Has anyone else noticed that Google is no longer sending CallerID Name?
if so, any ideas why?
Google Voice does not have CNAM unless forwarded to Callcentric.
Quote from: lrosenman on November 17, 2018, 06:52:58 AM
Has anyone else noticed that Google is no longer sending CallerID Name?
if so, any ideas why?
Hadn't noticed until I read your post. Same results as you.
Quote from: N7AS on November 17, 2018, 08:39:11 AM
Google Voice does not have CNAM unless forwarded to Callcentric.
Correct, but until the last few days OBi devices displayed CNAM for all your Google Contacts plus CNAM for many business names.
Quote from: Taoman on November 17, 2018, 08:53:24 AM
Quote from: N7AS on November 17, 2018, 08:39:11 AM
Google Voice does not have CNAM unless forwarded to Callcentric.
Correct, but until the last few days OBi devices displayed CNAM for all your Google Contacts plus CNAM for many business names.
Only if you had either a trial or a paid-up subscription to Obi Extras? Either of those expired?
Quote from: drgeoff on November 17, 2018, 08:58:43 AM
Only if you had either a trial or a paid-up subscription to Obi Extras? Either of those expired?
Only? No. This has nothing to do with OBi Extras. All OBi devices (at least the ATAs) have been receiving CNAM display for all their Google Contacts and many business names since the switch to GVSIP.
Steve has confirmed this more than once. This functionality has ceased working within the last few days.
Quote from: SteveInWAYes! the caller's name will be provided under these two circumstances: 1) the calling phone number is in your Google Contacts, so Google matches it and displays the name, or 2) the calling phone number belongs to a business known to Google via Google+ or Google Search, so the matching business name will be displayed.
This is known as "Caller ID by Google", and the feature has been around since the Google Nexus/Pixel phones came out, and it was only offered on those phones. The names are not coming from the CNAM LIDB.
http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=13886.msg89226#msg89226 (http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=13886.msg89226#msg89226)
I'm also seeing the same issue. No CNAME from last few days. I did not sign up for OBi extra. I use Google Voice. Could this be a Google issue?
Quote from: Taoman on November 17, 2018, 09:09:41 AM
Quote from: drgeoff on November 17, 2018, 08:58:43 AM
Only if you had either a trial or a paid-up subscription to Obi Extras? Either of those expired?
Only? No. This has nothing to do with OBi Extras. All OBi devices (at least the ATAs) have been receiving CNAM display for all their Google Contacts and many business names since the switch to GVSIP.
Steve has confirmed this more than once. This functionality has ceased working within the last few days.
OK, ignore that rubbish I wrote.
Beats me. I've reached out to my contacts at Google to find out if there is anything I can share with y'all. Thanks for reporting this.
I'll be the first to admit that caller ID name is a big mystery with regard to Google Voice, and that I am likely mistaken. One thing I can confirm (confirmed via my GV engineering contact) is that the Google Voice apps and new web UI can display the name associated with the inbound number on VoIP calls, pulled from your contacts. (This is NOT the same as traditional CNAM LIDB lookup). Whether or not OBiTALK SIP clients now do that is debatable.
I could swear that the behavior worked as I describe earlier, and the fact that you're now reporting that the behavior has changed is even more mysterious. What makes this even more confusing is that Google's Pixel phones have their own caller ID name function (again, not via the CNAM LIDB).
Google Voice doesn't send caller ID name (in the usual CNAM PSTN format). The working theory is that OBiTALK users who have been seeing this have been getting it from OBiTALK, not from GV itself. In other words, if you subscribe(d) to OBiEXTRAS at one point in time, you would have authorized OBiTALK to import your Google contacts. I have no idea where they are stored with regard to using OBi ATAs (on the device's flash memory, perhaps). There was a brief period of time whereby this import feature was mistakenly enabled for everyone, for free. Perhaps this error was finally discovered and fixed, thus killing the name presentation. So, if an inbound call comes in, the name and number would be matched to that list, and the ATA would send it to the phone as standard CNAM. This is all speculation on my part, since nobody will say with authority.
Compare this to the OBi IP phones, which have the contacts import feature for free. In this scenario, the contacts are imported to the phone itself, so that's where the names are coming from. You can see this if you look at your Google account's app permissions. You would have granted (and perhaps later deleted) permission to OBiTALK to import your contacts.
If anyone has the time and energy to test this further, with a variety of calls from other GV numbers, non-GV numbers, and known business numbers (e.g. a local store or business), please feel free to report your findings.
I can send you the XML call logs if you want to see what happened. I can tell you that now I'm just seeing NUMBER not NAME for contacts, and OUT OF AREA for NON-CONTACT numbers.
This is *VERY* annoying, FWIW.
PM me an e-mail address if you'd like the XML.
Nope, I don't want to see your XML, since I can't do anything with it. But, if this is "*VERY* annoying", why don't you at least run a test, by subscribing to OBiEXTRAS for a month, and see if you get the names with your calls. That will at least point to what changed. Seems worth the small cost for the test.
Odd thing is when incoming calls are made GV in Google Chrome shows the person calling if they are in your contacts, but not on the phone as they use to do. The 100 back in the day always showed who was calling if they had not set their Caller ID to Private.....businesses and residential callers.
It's either one or two of the obvious things...GV has changed the FW or Obi has changed their FW...no amount of FW updates or rollbacks change the behavior BTDT.
Last yr when the the 100 was dropped and i hooked up the 200 it would not show CNAM or the person calling. Found FW to extend the 100 til around May or so an when the 100 flat stopped working, hooked up the 200 lo an behold the calller names started showing again and worked up until this month reverting back to the way it was last Dec of 2017.
My point is the caller name did start working on the 200 last spring, as it had always worked on the 100. Sure seems to me that this whole thing is based on us as users having to pay a 'fee' to have functionality that was always there for yrs and yrs....now what does that tell you?
Went thru all this mess last Dec. `17 when the 100 was dropped....back then some ppl on this forum took it upon themselves to be the Obi 'Spokes Person'...saying go buy this or buy that...when all it was was a several megabyte firmware update...haven't yet to understand what's behind these 'shills'
I've had CNAM working on Nov 14. I received a call from my son's school at 5:01 PM ET on Nov 14 and it used the caller name from my Google contacts. I received another call from the same number on Nov 15 at 5:36 AM ET and CNAM did not work. Caller name was Out of Area. So, CNAM stopped working between 5:01 PM ET Nov 14 and 5:36 AM ET Nov 15.
I did not change anything on Obi200 side (same firmware and same settings). Also, I did not change my cordless phone (same phone and same local phone book).
Google voice history is correctly showing caller names in all instances.
Obi200 was showing 0 entries in System Status > Product Information > PhoneBookEntries. I then went to ObiEXTRAs > Settings > Import Your Google Contacts and I downloaded my Google Contacts for the first time. I now see 76 Unique Name/Number Pairs in PhoneBookEntries. I did not sign-up for ObiEXRTAs yet and I'm not seeing CNAM for new calls. I'll sign-up for the free-trial. But I'm not sure if it's a correct test as CNAM was working before without OBiEXTRAs and without the firmware change. Could this still be an issue at Google side?
if it works in GV and ur phone then it has to be an Obi issue...notice that all the advice is to go to ObiExtras? what does that tell you?
It's my understanding that during an incoming call, there is a direction connection between Google Voice and OBi device. OBiTalk has no role to play. So, I'm still curious if this is an OBi issue when there is no firmware change. Could there be a time bound feature in OBi firmware?
This hypothesis does not make sense as I did give an access to ObiTalk to read my Google Contacts before. I confirmed this by reviewing "Apps with account access" and "Device activity & security events" at myaccount.google.com. My suspicion is still with Google that something broke there recently.
I've a few additional information to share.
I'm still getting CNAM from a few callers. E.g. I've one friend using Vonage. When he called me today, I got his caller name on my phone. I've written his name differently on Google Contacts. But his name came today just the way Vonage defined. However, I received a call from the same friend on Nov 13 and it came just the way I entered in Google Contacts.
So, I'm still believing that Google used to supply / override CNAM until Nov 14 and something broke recently on their end.
I suggest other people facing this issue to check "Call History" on Obi device by connecting locally (not Obi Expert). For me, it's 192.168.1.XXX. I could clearly see CNAM here. You could compare the caller for which you were getting names before and it's missing now.
I believe it's Steve who can persuade Google to diagnose this issue further. Thanks Steve.
I wish we didn't have to guess about what's going on. Yes, I know it's free, HOWEVER, we were told CNAM was being provided by Google from our contacts. And that was in fact what was happening until 11-15-2018. Now, all of a sudden, it's gone. And SteveInWA is saying he hasn't a clue, and we have no recourse.
How can we, as users, get a definitive answer from someone in power at GoogleVoice/ObiHai/Polycom on what the official answer is? Based on Steve's response to me, he doesn't have a clue, nor does he want the evidence I have from my call logs.
Polycom/ObiHai/Google: Can we get some answers here?
Google contacts based Caller ID (name) has also stopped working for me around Nov 14th on Obi200/GV (after having worked for many months (since I got the device earlier this year)).
I still seem to get public (?) caller ID name/info (e.g. from a business, but not as defined in my google contacts) but for every other call only the number is displayed. This is the same behavior/data I see in my Obi200 device's call history web page (i.e. for entries before Nov. 14th it shows google contact name & number, but after that it shows only "public" name & number or just the number). It would seem to me that the device is not getting google contact data any more, but is still getting data from some (public?) DB?
Note that I had my Obi200 "locked" (i.e. every auto update option disabled) pretty much since I hooked it up (so as to avoid any unscheduled firmware update, etc.). In fact on the OBI web portal/dashboard it has always showed as "offline" (but worked fine). Also I have not updated/reconfigured/restarted the device for over 3 months.
Google is investigating this issue. If/when I have an update to share, I will do so here. Given the Thanksgiving holiday, I don't expect anything to happen until at least next week.
Quote from: SteveInWA on November 21, 2018, 01:37:51 PM
Google is investigating this issue. If/when I have an update to share, I will do so here. Given the Thanksgiving holiday, I don't expect anything to happen until at least next week.
I
THOUGHT you said
DEFINITIVELY that Google didn't change anything and this was a
Polycom issue.
Was that incorrect? Have you heard anything from Polycom?
This video might explain what I may or may not have said:
https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/saturday-night-news-segment---nathan-thurm/n9367 (https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/saturday-night-news-segment---nathan-thurm/n9367)
All kidding aside, though: yes, that's what I said, because that's what I was told by the Google Voice engineer who I contacted about it. I also contacted the engineering team at Polycom, and they said it wasn't something they did. As it turns out, everybody was correct. A change was made elsewhere in the Google infrastructure that broke the function, unbeknownst to the Google Voice team. There are so many separate pieces to make Google Voice work, that unexpected interactions occasionally pop up, and this is one of them.
I can't get into any specifics at this time, except to say that Google knows it's broken, and they are looking into how to fix it. When I have more details that I can share here, I will. Given the imminent holiday season, I don't expect resolution on this near term.
so the current state is:
1) GVSIP is SUPPOSED to be sending CNAM data from your Google contacts
2) Something changed within the greater Google infrastructure between 2018-11-14 12:44:09(US/CST) and
2018-11-15 00:29:18(US/CST) that broke that functionality
3) Google folks are investigating and hopefully will have a fix at some point in the future, but
no guarantees on a timeframe
I'm not trying to point fingers here, and as my COO says "Assume good intent", but is this an accurate summary of where we are?
Am I under oath on the witness stand?
Yes, that is my understanding as of now. I can't commit to any resolution on Google's part, since I don't work for Google. All I can say with certainty is that they know about the problem.
Quote from: SteveInWA on November 22, 2018, 12:28:00 PM
Yes, that is my understanding as of now. I can't commit to any resolution on Google's part, since I don't work for Google. All I can say with certainty is that they know about the problem.
Is there any way we (as mere mortal users of the service) can get any sort of commitment from Google?
No. Remember: There is no service level guarantee, nor direct customer support, for the consumer version of Google Voice, nor any guarantee that a specific feature may or may not continue to work. It's an "as-is" service. I've already gone way above and beyond what you'd get without my intervention to investigate it with both companies, so on this Thanksgiving day, be thankful.
Let's be realistic: This is a first-world problem. If you can't wait for Google to fix it, then either detour your calls through a free Callcentric NY State DID to pick up CNAM, or pay Polycom for OBiEXTRAs.
You have to buy ObiExtras for that feature. See here>
https://www.obitalk.com/obiextras
Quote from: GeeObi on November 22, 2018, 11:09:56 PM
You have to buy ObiExtras for that feature. See here>
https://www.obitalk.com/obiextras
That was not true at least until 11-14-2018.
SOMETHING changed in Google's infrastructure between 2018-11-14 12:44:09(US/CST) and 2018-11-15 00:29:18(US/CST) that broke that functionality.
Quote from: SteveInWA on November 22, 2018, 02:07:22 PM
Let's be realistic: This is a first-world problem. If you can't wait for Google to fix it, then either detour your calls through a free Callcentric NY State DID to pick up CNAM, or pay Polycom for OBiEXTRAs.
Did somebody say we may have a first world problem? This may help: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vN2WzQzxuoA
[Edit] I should have started by saying that I was seeing the Caller ID Name on incoming calls without OBIEXTRAS up until 11-14 like the original poster stated. Since then, the display has been showing "Unknown Caller" for every call -- even those in my Google Voice contacts list.[End Edit]
So I just signed up for the OBIEXTRAS free 1 month trial, and then I imported my Google Contacts. However, I'm not seeing a caller ID name when I make test calls from my cell to home phone. The only difference I see is that it no longer displays "Unknown Caller" above the phone number.
Also, I thought I would see a contact list somewhere in the OBi dashboard, but I can't find that either.
Any pointers on this would be appreciated. Thank you.
I have had ObiExtras for about a year now. I have an OBihai202. I have 1 Gb Google Fiber.
I do get names and numbers on my home phones. The data comes from my Google Contacts.
The problem I have is the extraordinary effort necessary to import my Google contacts to the OBi world (I have been told by OBi Support that the data is stored on the cloud - not within the Obi). Typically, to import contacts using ObiExtras, I attempt the import 15 or 20 times. Most import attempts fail. However, they are successful now and then. The exact format of the Google Contacts seems to be important. I am beginning to believe that you cannot have more than one number per "name account'. In other words, if John Doe has a mobile phone and a home phone, they need to each be on a separate line in Google Contacts as opposed to both being under a single John Doe entry.
But there is so much inconsistency with the process and results and testing takes a lot of time, so I can't be sure. In any event, I do have Google contact names and numbers that show up on my home CID phones. And the quantity of those unique name-number pairs show up under "PhoneBookEntries". Obihai support has been working with me and over the past week, they've emailed 5 or 6 times.
I hope to learn more about this so I can obtain some efficiency with the process.
I also signed up for OBiExtras trial. It was a painful process to import data from Google Contacts. Also, as frankpc mentioned, OBi does not like more than one phone number for each contact.
I really wish Google resolve CNAM issue which started around Nov 15. This will help us to get CNAM without going through OBiExtras.
Thank you Steve (@SteveInWA) for checking with Google on this issue!!!
Quote from: Sp0012 on December 04, 2018, 02:32:22 PM
It was a painful process to import data from Google Contacts. Also, as frankpc mentioned, OBi does not like more than one phone number for each contact.
Did you learn anything else insofar as the optimum format of the Google Contacts data? I appreciate your confirming that there should be just one number per line.
I am using the following fields for importing to Google Contacts from an offline "contacts list" I maintain:
Name, Given Name, Family Name, Group Membership, Phone 1 - Type, Phone 1 - Value
For example:
John Smith, John, Smith, *My Contacts, Mobile, 19135551212
All I know is that I got that to work. There could be several unnecessary fields listed there.
Also, I do not yet know which fields are used to display the name on the CID phone display. I am assuming the name comes from the "Name" field.
And I try to eliminate most punctuation within the fields.... No commas. No periods. (apostrophes & hyphens ??)
Thank you!
Anyone with inside contacts at Google/PolyCom: Has anyone acknowledged if they (both companies) consider this a bug?
Why do you keep hammering on this issue? Yes, both companies are aware of the issue. It is a very low priority to fix, as there are a lot of major changes being worked on at Google Voice, so while they acknowledge it as a bug, I do not expect that it will get fixed anytime soon. Google made a required and unrelated infrastructure change that caused this issue, and it is Google's not Polycom's bug to fix.
Whenever I see people repeatedly focusing on something like this, that is relatively trivial in real life, I can't help but explain it this way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxyhfiCO_XQ (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxyhfiCO_XQ)
Meanwhile, if this problem is making you upset, then route your calls through a Callcentric DID.
I handle this like I handle ANY trouble ticket in my real life day job, which is check to see it's being worked, or what, but apparently that's not acceptable here.
I'll drop off the forum and deal with it.
I'm guessing nothing new to report here?
I just noticed this today. Though I could almost swear it has worked intermittently sometimes.
I did notice that a number in my gv contacts showed up on 2/1 exactly how I had her name entered, but then today there was no name display again so maybe this is a sign that things might be turning around.
I am trying to import 1,796 Google contacts (with multiple phone numbers for most of them) through my OBiEXTRAS and my status PhoneBookEntries shows only 675 Unique Contact/Number combinations. OBi is trying to work with me on this, and a recent reply was...
"We have not seen limits set by Google Gmail Contacts (so far). We have seen up to 2000. Make sure all contacts are properly set with Name correlates with Number and try imports again. According to some users, if Names/Numbers does not correlate in Gmail Contacts, the import will ONLY pull the correct Name/Numbers together."
What does "correlate" mean in this case? How do I make sure a Name and a Number are "correlated"? And is that part of the issue with having imported contacts generate an accurate Caller ID display?
It has been over 3 months and Google did not fix the CNAM issue. Is it still in their to do list? Thanks.