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2 Obi devices on one Google Voice account

Started by Levander, April 10, 2016, 12:26:28 AM

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Levander

I saw an Obihai blog post that said this was possible. But I'm hoping to get some more details about it.

Basically, I've been using an Obihai device connected to Google Voice for home phone service for awhile now. And have had great service from the thing. No problems whatsoever.

Now I've got a 2nd houses I want to put an Obihai device in also.

I'm under the impression I could both the Obihai devices on the same Google Voice account so they share phone numbers.

What I'm wondering is how seamless this will be.

Like if one person is talking through one Obihai device, can someone have a separate conversation with someone else through the other Obihai device?

How well will I be able to manage the Obihai devices remotely? Like if I let someone else use the vacation condo, can I turn off the Obihai device at the vacation device? Or it least make it so it does not ring, so my condo guests aren't answering my phone calls?

Last, I've currently got an old Obi100 device at my main house. It's an Obi110 I think. Will it make my life a lot easier if I just buy two new Obi200 devices? And give the Obi100 away to a friend or something?

SteveInWA

Quote from: Levander on April 10, 2016, 12:26:28 AM
I saw an Obihai blog post that said this was possible. But I'm hoping to get some more details about it.

Basically, I've been using an Obihai device connected to Google Voice for home phone service for awhile now. And have had great service from the thing. No problems whatsoever.

Now I've got a 2nd houses I want to put an Obihai device in also.

I'm under the impression I could both the Obihai devices on the same Google Voice account so they share phone numbers.

What I'm wondering is how seamless this will be.

Like if one person is talking through one Obihai device, can someone have a separate conversation with someone else through the other Obihai device?

Yes.

Quote
How well will I be able to manage the Obihai devices remotely? Like if I let someone else use the vacation condo, can I turn off the Obihai device at the vacation device? Or it least make it so it does not ring, so my condo guests aren't answering my phone calls?

Yes.  You'd log into your OBiTALK portal account on the web, then access the vacation condo's OBi in Expert mode, and remove the check mark at Voice Service-->SP1 Service-->Enable

Quote
Last, I've currently got an old Obi100 device at my main house. It's an Obi110 I think. Will it make my life a lot easier if I just buy two new Obi200 devices? And give the Obi100 away to a friend or something?

Yes.  Better hardware, seamless multi-device use, plus a new one-year warranty.

Levander

Quote from: SteveInWA on April 10, 2016, 03:38:20 PM
Yes.  Better hardware, seamless multi-device use, plus a new one-year warranty.


Great, thanks Steve.

Is there somewhere online I could,find instructions on how to set this up?

Where would I go to figure it out?

I setup my current Obi110 myself, but it was a long time ago. Don't even remeber how Imended up figuring it out.

SteveInWA

Quote from: Levander on April 13, 2016, 12:08:23 AM
Quote from: SteveInWA on April 10, 2016, 03:38:20 PM
Yes.  Better hardware, seamless multi-device use, plus a new one-year warranty.


Great, thanks Steve.

Is there somewhere online I could,find instructions on how to set this up?

Where would I go to figure it out?

I setup my current Obi110 myself, but it was a long time ago. Don't even remeber how Imended up figuring it out.


Yep.  Here:  http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=8560.msg56460#msg56460

Using two OBi 20x devices, you'd just set them up the same way.

Geez

Hi SteveInWa
I was reading the post about using 2 obi's with 1 gv acct. First, I love my obi110 in my office and have been using it for several years. I also have an obi200 at home. On the home obi, i have a separate personal gv acct. I want to use the same gv acct that i have in my office on the home obi. I reconfigured the home obi to use the office gv acct but when i do this, the office obi110 won't ring but the home obi will. I have been searching for a solution and can't find it so that's why i posted here. I am thinking it's b/c the 110 won't integrate with the 200?
Thanks
Ernest 

SteveInWA

Quote from: Geez on May 04, 2016, 10:29:51 AM
Hi SteveInWa
I was reading the post about using 2 obi's with 1 gv acct. First, I love my obi110 in my office and have been using it for several years. I also have an obi200 at home. On the home obi, i have a separate personal gv acct. I want to use the same gv acct that i have in my office on the home obi. I reconfigured the home obi to use the office gv acct but when i do this, the office obi110 won't ring but the home obi will. I have been searching for a solution and can't find it so that's why i posted here. I am thinking it's b/c the 110 won't integrate with the 200?
Thanks
Ernest 

The OBi 1x0 devices don't support multiple, simultaneous access to the same Google account;  only the 200 and 10x2 series products do that.

SteveInWA

Quote from: SteveInWA on May 04, 2016, 10:44:05 AM
Quote from: Geez on May 04, 2016, 10:29:51 AM
Hi SteveInWa
I was reading the post about using 2 obi's with 1 gv acct. First, I love my obi110 in my office and have been using it for several years. I also have an obi200 at home. On the home obi, i have a separate personal gv acct. I want to use the same gv acct that i have in my office on the home obi. I reconfigured the home obi to use the office gv acct but when i do this, the office obi110 won't ring but the home obi will. I have been searching for a solution and can't find it so that's why i posted here. I am thinking it's b/c the 110 won't integrate with the 200?
Thanks
Ernest 

The OBi 1x0 devices don't support multiple, simultaneous access to the same Google account;  only the 200 and 10x2 series products do that.

I recommend upgrading the 110 to a 200 model, unless you need the POTS telephone line port on the 110.  Otherwise, AZRobert documents the workaround here:

https://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=10717.0

Geez

Steve;
thanks for the reply, I was trying every configuration i could think of to try and do a work around; I kinda figured that. Will upgrade the 110. Thanks.

SteveInWA

Yah, the older, less-capable "System on a Chip" in the 100/110 models doesn't have the firmware capability to manage simultaneous Google Voice (actually Google Chat) connections to the same account.  The 200 series have a faster, more capable SoC and more RAM and ROM, so more features can be supported.

Geez

Steve,
When replacing the 110 with a 200, do you still have to follow the protocol you list in this thread by changing the settings on one of the obi's or can i just designate the same gv acct for each obi200?
Thanks

SteveInWA

You can configure the same Google Voice account(s), on as many OBi 20x products as you wish, with no hocus-pocus expert-mode rules needed.  It just works automatically.  Feel free to come back here after you get your new device, if you have more questions.   Good luck!

GPz1100

#11
So if the same google voice account is configured on two different obi boxes, will both still ring for incoming calls or just the last to refresh registration?

-----------------

Edit;  It was easy to toggle forwarding to google chat to test this out.  Very interesting.  Both phones (which are connected to different obi's) rang at the same time.  Wonder how they do this as this as on asterisk, it seems the last registration is the one that gets the inbound call.

billsimon

Quote from: GPz1100 on March 09, 2018, 12:23:47 PM
So if the same google voice account is configured on two different obi boxes, will both still ring for incoming calls or just the last to refresh registration?

-----------------

Edit;  It was easy to toggle forwarding to google chat to test this out.  Very interesting.  Both phones (which are connected to different obi's) rang at the same time.  Wonder how they do this as this as on asterisk, it seems the last registration is the one that gets the inbound call.

I always thought it should work based on XMPP priority and availability status. If two Google Chat clients have the same priority and availability, both should be offered the incoming calls. But in practice, this is not how I have seen it work. What I have seen is unpredictable behavior. Try your test a few more times over the course of a day and see if you get the same results. If so, great--your luck is better than mine!

GPz1100

#13
Bill, thanks for your comments.  That's my understanding as well.

For this particular line it doesn't matter as we use callcentric for 911 and cnam.  This question does come up from time to time.

Both devices were reset last night after playing around with oauth (see the post here https://www.dslreports.com/forum/r31867624- ). The same account is also registered in asterisk with a priority of 127 (this one is used for outbound only). Initially in the testing above, neither obi rang the connected phone.  Both rang after rebooting each obi.  I did make it a point to time the reboots ~20 seconds apart just to see if the last one to register would be the one to receive the call.  That was not the case, both literally rang at the exact same time.

Asterisk hasn't been rebooted or change in any way.  I'll test again in a few hour.

SteveInWA

All current OBi products support multiple connections to the Google XMPP servers, and all OBi's connected to a given Google account will ring simultaneously, and answering any one of them connects the call.  This feature has been around since the 202 was released.  The 100 series did not support this feature.

Lindaos

So then if two OBI devices will work with one Google Voice account, then I should be able to have a two line OBI 202 device at each of two different houses with the same two  google voices numbers on them and my two phone numbers will ring at both houses?   

SteveInWA

Quote from: Lindaos on February 08, 2019, 05:36:27 PM
So then if two OBI devices will work with one Google Voice account, then I should be able to have a two line OBI 202 device at each of two different houses with the same two  google voices numbers on them and my two phone numbers will ring at both houses?   

<smacking my head>

No, you didn't understand or read my first reply.  If you want two separate Google Voice numbers that ring two separate physical telephone lines then you need two separate Google accounts, one configured on SP1 and the other account configured on SP2.  Go back and re-read my answer.

If you do set it up as I said, then yes, you can have an OBi device at each house, and those devices will work with the same two Google accounts and their phone numbers.

Lindaos

That's what I thought I said I was doing.  Evidently I wasn't clear.  I have two houses and I have two separate google voice accounts each with a different number.  Each number is dedicated and working at only one house on its own Obi 202 device through line 1.   Since each device can handle line 1 and line 2,  I connected the number from the other house to the line 2 on the device at the house that I am sitting in today.  So, right now, both numbers are ringing here and can make outbound calls.  I am not at the other house to confirm if it is still ringing there or not.  Nor am I there to hook up the line that was dedicated to this house to confirm what the status is or will be there but It sounds like it will work that way there also  ... based on the posts I read.  BTW each line also has, or will have, its own dedicated and separate phone hardware plugged into it.

Thanks for the input and sorry for the confusion.  I didn't mean to imply anything different than what I have.  I hope this is clearer.  In short, I was simply saying that it appears that the kind of set up  that I have been testing should  work (ring and place calls) at both houses ... and it appears that you are confirming what I'm saying.  Correct or no?

SteveInWA

Yep, we're on the same page now.  Correct:  you can have one 202 at each house, and each 202 can be configured the same way with one Google account on SP1 and another Google account on SP2, and two separate physical telephone lines plugged into the devices (either a two-line telephone or two one-line telephones).  All inbound calls to either number will ring on the associated SPs on both devices.  All you need to do is the OBiTALK dashboard to tell it which SP rings on which phone line, and which SP to be the default for outbound calls.

Enjoy!