Been using the Simonics gateway with multiple separate Obi units happily for several months now. Recently, within the past two weeks, I've been noticing issues with one way audio. It started with my wife calling my cell phone from the house. She could apparently hear me but I couldn't hear her. Now it's changed to where I can hear her fine but she hears nothing but silence on the other end of the line. Calling back works just fine and we can hear each without issue. This issue has been replicated calling numerous other phone numbers as well and only started about two weeks ago. At first thought it was my cellphone at fault, but I suspect it has something to do with the Obi, Google Voice, or the Simonics Gateway. Any suggestions or advice to fix this issue?
When you are on an active call, check the call status. Enter OBi Expert, click on Status then click Call Status. The Audio Codec should be G711U for tx and rx. You should also have RTP Packet Counts for rx and tx.
You could try turning off SIP ALG in your router. Some routers don't have this option. You could also port forward the RTP ports. The port number range is found here in you OBi.
Service Providers -> ITSP Profile X RTP -> LocalPortMin/Max
FYI my OBi110 GV stopped working, but starting working again on December 18th and is still working. There is also 3rd party firmware with new certificates that fixes the OBi1xx GV problem.
http://www.obifirmware.com/
Thanks for the help. Here's a screenshot from my most recent test call with the aforementioned one way audio issue.
(http://dl.dropbox.com/s/sifxvf29r4qhb7g/obi%20no%20audio.JPG?dl=0)
Everything seems to check out so I haven't a clue what's causing the issues.
Running DD-WRT on the router in question and based upon my cursory sleuthing, there doesn't appear to be any such option to disable.
I'll try the port-forwarding and see if that fixes things.
Any change with the obi (model #?) hooked up directly to the modem?
I haven't tried connecting it directly to the modem but I did go through with updating the firmware to that which was mentioned by azrobert. Even went so far as to remove the Simonics gateway sign in info and instead connect directly to Google Voice as I once was able to. Outgoing calls still had the exact same issue. Sometimes the call would work fine and others there would only be audio on one end of the conversation. I'm totally lost at this point and don't know what to do. I contacted Bill Simon and he reported that isn't anything wrong on his end.
The last straw is to replace my router with one that's brand new.
Steve, why haven't you tried directly to the modem?? A new router won't help matter if you don't know what the issue is.
Is it possible that your Obi or your attached telephone is having the problems?
Connected all three obi boxes directly to modem one after the other. Same problem
Used two different corded telephones. Same problem
Calling the Ooma echo test number garners the same results. I can't hear myself echo back like I should. I don't know what to do at this point.
I'd say it's safe to rule out the router and phone at this point.
It wouldn't hurt to do a factory reset which should reset all settings to defaults. Failing that not sure what else to suggest. RMA the obi.
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I take that back. The chance of all 3 units malfunctioning at the same time is unlikely. I wonder if your isp is somehow messing with sip traffic.
Do you have an opportunity to test these at a different location (different isp)?
Did perform a factory reset as well and then set-up Google Voice as SP1. Still the same intermittent one-way audio problems. No real opportunity to test with another internet connection but at this point, I'm leaning toward this being a Google Voice issue, especially since I've seen at least one other recent post chronicling the same exact issue I'm encountering. The problem only seems to present when calling AT&T wireless phone numbers. Landlines are mostly unaffected, however the Ooma echo test gives me silence, no echo of what I'm saying. Conversely, calling another echo test service does work just fine!
If anyone has the means to do so, please forward this issue on to the proper people at Google. Yes, it's a free service, that I know, but to say this is immensely frustrating would be an understatement.
Other than I believe one or two other people with this issue, I don't recall seeing any audio issue reports on here or dslreports in recent weeks.
We have 2 obi's which use 3 different google accounts between them, no audio issues, including calls to/from att wireless devices. In addition, there's another 4 or 5 gv accounts provisioned in a local pbx. No audio issues with those either.
It easy enough to create another google voice account and number to test with. I don't think that will solve your problem though unless the underlying reason has to do with gv/routing for your particular gv number areacode/exchange.
Which specific obi devices you have and which firmware are you using? I have 3.2.1 (Build: 5757EX) on both the 200 and 202 models. There is newer build out there but some have reported issues. We haven't encountered any issues with this build. I see no reason to update.
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Calling the Ooma echo test number garners the same results. I can't hear myself echo back like I should. I don't know what to do at this point.
If this is the case, then it proves it is not a Google Voice problem. More likely, your router has SIP ALG enabled, which can cause one-way audio.
As far as Google Voice is concerned, Google will not troubleshoot your problem if it only occurs using an OBi device. If you link a conventional 10-digit US telephone number to your inbound Google Voice number, and, using that setup, inbound and outbound calls through that forwarding number work properly, then again, there's nothing wrong with Google Voice -- it's an OBi problem.
I saw you post to my old thread. What you described is exactly the same as what I hit almost 1 month ago. My problem was automatically resolved after several days. I tried almost everything but it did not help.
I was planning to pay $10 for the paid support but I found the problem was resolved magically when I did the last try before I tried to buy the support.
Sorry I cannot be more help but I hope the good luck to you. I also hope someone could figure out the root cause and fix.
I also suggested you can try to create a new Google voice account to have try. I did intensive research when I hit the issue and some articles said GV might block Obi talk in some manner on the server side. My problem was self resolved which I think it is more like a server-side issue instead of a client-side issue as I did nothing on the client-side.
Otherwise, I would suggest you buy the Obi paid service to let them troubleshoot. It is still cheaper than you buy a new device.
Quote from: Steve56 on February 26, 2018, 11:03:27 PM
Did perform a factory reset as well and then set-up Google Voice as SP1. Still the same intermittent one-way audio problems. No real opportunity to test with another internet connection but at this point, I'm leaning toward this being a Google Voice issue, especially since I've seen at least one other recent post chronicling the same exact issue I'm encountering. The problem only seems to present when calling AT&T wireless phone numbers. Landlines are mostly unaffected, however the Ooma echo test gives me silence, no echo of what I'm saying. Conversely, calling another echo test service does work just fine!
If anyone has the means to do so, please forward this issue on to the proper people at Google. Yes, it's a free service, that I know, but to say this is immensely frustrating would be an understatement.
Quote from: BrianTalk on February 27, 2018, 10:44:17 PM
I did intensive research when I hit the issue and some articles said GV might block Obi talk in some manner on the server side. My problem was self resolved which I think it is more like a server-side issue instead of a client-side issue as I did nothing on the client-side.
That's incorrect. Google does not block the use of OBi devices. In fact, Google has specifically left their otherwise obsolete and useless XMPP servers in place, specifically for OBi users' benefit.
Here are a few pieces of factual information:
- When people make or receive calls using Google Voice's old "Google Chat/Talk" infrastructure, the calls first connect to Google's servers (there are hundreds of them, spread around the country), via XMPP, not SIP. From there, the calls can pass through multiple carrier-class connections, including one or more "transit" or intermediate carriers, between your end and the ultimate called party's end.
- One common cause of one-way audio is a CODEC mismatch or other technical problem between carriers. Often, these problems are discovered and fixed, without any end user action. Sometimes, they go on for months, typically when a particular international destination is being called, which increases the likelihood of some oddball transit carrier having a problem. Furthermore, subsequent calls to a given destination may traverse different transit carriers, thus increasing the intermittent nature of the failures, and making problem determination more difficult.
- Most consumer-class routers have a largely-useless feature known as a SIP Application Layer Gateway, or ALG. This feature, while having a seemingly useful name, actually interferes with ordinary SIP client to SIP server communications, and it needs to be disabled (turned off). Many routers default this setting to being enabled for typical SIP client use.
- Google Voice (actually Google Chat) doesn't use SIP, so it is unaffected by the SIP ALG setting. However, the Simonics GVGW is a SIP<-->XMPP gateway. If you are using GVGW instead of a direct XMPP connection to Google, then your OBi is acting as a SIP client, and may be impacted by SIP ALG settings.
- The best way to determine if the OBi or the user's home network equipment or ISP is at fault, is to test Google Voice calling without using the OBi at all. Instead, make or answer multiple calls using Google Voice with an ordinary land line or mobile phone connection. If no calls fail this way, after multiple tries, then there is nothing wrong with your Google Voice configuration, nor the Google Voice telephony infrastructure; you have an OBi/router/ISP issue.
This evening I did something I should've done from the get-go. I opened up gmail and placed a call using the native google voice/hangouts button toward the lower left of the screen. I couldn't believe it but the one way audio happens when using that! So it can't possibly be the Obi devices but instead something having to do with Google Voice, their carrier(s) or codecs.
This problem presents when calling two separate cellphones belonging to two different people both using AT&T wireless as the carrier. The problem presents exactly as it does with the Obi. Sometimes audio works on both ends and other times it's only one way audio. Would somebody be so kind as to advise of how and who to contact to correct this issue, seeing as it is in fact a problem with Google Voice and not my router, modem, telephones, or Obi ATAs?
Quote from: Steve56 on February 28, 2018, 10:15:23 PM
This evening I did something I should've done from the get-go. I opened up gmail and placed a call using the native google voice/hangouts button toward the lower left of the screen. I couldn't believe it but the one way audio happens when using that! So it can't possibly be the Obi devices but instead something having to do with Google Voice, their carrier(s) or codecs.
This problem presents when calling two separate cellphones belonging to two different people both using AT&T wireless as the carrier. The problem presents exactly as it does with the Obi. Sometimes audio works on both ends and other times it's only one way audio. Would somebody be so kind as to advise of how and who to contact to correct this issue, seeing as it is in fact a problem with Google Voice and not my router, modem, telephones, or Obi ATAs?
Are you positive that the issue with your Google Chat test call wasn't due to an issue with your computer's audio settings? Maybe the mic was not connected, or maybe the Google Chat settings were not set to use your computer's microphone? I've been using GV for years and its sort of a hobby, although my wife thinks it's an obsession as I have collected 6 separate GV numbers over the years. I've never had any issues with the old GV chat features in the email client, nor in the Hangouts interface. Audio on both ends has always been fine. I recently bought the OBi200 and have set up three of my GV numbers and they have worked flawlessly.
Hope you are able to fix your issue.