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Google voice on OBi200 3.2.2 (Build: 5859EX) CNAM lookup from google contacts

Started by SteveInUS, June 27, 2018, 11:41:25 AM

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SteveInUS

Appears now we get free CNAM lookup from google contacts for Google voice on OBi200  3.2.2 (Build: 5859EX)

SteveInWA

This is part of the new VoIP infrastructure for Google Voice.  It's not "CNAM" in the traditional sense; it is not accessing one of the national telco industry LIDB data bases; it is simply matching inbound telephone call numbers with records in your Google Contacts, as you observed.  But hey, it's better than nothing!

RFC3261

Quote from: SteveInWA on June 27, 2018, 05:24:08 PM
But hey, it's better than nothing!
Agreed.  Although in a couple of cases that meant I needed to edit the names to be slightly more generically descriptive (and less, um, pointed).

eslop

I actually prefer that I can be in charge as to what is displayed for a number on my phone (without having to deal with (e.g. add) all those numbers/contacts on the phone itself, using some cumbersome interface). Ofcourse it would be nice if no match exists in my contacts a "regular telco" CNAM lookup was done/sent - which is actually something that seems to be done by Google, since the Hangouts app (receiving the same call) does (or at least it used to) display such info (even when dialing out via it!).

overhear

Can you tell me how to use this feature? I've just installed an Obi200 and am hoping to avoid having to re-enter my google contacts manually into the old Panasonic cordless phone (KX-TG7642) that I've attached to the Obi200.

SteveInWA

Quote from: overhear on September 03, 2018, 05:33:17 PM
Can you tell me how to use this feature? I've just installed an Obi200 and am hoping to avoid having to re-enter my google contacts manually into the old Panasonic cordless phone (KX-TG7642) that I've attached to the Obi200.

The (USA) caller ID system has two parts:  the phone number (CID) and the calling party's name (CNAM).  The phone number is sent by your service provider (e.g. Google Voice, Callcentric, voip.ms, etc.) with your outbound call.  The calling party's name is not sent for calls that traverse the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN).  Instead, the called party's (your) telephone service provider may (or may not) look up the name in a database of phone numbers matched to names.  There is a cost to maintain these databases that service providers have to pay. 

Google Voice doesn't pay to use CNAM, so it is not doing a look-up in the industry databases when somebody calls your Google Voice phone number.  Google offers a partial solution:  if the telephone number of the person calling you is in your Google Contacts, then Google Voice will match that name and number and display it on your telephone.  If the calling number is a business that Google knows about, it will display that business' name.  If neither of those things are available, then it will only display the numeric CID.

None of this has anything to do with the address book/contacts list stored locally on your cordless phone.  If you want to store names and numbers there, you can certainly do that, too.  Typically, whatever is stored locally on your telephone will override whatever is being sent from the telephone network.

zsak23

Quote from: SteveInWA on September 03, 2018, 05:59:33 PM
Google offers a partial solution:  if the telephone number of the person calling you is in your Google Contacts, then Google Voice will match that name and number and display it on your telephone.  If the calling number is a business that Google knows about, it will display that business' name. 

I have noticed that on the Google Voice Calls page it is easy to add people to Contacts but not businesses.  But not all business have names available.  It would be nice to be able to add these easier.

Zopa

Can Obi device lookup CNAM itself, prior to displaying incoming call from GV? Is there something inherently difficult in that setup?

drgeoff

Quote from: Zopa on October 29, 2019, 01:48:11 PM
Can Obi device lookup CNAM itself, prior to displaying incoming call from GV? Is there something inherently difficult in that setup?
Does "not possible" meet your definition of "inherently difficult".

Zopa

It does, however if you could share the "why", it would be greatly appreciated. One would think, that it would be a somewhat trivial software modification to have Obi modify the CID info coming in.

SteveInWA

The US caller ID system has two separate components:  the 11-digit telephone number (CID) and the subscriber's name (CNAM). 

The CID is sent along with the call routing information, so it is trivially easy to display that information.

The CNAM data is NOT sent with the call routing information, so NO, it is impossible to magically pull that out of the inbound call data.

CNAM is implemented by carriers and third-party data service providers, who maintain databases of matching telephone numbers and names.  This depends on carriers to pay for the ability to a) feed their subscribers' names and numbers into the databases, and to b) "dip" into the databases to look up the name for a given number.  This lookup is done in real time, by the telephone service provider of the number being called.

You are using the consumer version of Google Voice, which is [mostly] free.  Since it costs money to use CNAM, Google chooses not to participate, as it would be cost-prohibitive.

If you want to subscribe to Poly's "OBiEXTRAS" service (fee-based), it supposedly will perform the CNAM database lookups for your calls.

Zopa

I understand why the consumer version of GV doesn't have CNAM. I wish Obi had a way to do a CNAM dip or use a provider who does, instead of going the Callcentric way, which adds complexity and another failure point in the setup.

ObiEXTRA seems to only work with Google contacts, which is a far cry from CID with name. I also thought there is a way to do match Google contacts with GV call, without paying Obi or anyone for it.

This is from https://www.obitalk.com/obiextras:

Caller ID Name with Number
When you integrate Google Contacts with your OBi device, incoming calls from people in your Google Contacts directory will show their name and number on your phone's display.

SteveInWA

OBiEXTRAs is not CNAM.   It is merely a tool that accesses your own Google Contacts service on your Google account.  If you have Joe Blow as a Google Contact, with his phone number, and you get a call from Joe's number, that number will be matched to the name you stored in Google Contacts.

Google Contacts is not the same as Google Voice.  It's the overall contacts service used by all Google services, such as Gmail, Calendar and Voice.  You can enter whatever information you wish in there, for any number, from any carrier.

Sorry, but no; Poly is not interested in providing a true CNAM lookup service; I've asked them about it for years, but they are not going to do it.

If CNAM is vital to you, then use some other service provider.

SteveInWA

OBiEXTRAs is not CNAM.   It is merely a tool that accesses your own Google Contacts service on your Google account.  If you have Joe Blow as a Google Contact, with his phone number, and you get a call from Joe's number, that number will be matched to the name you stored in Google Contacts.

Google Contacts is not the same as Google Voice.  It's the overall contacts service used by all Google services, such as Gmail, Calendar and Voice.  You can enter whatever information you wish in there, for any number, from any carrier.

Sorry, but no; Poly is not interested in providing a true CNAM lookup service; I've asked them about it for years, but they are not going to do it.

If CNAM is vital to you, then use some other service provider.

Zopa

Oh well. Concentric route it is. Strange that Obi does't want to provide it. I bet many people would pay a dollar or two a month for CNAM dip.

SteveInWA

The overhead (software engineering, managing contract with CNAM LIDB provider, administering billing of users, etc.) wouldn't be worth it to a company the size of Poly.  It's not their core business.

Zopa

Allow me to disagree. There are plenty of ways to add optional functionality without having to deal with providers directly. First thing that comes to mind is a web API to any willing third-party provider, i.e. Anveo, Callcentric, etc.

IMHO, considering current observable level of complexity of Obi products overall, software engineering overhead for this piece would be trivial, with an immediate ROI in form of happy customers and added marketing points to brag about.

Obi would need essentially three things.

1. Define API parameters for providers (if one doesn't exist already. Not a developer, don't have a qualified opinion here)
2. Expose an interface option to toggle a call to such an API
3. Insert CNAM info returned from the API call into call presentation

Again, this doesn't seem uber complicated to me. And this would remove a dependency on third parties such as Callcentric, which currently adds to complexity and reliability. If Callcentric is down, or balance is low, or anything else, the call flow stops, until manual intervention is performed. In the hypothetical scenario above, the only thing that would happen is lack of CID.

Just my 4.5c

scomoletti

Any reason why Obihai couldnt put a hook in to execute an api call to a web based cnam service like opencnam? That should work just fine with Google Voice, or most any sip provider, without needing the complication of using callcentric as an inbound path forwarded from GV. Seems like an obvious enhancement request especially as long as opencnam has been around and e164.org before it.

SDToddl

I have access to the actual CNAM telco database.  If someone can write a plugin or convince Obi to allow a setting to connect to a CNAM database, I can provide.