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Further: accessing Obi's Auto Attendant from another phone?

Started by jrobiuser, April 29, 2017, 11:24:54 PM

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jrobiuser

Although I am not particularly new to Obi (I'm still using my Obi100 for now -- Obi200 coming soon), my use of it over the years has been limited to placing outgoing voice calls and receiving incoming voice calls, using GV for both. Thus, my SP1 is GV. However, I'm intrigued by the powers of the Obi Auto Attendant, particularly for placing cheap calls when I travel to Europe in a couple of months. How do I call in to my Obi Attendant from my cell phone? From another phone?

I have my cell # set up as a Trusted Caller on my Obitalk dashboard. My cell # is one of my GV targeted answering numbers. However, when I call in to my GV number, all I get is the GV attendant. How do I get to my Obi Auto Attendant from afar?

Do I have to reconfigure something in Obitalk? Although I have set up Obis and Google Voice for myself and for several friends, my technical comprehension is "limited".

azrobert

Turn off Voice Mail access in your GV account. Go to your list of forwarding numbers. Click Edit under your cell phone. Click Show Advanced Settings. Under Voice Mail Access select "No". Save.

jrobiuser

Yes, thanks, I see how that works now from my GV-linked cell phone, although it's disappointing that I'd apparently have to go online to my GV account and toggle between being able to access GV voice mail and the Obi Attendant.

How 'bout being able to access the Obi Attendant from a phone not linked to my GV account? Would it just be a matter of adding that number to my Obi Trusted Caller list?

Steve56

It's unclear if you're trying to place outbound calls through your Obi to service providers others than your GV account. If your only intention is to place outbound calls through the same GV account in use with your Obi, you needn't use the Obi attendant and can place outbound calls directly through Google Voice thus bypassing the Obi. This adds one less thing to go wrong in the event of a power or internet outage at your residence and should work with any phone whether or not it's been added as a forwarding destination in GV.

The method for placing outbound calls is done differently depending on how you have things configured with Google Voice. You'll either need to wait the 25 seconds for your GV number to go to voicemail and then dial * followed by your passcode for accessing Google's IVR (this will be the case when calling from different numbers such as from a hotel, etc.), or you'll be directly routed to your voice mailbox (as if you've dialed your own GV number from your home phone) when calling from your cellphone that is configured as a forwarding number, at which point you may dial 2 to place an outbound call through your GV account.

jrobiuser

Thank you, Steve56. I'm very pleased with GV's services at the level that my technical expertise and devices can handle. I do like being able to call in to my GV number from throughout the US and checking voice mail, etc., and have done it many times over the years I've have GV.

But I'm looking to unleash the power of my Obi Auto Attendant, especially for call backs when I'm traveling overseas, trying to figure out how to call in to it. Now that AZRobert has explained how I can reach the Obi Auto Attendant using my GV-linked cell phone, it would be great to figure out how to reach the Obi Auto Attendant from a 3rd number, not related to my GV account. Is it just a matter of configuring my Obi account to list any such 3rd number as a Trusted Caller, then dialing in on that phone to my GV number? Or is there more to it than that?

I'm sorry if my questions have not been super clear. I'm looking for how to bypass the Google Voice IVR and get to my Obi Auto Attendant from a 3rd, likely foreign, telephone number. Thanks!

azrobert

Trusted Caller is an OBi function, so you can use any number. When you use Trusted Caller, OBiTalk will automatically configure your OBi. If you're interested, I can show you where to see the code and how to configure your device with OBi Expert. You have more flexibility when you manually configure. If you use a foreign number to call your GV number, won't you be charged for international call?

You can install Google Hangouts on your smart phone and make GV calls directly. If you have an Android, you also need the Hangouts Dialer. I never used Hangouts from a foreign country, but it should work.

Alternately, you can install an SIP softphone on your phone and connect to the Auto Attendant with an SIP call at no charge (except for data charges).

SteveInWA

Quote from: azrobert on April 30, 2017, 07:19:18 PM
Trusted Caller is an OBi function, so you can use any number. When you use Trusted Caller, OBiTalk will automatically configure your OBi. If you're interested, I can show you where to see the code and how to configure your device with OBi Expert. You have more flexibility when you manually configure. If you use a foreign number to call your GV number, won't you be charged for international call?

You can install Google Hangouts on your smart phone and make GV calls directly. If you have an Android, you also need the Hangouts Dialer. I never used Hangouts from a foreign country, but it should work.

Alternately, you can install an SIP softphone on your phone and connect to the Auto Attendant with an SIP call at no charge (except for data charges).



  • Step 1:  Log into your OBiTALK account, and click "Trusted Callers" on the left side of the page.
  • Step 2:  Add the phone number(s) from which you want to call into your OBi and click the Save Changes button.
  • Step 3: Using the "call from" phone number, call any of the telephone numbers configured on the SPx slots on your OBi.  The OBi attached phone will ring once, and then you will hear the AA voice prompt, from which you can press 2 to make an outbound call, and then enter your PIN and # (be sure to set a PIN on OBiTALK!). The call will use your default SPx for outbound calls, or you can enter ** followed by the SPx number, to use one of your other SPx services to make the call.
  • Step 4:  There is no step 4; that's all you need to do.

jrobiuser

Thank you, SteveInWA, AzRobert, and Steve56. As it turns out then, the answer I was looking for in Reply #2 was "yes". Not having a 3rd phone around, I couldn't test any alternatives, but your combined expertise brought out the "yes". I'll give it a try when I can borrow a friend's phone, enter that number on my Trusted Caller List, and see if I can call in directly to the Obi Auto Attendant and bypass the GV answering system.

rrgg

Quote from: azrobert on April 30, 2017, 07:19:18 PMYou can install Google Hangouts on your smart phone and make GV calls directly. If you have an Android, you also need the Hangouts Dialer. I never used Hangouts from a foreign country, but it should work.
Just to confirm what azrobert said, I did this while in Italy on my iPhone.  I had Hangouts installed already and made calls within Italy for about 3c/min I think.

jojoht

Hello,

I try to make call from my cell phone.  I make the configuration.  but when i call to the device attached to obi, Sp1, I hear only thank and the phone keeps ringing. 

I use obi 202.

Thanks