ring with someone else calling, so maybe it doesn't happen that often?

The stutter-tone that I was referring to is the sound you hear when you pick the telephone to check for dialtone.  Instead of a normal steady dialtone, the stutter-tone is a fast-beep that indicates the presence of voicemail.  I was curious if that was working any more consistently or reliably in your setup than the visual indicator.

One clue, though, if I look in the Obi web interface when there is a message in GV, I can see that the Message Waiting state is still off, so I think that it is Google not telling the Obi about a new message (or the Obi not asking Google about new messages), rather than the MWI signal getting through and not affecting the light on the phone.

Makes sense.  I am wondering if Google lowers the priority of notifying telephone lines that are not checked for forwarding.  Either way, I do hope you make progress as there must be a resolution for this.

[rlev]

I'm having a problem with the voice mail indicator not going away ...
I've updated to 1.3.0 build 2690 but it still remains ...
It won't go away even when I uncheck the MessageWaiting ... hit submit and reboot

MWIEnable   is check      
X_VMWIEnable is check      
MessageWaiting is not checked

and I still have the indicator and stutter
Any ideas ...

[RonR]

rlev,

You might try the following:

Log into the OBi at the IP address returned by dialing ***1.  You cannot do this from the OBiTALK Web Portal as the needed setting does not exist there.

Disable Auto Provisioning and reboot:

System Management -> Auto Provisioning -> ITSP Provisioning -> Method : Disabled
System Management -> Auto Provisioning -> OBiTALK Provisioning -> Method : Disabled

Go to:

Voice Services -> SP1 Service -> MessageWaiting

and uncheck the Default checkbox and click Submit.  Unplug the power from the OBi.  With the OBi powered off, clear the Message Waiting Indicator on the phone.  If the Message Waiting Indicator on the phone returns with the OBi powered off, the problem obviously isn't with the OBi.

Plug the OBi back into power and go back to:

Voice Services -> SP1 Service -> MessageWaiting

If the checkbox immediately to the right of this setting becomes checked and your phone again reports Message Waiting, it's the OBi that's turning it on.  If the checkbox stays unchecked, the phone should not turn on its Message Waiting indicator.

[rlev]

rlev,

You might try the following:

Log into the OBi at the IP address returned by dialing ***1.  You cannot do this from the OBiTALK Web Portal as the needed setting does not exist there.

Disable Auto Provisioning and reboot:

System Management -> Auto Provisioning -> ITSP Provisioning -> Method : Disabled
System Management -> Auto Provisioning -> OBiTALK Provisioning -> Method : Disabled

Go to:

Voice Services -> SP1 Service -> MessageWaiting

and uncheck the Default checkbox and click Submit.  Unplug the power from the OBi.  With the OBi powered off, clear the Message Waiting Indicator on the phone.  If the Message Waiting Indicator on the phone returns with the OBi powered off, the problem obviously isn't with the OBi.

Plug the OBi back into power and go back to:

Voice Services -> SP1 Service -> MessageWaiting

If the checkbox immediately to the right of this setting becomes checked and your phone again reports Message Waiting, it's the OBi that's turning it on.  If the checkbox stays unchecked, the phone should not turn on its Message Waiting indicator.

RonR,

I've done as you asked and after turning off "Auto Provisioning" and clearing the MessageWaiting the phone still came back with a NewVoiceMail display.   (Note the one thing I didn't do is clear the phone as I see no way to do that ... (the message does disapear when the obi is rebooted)

I'm fairly certain that the indication is coming from the obi as the obi gives me a stutter-tone

[rlev]

RonR,

I turned off MWIEnable, X_VMWIEnable  (submit, reboot)

The message went away ...
I turned them back on (submit, reboot) the message (and stutter) and messageWaiting flag came back
I cleared messageWaiting flag (submit, reboot) and the flag came back again!!

So, I cleared all the read messages in GV and did it again ... message Indicator went away ...
Hmmmmm ... user error?  If I have any messages in GV's inbox even after hearing them I have to move them out of the "inbox"? ... I'll have to keep a watch on that and figure out exactly how to retrieve and delete/archive so a read message does not trip the indicator.

Thanks for the help,

Rich



Rich

[sic0048]

Just a note for people - make sure you don't have the Google Voice setting to Put Missed Calls in Inbox.  If you have this option selected, every time there is a missed call, it will be logged in the Inbox and therefore set of the message waiting indicator.  However there is no voice mail, so you cannot reset it by listening to the voice mail over the phone.  You have to go into the GV web inbox and mark those missed calls as "read".

[pc44]

Just a note for people - make sure you don't have the Google Voice setting to Put Missed Calls in Inbox.  If you have this option selected, every time there is a missed call, it will be logged in the Inbox and therefore set of the message waiting indicator.  However there is no voice mail, so you cannot reset it by listening to the voice mail over the phone.  You have to go into the GV web inbox and mark those missed calls as "read".

Good point and good advice!

[ramjet73]

I've tried all the settings I found in this and the other threads related to MWI on Google Voice and still can't get it to work on my OBI110.  I'm on the current firmware (1.3.0 Build 2690) and everything else works fine.

Getting some strange messages on my syslog:

<7> Trying to connect ssl
<7> TC:ssl connected
<7> LHC:Response OK
<7> TCP:Connect OK(lhttpc)57
<7> Trying to connect ssl
<7> TC:ssl connected
<7> LHC:set Retrying:www.google.com, 0
<7> LHC:retrying...www.google.com
<7> TCP:Connect OK(lhttpc)58
<7> Trying to connect ssl
<7> TC:ssl connected
<7> LHC:request timeout, try again 0
<7> GTALKVM:Check VM Failed
<7> GTALKVM:state changed from 1 to 2
<7> GTALKVM:Checking VM....
<7> GTALKVM:state changed from 2 to 1
<7> TCP:Connect OK(lhttpc)22
<7> Trying to connect ssl
<7> TC:ssl connected
<7> LHC:request timeout, try again 0
<7> GTALKVM:Google login failed!
<7> GTALKVM:state changed from 1 to 2

My VM indicators are not activating on my Panasonic phone (unless I check the MessageWaiting box manually) and the Google VM checks are failing.  I even had a failed login to Google Voice but I can make calls just fine on GV (SP1).

Do I just have a bad connection to GV?  I'm on Clear WiMax if that makes any difference. I know it worked at one time but that was a while ago.

Update: I just deleted the OBI110 device and started over from scratch and I still get the same results.  

ramjet73