Obi/Google Voice disconnecting overnight
Taoman:
Quote from: SteveInWA on May 20, 2016, 10:38:00 pm
An undisclosed, latent issue with the build 2872 firmware for 100/110 devices caused a failure to authenticate, starting the other day, with the OBiTALK portal's code that updates the keys. Obihai updated the firmware to the 2886 level, to fix this bug. This is the first such issue with the OBi/Google Voice authentication system since the new authentication method was introduced two years ago, and I don't expect it to be a regular occurrence.
Is that conjecture on your part or did Obihai actually directly inform you of this?
SteveInWA:
Quote from: Taoman on May 20, 2016, 10:30:04 pm
Quote from: janice on May 20, 2016, 09:28:40 pm
Dear SteveInWA, so am I to understand that the fact i upgraded the firmware hours prior to this happening, was concidental -- then running into all these issues was b/c google changed it's authenticaton methods out of nowhere, and then the firmware posted by Taosman (sp) which repaired the current problem was Obi responding to the problem?
What happened is Obihai released a new version of firmware for the 1xx series and it inadvertently, or on purpose, caused a lot of problems for a lot of people. The only fix was to update to that new firmware.
I am not aware of any new firmware for the 100/110 series being introduced recently (I don't recall how long ago 2872 was released, but I believe it's been the one and only, stable release for a long time, having been released to update to the OAUTH 2.0 authentication method.
What I think happened, is that the 2872 firmware had some sort of date bug in it, that caused it to fail to update its keys. The 2886 firmware released on the day you found it fixed that bug.
This certainly wouldn't have been a "time bomb" intentionally placed in the code; even the dumbest company wouldn't do that, knowing how today's social media and online forums would send the company into the ditch for such a practice. As you pointed out, there was no corresponding bug in the 200 series firmware. While the warranty status does muddy up and confuse the user when it comes to obtaining firmware upgrades, as long as a firmware upgrade is available, there is nothing preventing a user from manually upgrading their device. In this particular instance, my guess is that the date in the device certificate stored on the 100/110 products improperly triggered some setting in Obihai's entitlement system, and thus locked those devices out configuring services via the portal. Again, Obihai promptly fixed that issue after I reached out.
SteveInWA:
Quote from: Taoman on May 20, 2016, 10:42:55 pm
Quote from: SteveInWA on May 20, 2016, 10:38:00 pm
An undisclosed, latent issue with the build 2872 firmware for 100/110 devices caused a failure to authenticate, starting the other day, with the OBiTALK portal's code that updates the keys. Obihai updated the firmware to the 2886 level, to fix this bug. This is the first such issue with the OBi/Google Voice authentication system since the new authentication method was introduced two years ago, and I don't expect it to be a regular occurrence.
Is that conjecture on your part or did Obihai actually directly inform you of this?
I contacted Obihai to let them know this was happening. They replied that they'd get right on it. Soon after, you found the 2886 firmware. They never got back to me directly, nor, of course, did they post anything here.
The fact that they needed to (and were able to, without much analysis) update the firmware, and, knowing what I know about Google Voice and OAUTH 2.0, and how Obihai installs digital certificates on its devices, I'd call it an "educated guess".
Taoman:
Quote from: SteveInWA on May 20, 2016, 10:55:12 pm
I contacted Obihai to let them know this was happening. They replied that they'd get right on it. Soon after, you found the 2886 firmware.
But the firmware was released before that time. You posted at 2:47 on the 18th you were going to see what you could find out. I can only assume it was sometime after that point that you "reached out" to Obihai.
Rchandra posted he had already paid the $10 and got the updated firmware at 2:22 on the 18th. The updated firmware (not a fix) had already been released by the time you contacted Obihai.
If you truly believe your story, Steve, you need to answer these questions:
1>Why didn't this authentication problem affect 20x devices?
2>Why did this authentication problem only affect 1xx devices that were out of warranty?
3>Why did this problem suddenly crop up after all this time and only on 1xx devices?
The answers you've come up with so far stretch credulity.
SteveInWA:
Quote from: Taoman on May 20, 2016, 11:16:26 pm
Quote from: SteveInWA on May 20, 2016, 10:55:12 pm
I contacted Obihai to let them know this was happening. They replied that they'd get right on it. Soon after, you found the 2886 firmware.
But the firmware was released before that time. You posted at 2:47 on the 18th you were going to see what you could find out. I can only assume it was sometime after that point that you "reached out" to Obihai.
Rchandra posted he had already paid the $10 and got the updated firmware at 2:22 on the 18th. The updated firmware (not a fix) had already been released by the time you contacted Obihai.
If you truly believe your story, Steve, you need to answer these questions:
1>Why didn't this authentication problem affect 20x devices?
2>Why did this authentication problem only affect 1xx devices that were out of warranty?
3>Why did this problem suddenly crop up after all this time and only on 1xx devices?
The answers you've come up with so far stretch credulity.
I'm not on the witness stand. I am not going to argue timelines. For all I know, Obihai already found and fixed the issue by the time I contacted them; as we know, their communications skills are abysmal. We also know that the various firmware update methods often are out of sync (***6 vs. downloading the supposedly "latest" generic firmware link, vs. downloading a build-specific firmware link). It's terrible version control, and users shouldn't have to do detective work to find the truly latest firmware.
My own experience was that the firmware update was required to fix the issue; there is no reliable (multiple user reported) evidence that the 2872 build could be made to work. Personally, I took a first-generation, out-of-warranty 110 device out of storage and plugged it in. It was already running 2872. It was configured with two different valid/working Google Voice accounts, one on SP1 and the other on SP2. SP1's Google account had an expired password, which I successfully updated. SP2 worked out of the box. So, both then worked briefly that evening, then both SPs failed the next morning, consistent with symptoms reported by others. After updating to 2886, it worked. That's all that matters to me.
The 100 series devices have an entirely different SoC (MIPS-based) and thus, different firmware, than the ARM-based 200 and 10x2 series devices. I think it is reasonable to assume that Obihai made a mistake in either the 100-series device firmware or back-end systems that handle security for those particular devices. Digital certificates have expiration dates. OAUTH keys are periodically refreshed. Something broke that procedure. They fixed it.
This is the most plausible explanation I can offer, and yes, it is only my educated guess. If you feel it's valuable and productive to come up with a different educated guess, you're welcome to it.
Obihai's treatment of firmware upgrades on in-warranty vs. out-of-warranty devices has always been vague, inconsistent, and poorly-implemented. I don't think it's productive to try to reverse-engineer what happened with regard to a device being in-warranty or not. As we've seen, out-of-warranty devices can be updated manually, and, this case was no different; as soon as the new firmware was released, everyone was able to update their devices, regardless of warranty status.
I have no reason to believe that there was any malice or conspiracy here; just a technical error. If there had been some evil-doings, then a) the 100/110 devices would now be permanently bricked, which is most certainly not the case, and b) other evil things would have happened, such as bricking out-of-warranty 200 and 10x2 devices, which again, didn't happen. Haven't you ever made some sort of error in your work? Software companies discover f-ups every day, the hard way, in their code, when things like this happen.
Bottom line: old news about Obihai's misleading and distracting "advertisement" to buy the $10 support upgrade, but no change in the ability to manually update the devices, once a newer build becomes available.
Several of us have directly complained to Obihai about this messy situation. I've personally brought it up with Sherman. I have no way, short of a Carl Ichan-style takeover, of controlling their behavior.
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