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Calls to Obi200 via Google Voice from an Ooma # Go Straight to Voice Mail

Started by brad.mccollum, April 02, 2018, 08:35:57 AM

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brad.mccollum

Just got our Obi200 setup and working about 4-5 days ago and thus far, very pleased with it.

So far the only oddity I can find is that my parents, who have their home phones connected to an Ooma Telo, call our Google Voice # which is then routed to our home phones via the Obi200, and they say their call always goes straight to voice mail.  Ooma is a VOIP service.

I've called our home # from every phone I can get my hands on (my cell phone, my wife's cell phone, my daughter's cell phone, my neighbor's home phone, my office phone, etc.) and it rings the home phone just fine for 4-or-so rings before finally rolling over to voice mail.

Is this a common issue anyone has also experienced or is aware of as far as calls from a phone connected to a Ooma Telo VOIP device to a Google Voice # rolling straight to voice mail instead of ringing 4-5 times first?

Thanks!

drgeoff

Have you done anything like putting your parents' number in the Trusted Callers list on the Obitalk portal?

Is your OBi the only destination for calls to your GV number?

brad.mccollum

Thank you for your reply.

I haven't added any #s in the "Trusted Callers" list... that list is empty.

When our previous home # that's now existing as a Google Voice # is called, it rings through to our home phones connected to the Obi200.  I also have Google Voice configured to simultaneously call my cell phone, so whichever handset (home or cell) picks up the call first, then that's where the call goes.

Hope that info. helps.

drgeoff

Quote from: brad.mccollum on April 02, 2018, 09:58:01 AM
Thank you for your reply.

I haven't added any #s in the "Trusted Callers" list... that list is empty.

When our previous home # that's now existing as a Google Voice # is called, it rings through to our home phones connected to the Obi200.  I also have Google Voice configured to simultaneously call my cell phone, so whichever handset (home or cell) picks up the call first, then that's where the call goes.

Hope that info. helps.

All I can say is that it does not appear to be an OBi problem.  You can confirm that absolutely by removing Google Chat as a forwarding destination in the GV Legacy Settings.  If calls from your parents still do not ring your cellphone, it is a GV issue. Do check that you haven't somehow got them in the Groups and Circles stuff.

brad.mccollum

I checked and I haven't got my parents' # in any sort of group nor have any special calling/forwarding rules applied towards the #.  It's very strange.

SteveInWA

If you have not already done so, add and verify a regular 10-digit US telephone number as a forwarding phone number on your Google Voice configuration.  Then, unplug the OBi from power.  Test that inbound calls to your Google Voice number ring the forwarding phone number and you can answer the call.  Have your parents call your GV number.  The expected behavior (of course) is that their call will ring through to your forwarding phone number.  Does that work, or do their calls go directly to Google Voice voicemail?

If it works, there is nothing wrong with your Google Voice setup.  If all other calls ring your forwarding number, but your parents' calls do not, then you have most likely accidentally marked their phone number as spam.  When you mark a call in Google Voice's call history as spam, subsequent calls from that number will be sent straight to voicemail.  Look in your Google Voice call history and find the call, and un-mark it as spam.

I'll also mention that I have never been a OOMA customer, but years ago, they had some sort of rather confusing method of integrating Google Voice with their service.  I don't know if it still works or not, but, if your parents OOMA number has that feature turned on, I have no idea how it might impact their calls.

brad.mccollum

Thanks for the additional suggestions.  I don't think I've accidentally marked their # as spam, but anything is possibly with an accidental, random click.  I'll check.

I've had the forwarding # added to the Google Voice setup since the very first day I set it all up.  The Google Voice # simultaneously rings our home phones *and* my cell phone.  This works just fine with any other people that call into the Google Voice #.

I'll let you know what I find.  Thanks again!

brad.mccollum

Just checked and I don't have any #s listed as spam #s under that section of the Google Voice setup/configuration online.

SteveInWA

The key is to test the call without the OBi involved.  IF that number calls your Google Voice number, AND it does not forward to your cell phone number, BUT all other inbound calls to your GV number DO forward to your cell phone number, then one of the following problems exists:

  • You do, in fact, have that number marked as spam.
  • Google's overall spam blocking system thinks that number is spam.  This could have happened if the number was spoofed and used by a spammer for some significant amount of calls over time.
  • Your cell phone has the number blocked.

To test for the second scenario:  using a laptop/desktop computer and Google Chrome Browser, go to Gmail.  Click the chat avatar on the left column (either a photo you uploaded or a circle with a letter in it).  Click the avatar to expose the Hangouts settings for this account, and enable ringing on inbound calls.  Now, make a test call from the failing number.  The expected behavior is that it will ring in Hangouts.