First-time setup questions

[Carnivore]

I'm new to Obi and Voip and I have a few questions on setting up my Obi202.

1. I plan to port my Verizon landline number to Google Voice via a prepaid T-Mobile SIM card. I already have a Google Voice number associated with my Google account that I never use. Can I replace that number with the one I'm porting over, or will I need to create a new, additional Google account for the new number?

2. I understand I'll need to add a second Voip provider to Obi in order to see the Caller ID Name (CNAM) on incoming calls, and to provide E911 service. Will these things all be associated with my primary GV number, or will I have multiple phone numbers to juggle in order to get it all working together? 

3. What are the names of the plans I would need to sign up for at Callcentric and/or voip.ms to provide the above functionality, without paying extra for services I won't need since I'll be using GV for my day-to-day calling?

4. I'm currently using Nomorobo.com to block telemarketing calls to my home phone, which requires the use of the "simultaneous ring" calling feature. Will I be able to continue using this service with the Obi configured as above?  Or does Obi or the Voip providers provide their own telemarketing/spam management?

Thanks.

[Taoman]

1) You can replace your existing GV number with the one you're porting over.

2) Once initial setup is completed you will have just the GV number number to juggle.

3) IP Freedom on Callcentric (plus E911) but for $.45 more per month ($1.95/month total) I would recommend a free Callcentric DID (which includes free CNAM) along with the North America Basic plan which includes E911, 120 outbound minutes per month, plus no charge for unlimited toll-free calls (potentially important for Nomorobo)
VoIP.ms, while a great provider, would be more expensive for what you want to do since they would charge you for the DID, incoming minutes, and CNAM lookups (and E911 of course).

4)You can configure your OBi device itself to use Nomorobo  (using a toll-free service like tollfreeproxy.com) or you could configure it at Callcentric with a call treatment using simultaneous ringing to a Nomorobo number (assuming you got the North American Basic plan).
Google Voice already has a great telemarketer block plus Callcentric has a new spam probability rating/filter tool you can utilize via a call treatment.

[Carnivore]

That's very helpful, thanks. 

[chilirock]

Just adding my experience as I migrated my cable VOIP landline about a month ago to a very similar setup.

1) I use GMail as my primary email. I also have GV number associated with that account. For my home line, I decided to create an entirely new GMail account and assign a separate new GV number with the new account. I wanted to keep my primary email account and home phone accounts separate. I used the secondary account for the porting and eventually for the Obi setup. The GV number on the secondary account was replaced by my ported number.

You mentioned porting with a T-mobile SIM. Just to clarify, I think you will also need a T-mobile phone since you will need / want to test inbound / outbound calls during the process. At least that's what I did. I purchased a Kyocera Rally from Best Buy for $10 that came with the SIM and 30 minutes talk time. Looks like Best Buy is now selling the Kyocera for $4.

2) I did the same here. I use GV for all outbound calls and CallCentric for 1) Inbound Calls + CNAM and 2) 911 service. In my case I signed up for CallCentric's "Free Phone Number" service and received a free NY DID phone number. When you sign up for that service you will pay a one-time $1.50 setup and $1.50 for the first month of E911 service. You will now have two separate phone numbers to manage 1) GV and 2) CallCentric

The way I manage the two numbers is I have my CallCentric account setup on SP1, and GV setup on SP2. I have SP2 flagged for as primary for outbound calls. In order to get CNAM working for incoming calls, you need to go to your GV setup and add your free CallCentric number as a forwarding number on GV. That way when someone calls your GV number, then routes to CallCentric to pickup the Caller ID Name (CNAM) information and rings your CallCentric account on SP1. You never need to give out your CallCentric number, you just need to have it as forwarding number on your GV account to pickup CNAM. Without this, the calls to your GV number will still ring on the Obi, but not receive CNAM

Just an FYI, the reason I chose to setup CallCentric on SP1 and GV on SP2 is that with the GV forwarding, all calls are technically coming in on the CallCentric account. When I had CallCentric setup on SP2, I got weird stuttering phone ringing on incoming calls. I assumed that was due to the SP2 ring profile. I just swapped the two and now I get normally sounding incoming phone rings.

3) See above for CallCentric service names. The minimum cost you can expect to get it working is the $1.50 setup + $1.50/mo. As mentioned above, you can also add minimum outbound calling for $0.45 more. Just note, that in order to use that service you will have to dial "**X" depending on which SP you use for CC to tell the Obi you want to use a different service for outbound calls on a call by call basis, assuming you setup GV as your primary service for outbound.

4) I only use GV as my primary telemarketing / spam call filter. So far, I'm impressed. It is filtering out 3 - 5 spam calls per week that would have otherwise come through. And all of my legit calls are coming through. You have to make sure to turn on "Global Spam Filtering" in your GV > Calls settings page.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have any further questions.

[Carnivore]

Thanks for the additional info, chilirock. May I ask why you wanted to keep your Gmail and home phone number separate, in case there's some downside I didn't think of?

Yes, I understand the need for a T-Mobile phone for the porting process. I have some compatible unlocked phones on hand so no problem.

Your description of using separate Callcentric and GV numbers is the issue I was wondering about when I originally asked about juggling numbers. I follow what you're doing, I just wonder if that's the best way to do it or if there's another way that would accomplish the same things without the need for the extra number and forwarding calls. 

My Obi adapter didn't arrive today as hoped so I'm going to have to wait until Monday now. I plan to test it out with my existing GV number before starting the porting process to make sure I don't experience any lag, stuttering or other issues in general using Obi & GV.

[SteveInWA]

The setup described here is the best way to use Google Voice with an OBi, with the added benefits of CNAM and E911 service.

Callcentric's new "North America Basic" plan, mentioned by Taoman, is the cheapest way to add those features.

[Taoman]

Your description of using separate Callcentric and GV numbers is the issue I was wondering about when I originally asked about juggling numbers. I follow what you're doing, I just wonder if that's the best way to do it or if there's another way that would accomplish the same things without the need for the extra number and forwarding calls. 

Yes, you have two numbers but as I mentioned, once the setup is complete you can pretty much forget about the Callcentric number. I've had mine for years. I'd have to login to Callcentric to even see what the number actually is. Sure if something breaks with your Callcentric configuration you'll have to "manage" that but that has never happened to me. Callcentric is quite reliable. What specifically are you concerned about regarding "juggling" two numbers?

Yes, there are other ways to do this. But if you want CNAM you must forward your call to a VoIP provider that supports it. Here is how you could do this without another "number" since that seems to be what you're concerned about. But you'll still have to configure another service provider on your OBi (or two).

You can subscribe to the Simonics Google Voice gateway for a one-time fee of $6.00. This gateway supports CNAM. So you would "register" to the Simonics gateway with your OBi via SIP instead of "connecting" to GV via XMPP. The gateway does the translation. All your inbound/outbound GV calls would go thru the Simonics gateway. I use the Simonics gateway myself and it works well and has been reliable.
But that won't take care of your E911 needs. You would still need to find a different provider (like Callcentric or Anveo) for E911 support.

And realize if you go this route you lose all the features Callcentric has to offer. Callcentric is considered by many to be the gold standard as far as their web portal and feature set. Anveo probably has more features but their web portal is nowhere near as user friendly as Callcentric's site. One feature you may miss is CNAM override which Callcentric supports. Any numbers you put in your CC phone book can be given a descriptive name. So instead of seeing "Jane Doe" (from CNAM) on your CallerID you could see "Mom" or "Sis" or whatever you choose. I have found this feature to be indispensable.

But it's your choice. Pick your poison.

[Carnivore]

What specifically are you concerned about regarding "juggling" two numbers?

I just looked at it as an extra potential point of failure. My GV number would become dependent on Callcentric forwarding the call without a substantial lag or failing for whatever reason. But it sound like that's the generally accepted way to do this and if people are happy with the performance then that's reassuring.

I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing any good alternatives. The Simonics workaround seems to be lacking features I'd like so I'll plan to go the Callcentric route.

Thanks again to all for the help.

[Taoman]

I just looked at it as an extra potential point of failure. My GV number would become dependent on Callcentric forwarding the call without a substantial lag or failing for whatever reason. But it sound like that's the generally accepted way to do this and if people are happy with the performance then that's reassuring.

You would not be "dependent." You would still have an SP configured for GV on your OBi for outbound calls. If anything goes wrong with your Callcentric connection you just login to your Google Voice account and uncheck the box for Callcentric and check the box for Chat. You are immediately back up and running again just without CNAM (and presumably E911).

Lag (or latency) can be a concern. I am on the other side of the country from Callcentric but I can't detect any discernible lag. As a test you can ping Callcentric and see what your average round trip time is.
From a command prompt type the following:

ping ping.callcentric.com -t

Let it run for 30 seconds to a minute and then break out of it with Ctrl-C. What is the average of your "Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds?"

[Carnivore]

Packets: Sent = 91, Received = 91, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 7ms, Maximum = 26ms, Average = 8ms

[Taoman]

Packets: Sent = 91, Received = 91, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 7ms, Maximum = 26ms, Average = 8ms

I don't know what kind of pipe you've got to the Internet or where you're located but I feel pretty safe in saying you won't be experiencing any lag.

[Carnivore]

Heh, sorry. I'm in New Jersey with Verizon FiOS.

One more question, since GV doesn't support CNAM on inbound calls, does that mean my Caller ID Name won't be transmitted on outbound calls to someone's regular landline phone?  Not that it's a deal breaker. Just curious.

[Taoman]

Heh, sorry. I'm in New Jersey with Verizon FiOS.

One more question, since GV doesn't support CNAM on inbound calls, does that mean my Caller ID Name won't be transmitted on outbound calls to someone's regular landline phone?  Not that it's a deal breaker. Just curious.

Verizon FiOS. I should have known. I'm jealous.

Yeah, no outbound CNAM with Google Voice.

[restamp]

This is probably a dumb question, but I've seen it alluded to several times here without a definitive answer:  If you do set up E911 with the Callcentric free DID offering, something which is clearly represented as an "inbound only" offering, how do you initiate a 911 call?  Do you have to purchase an outbound plan as well?

[Taoman]

Do you have to purchase an outbound plan as well?

No, you don't have to purchase an outbound plan. Your account is "provisioned" for E911 for connecting to your local PSAP based on your given address when dialing 911. I believe a special number is used so that if the call is cut off the PSAP can call you back.

Steve knows a lot more about the specifics than I do.......

[LTN1]

For .45 cents more per month via CallCentric, one can get the North America Basic plan that includes E911 and 120 minutes of outbound minutes, toll free calling, etc.: http://www.callcentric.com/rate/plans/north_america_basic/

[drgeoff]

Heh, sorry. I'm in New Jersey with Verizon FiOS.

One more question, since GV doesn't support CNAM on inbound calls, does that mean my Caller ID Name won't be transmitted on outbound calls to someone's regular landline phone?  Not that it's a deal breaker. Just curious.

For incoming calls to a phone on a POTS line,  any CNAM present has been inserted by the callee's telco by doing a lookup on the Caller ID.  Only Caller ID, not CNA, is sent across the long distance POTS infrastructure.

[restamp]

No, you don't have to purchase an outbound plan. Your account is "provisioned" for E911 for connecting to your local PSAP based on your given address when dialing 911. I believe a special number is used so that if the call is cut off the PSAP can call you back.

So you're responsible for making sure that "911" calls gets vectored to the SPx associated with your Callcentric DID, and even though you aren't set up to make general calls from that SPx, Callcentric will route a 911 call the appropriate PSAP for you.  Is that correct?

[Taoman]

So you're responsible for making sure that "911" calls gets vectored to the SPx associated with your Callcentric DID, and even though you aren't set up to make general calls from that SPx, Callcentric will route a 911 call the appropriate PSAP for you.  Is that correct?

Correct. Just think of E911 as another "service" you can purchase from Callcentric. You can get a free or paid DID for inbound service. You can choose one of their many plans for outbound service. And you can get their E911 service for 911 support. Or you can buy a package that includes the E911 service.

Yes, when you first set up a new provider on the Obitalk web portal using the wizard it will ask you if this service supports 911 and if so you check the box. That "should" take care of it. However, for something as important as 911 I would look at my OutboundCallRoute to make darn sure where 911 calls were being routed......I mean "vectored."    I've been burned before by making "assumptions" about where 911 calls were actually being routed.

[chilirock]

Thanks for the additional info, chilirock. May I ask why you wanted to keep your Gmail and home phone number separate, in case there's some downside I didn't think of?

I just did not feel comfortable using my primary Gmail account on the ObiTalk portal incase there was some vulnerability or potential to hack that account through the Obi unit or the Obi portal. I treat my primary email account as gold and don't want to use or post those credentials anywhere outside my control. Maybe just overly cautious, but by using a secondary account if it gets hacked, they'll only have my phone-only account info, not phone and my primary email.

I just wonder if that's the best way to do it or if there's another way that would accomplish the same things without the need for the extra number and forwarding calls. 

As far as I know, the answer is no. In order to get CNAM working, you have to have a secondary account with a company that supports Caller Name. As mentioned by others here, you only input that number as a forwarding number on GV, and they you can forget about it. Just a one-time setup.

I plan to test it out with my existing GV number before starting the porting process to make sure I don't experience any lag, stuttering or other issues in general using Obi & GV.

Good idea, that's exactly what I did. After receiving my Obi200, I set it up with just GV and tested multiple inbound and outbound calls of various durations to make sure I was happy with the service before initiating the porting process.