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Incoming calls go straight to VM when cell phone turned off

Started by madhatter, August 06, 2018, 03:24:32 PM

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madhatter

I have GV setup on my OBI200 and it works well,

My GV account is linked to my Sprint phone number, which was a requirement to setup GV. You have to have a linked phone number.  

I also have GV on that Sprint cell phone.  

When I turned my cell phone OFF all incoming calls to my GV # went straight to VM.  

So, if I have the cell phone setup to receive GV calls AND I turn that cell phone OFF then all calls go directly to VM.  If I disable receiving GV calls on that cell phone and I turn the cell phone OFF then calls ring through to my OBI phone normally.

What am I doing wrong? Any ideas?

A_Friend

Quote from: madhatter on August 06, 2018, 03:24:32 PM
What am I doing wrong? Any ideas?

Ummm...  Nothing?  That's just how it works.  If your calls are forwarded to an unreachable phone, they go to voicemail.  I haven't tried integrating GV with a Sprint phone, so I'm not sure which voicemail it's supposed to go to, but it's going to voicemail.

Using a third-party service, I'm forwarding my GV to 2 VoIP lines and a cellphone simultaneously (I couldn't do this directly with GV because one of them is a SIP URI, not a DID).  To make this work, I had to get the voicemail on the cellphone disabled by the carrier, or it would pick up whenever that phone was offline.


GPz1100

As of 6/1, sprint integration is no longer available.

The issue I *think* the op is experiencing is as follows.

The gv phone number which is used as the vm forwarding # on the cell phone is the same number as configured in the obi.  So when someone calls the gv # and the cell phone is off, calls are immediately forwarded back to that gv #. Since this is a loop of sorts, it goes to gv vm instead.

When the cell phone is on, ringing of both is possible because the call has not *yet* been forwarded to gv vm.

Two solutions. 

1) Disable carrier voice mail.  If this works, then I believe GV will still continue ringing other phones.  After all, from it's perspective it's just getting a ringing status when forwarding to your cell #.

With cricketwireless I get the following with carrier vm disabled (through customer service as the phone doesn't let me do that).  Customer service I believe couldn't disable vm directly, but did so by removing any forwarding numbers.

a) Dialing the carrier phone number directly (from a gv or any other trunk), with the cell phone on, it rings for about 50 seconds then gets a recording that the wireless customer is unavailable, no option to leave a vm.

b) Performing a) with the cell phone in airplane mode, the above results in a message "person you're trying to reach is not accepting calls at this time, please try again later.  Again, no vm.

c) Dialing my gv # with the phone in airplane mode rings the obi for about 27 seconds then goes to the vm greeting (desired effect)

d) Same as c) but cell is not in airplane mode.  Rings both the obi and cell phone for about 27 seconds then goes to the gv vm greeting.

2) Don't use the same gv account for cell phone as the obi.  This still lets you receive vm's when your carrier number is dialed but doesn't interfere with the obi receiving calls.

SteveInWA

The reason this is happening now, and didn't happen before is:

Under Sprint integration with Google Voice, all call forwarding was handled on the back-end network connections between Sprint and Google.  When integration was enabled, one of the things that was automatically provisioned was conditional call forwarding from the Sprint number back to the Google Voice number. 

When integration went away, you now have a plain-vanilla Google Voice account with linked Sprint forwarding number.  It could be a number from any of the other three mobile carriers, and you'd have this same problem.

The solution is to enable conditional call forwarding on your Sprint phone number, to send busy or unanswered or unreachable calls back to your Google Voice VM box.

Sprint still supports Conditional Call Forwarding.  The old codes date back to the 1990s, from the original CDMA network.  They have been supplemented by different codes, to support the newer, different technology of LTE networks.

Old CCF codes:  *28xxxxxxxxxx to enable CCF; *38 to disable it.  This controls both busy forwarding and no-answer forwarding on non-LTE networks.

New CCF codes for LTE:  *73xxxxxxxxxx to enable no-answer forwarding; *730 to disable it.  *74xxxxxxxxxx to enable busy forwarding; *740 to disable it.

Existing codes for UNconditional call forwarding (forward ALL inbound calls, immediately, for a per-minute fee):  *72xxxxxxxxxx to enable; *720 to disable it.

GPz1100

QuoteThe solution is to enable conditional call forwarding on your Sprint phone number, to send busy or unanswered or unreachable calls back to your Google Voice VM box.

This won't work if the phone is in airplane mode and doesn't have an opportunity to ring.  Call will go directly to vm without ringing the obi.

SteveInWA

Quote from: GPz1100 on August 07, 2018, 04:35:31 PM
QuoteThe solution is to enable conditional call forwarding on your Sprint phone number, to send busy or unanswered or unreachable calls back to your Google Voice VM box.

This won't work if the phone is in airplane mode and doesn't have an opportunity to ring.  Call will go directly to vm without ringing the obi.

Nope.  Wrong.  Conditional call forwarding means:  if the number is busy, or is reachable but not answered, or is not reachable at all, then forward the call to the programmed number.

Millions of people use this feature on Google Voice.  It's how the service is designed to function.

In order for this to work properly, you must have all of your linked, forwarding destinations added to your Google Voice configuration on the Settings page.  You cannot forward one destination to another; Google Voice needs to handle the simultaneous ringing of the destinations.  It is smart enough to know when a phone is powered off or otherwise immediately forwarding the call back to GV.

Taoman

Quote from: GPz1100 on August 07, 2018, 04:35:31 PM
QuoteThe solution is to enable conditional call forwarding on your Sprint phone number, to send busy or unanswered or unreachable calls back to your Google Voice VM box.

This won't work if the phone is in airplane mode and doesn't have an opportunity to ring.  Call will go directly to vm without ringing the obi.

How so? Is that something special with Sprint phones? It doesn't work that way with Verizon.

It works exactly as Steve describes it.

SteveInWA

Conditional call forwarding works with Google Voice with all of the big four major US mobile carriers.

The only cases where it doesn't work, are with the subsidiary brands or MVNOs that don't support CCF.  Thankfully, this seems to be changing, as more MVNOs are enabling the feature.

GPz1100

Quote from: SteveInWA on August 07, 2018, 04:52:00 PM

Nope.  Wrong.  Conditional call forwarding means:  if the number is busy, or is reachable but not answered, or is not reachable at all, then forward the call to the programmed number.

Millions of people use this feature on Google Voice.  It's how the service is designed to function.

In order for this to work properly, you must have all of your linked, forwarding destinations added to your Google Voice configuration on the Settings page.  You cannot forward one destination to another; Google Voice needs to handle the simultaneous ringing of the destinations.  It is smart enough to know when a phone is powered off or otherwise immediately forwarding the call back to GV.

No, you're wrong.  With CCF configured on the cell phone to the same gv number as configured in the obi, calls to the gv # DO NOT ring the obi when the cell phone is in airplane mode or turned off.  At best there might be half a ring or 1 ring before the cell phone forwards the call back to the gv number where as you put it, "It is smart enough to know when a phone is powered off or otherwise immediately forwarding the call back to GV".

If the cell phone is on, then it's business as normal and both the obi/cell phone ring in [close] unison.

By disabling CCF entirely, calls to the gv number ring the obi regardless if the cell phone is on or not.

The difference is using gv in place of carrier voice mail only or using the gv # in place of the carrier number.


SteveInWA

Quote from: GPz1100 on August 08, 2018, 06:03:21 AM
Quote from: SteveInWA on August 07, 2018, 04:52:00 PM

Nope.  Wrong.  Conditional call forwarding means:  if the number is busy, or is reachable but not answered, or is not reachable at all, then forward the call to the programmed number.

Millions of people use this feature on Google Voice.  It's how the service is designed to function.

In order for this to work properly, you must have all of your linked, forwarding destinations added to your Google Voice configuration on the Settings page.  You cannot forward one destination to another; Google Voice needs to handle the simultaneous ringing of the destinations.  It is smart enough to know when a phone is powered off or otherwise immediately forwarding the call back to GV.

No, you're wrong.  With CCF configured on the cell phone to the same gv number as configured in the obi, calls to the gv # DO NOT ring the obi when the cell phone is in airplane mode or turned off.  At best there might be half a ring or 1 ring before the cell phone forwards the call back to the gv number where as you put it, "It is smart enough to know when a phone is powered off or otherwise immediately forwarding the call back to GV".

If the cell phone is on, then it's business as normal and both the obi/cell phone ring in [close] unison.

By disabling CCF entirely, calls to the gv number ring the obi regardless if the cell phone is on or not.

The difference is using gv in place of carrier voice mail only or using the gv # in place of the carrier number.



Dude, that is utter nonsense.  Perhaps you are using a telephone from the Alex Jones Telephone Company.

GPz1100

Alright genius, explain why the obi is not ringing for the OP when his cell phone is off?

SteveInWA

Because the OP did not enable Conditional Call Forwarding.

LTN1

Quote from: GPz1100 on August 08, 2018, 03:51:14 PM
Alright genius, explain why the obi is not ringing for the OP when his cell phone is off?

If Steve is right (which can easily be confirmed by any Sprint/GV users), the way the above question was phrased, shows both ignorance and arrogance.

GPz1100

Quote from: LTN1 on August 09, 2018, 05:56:17 AM
If Steve is right (which can easily be confirmed by any Sprint/GV users), the way the above question was phrased, shows both ignorance and arrogance.

Indeed, there's plenty of arrogance on this forum. More so than any other forum i've been on and mainly from a select few.

Perhaps the way steve describes is the way it *should* work, but that doesn't mean it works that way for everyone, self included.

My provider is att.  With the att number added and checked active as a forwarding number to the gv account and the gv number configured as the conditional forwarding number (on said att account), calls to the gv number went straight to gv voice mail when the cell phone was off or in airplane mode.  The obi did not ring. If I reverted CCF to the att default then calls to the gv number went to the att voicemail when the cell phone was off with the obi still not ringing.

The only way to get the obi to ring was to either disable CCF entirely or put in a different GV number.

Perhaps it works as intended for most people but it didn't work for me.  If I personally didn't experience issues similar to the OP, I would not have even bothered to post in this thread.

Who's ignorant now?

LTN1

I really don't care if someone is using AT&T, Verizon or Screw You service. What I understand is that this post is about Sprint and GV. Coming in here with AT&T problems for a SPRINT issue isn't directly answering the OP with a Sprint and GV problem. Since the OP hasn't returned, I'm not sure where he is at.

All I know is that until the evidence points elsewhere, SteveInWA has answered the OP's SPRINT and GV issue. All other answers contradicting Steve is not on point.


A_Friend

Quote from: LTN1 on August 09, 2018, 09:43:12 AM
I really don't care if someone is using AT&T, Verizon or Screw You service. What I understand is that this post is about Sprint and GV. Coming in here with AT&T problems for a SPRINT issue isn't directly answering the OP with a Sprint and GV problem. Since the OP hasn't returned, I'm not sure where he is at.

All I know is that until the evidence points elsewhere, SteveInWA has answered the OP's SPRINT and GV issue. All other answers contradicting Steve is not on point.

Not entirely.  Steve did say, "Conditional call forwarding works with Google Voice with all of the big four major US mobile carriers."  So, the implication can be reasonably assumed to mean they all work the same.  Hence, a failure with AT&T would seem significant and on topic.

Anyway, more to the point, has the OP found a resolution to his problem, and if so, what?

LTN1

Is SteveInWA correct with issues beyond Sprint/GV? Maybe not. However, the main issue here is the OP's Sprint and GV problem. Steve, so far, has the most experience with the Sprint/GV issue, having worked with this specifically with GV for years. He is more persuasive on THIS issue than some forum newbie with an AT&T problem and so-called solution not directly related to the original post.

GPz1100

Quote from: LTN1 on August 09, 2018, 10:20:18 AM
Is SteveInWA correct with issues beyond Sprint/GV? Maybe not. However, the main issue here is the OP's Sprint and GV problem. Steve, so far, has the most experience with the Sprint/GV issue, having worked with this specifically with GV for years. He is more persuasive on THIS issue than some forum newbie with an AT&T problem and so-called solution not directly related to the original post.

With narcissistic responses such as this, if I were the OP I wouldn't bother coming back.

I don't think it's an att issue, rather a google issue because google engineer's can't seem to leave well enough alone, always implementing some sort of change which results in [un]intended side effects.  Every few months something breaks in one form or another. 

I relayed my experience, just because it goes against the way system should work does not make my solution wrong.  Regardless, what exactly is your contribution in this thread besides trolling?

LTN1

Quote from: GPz1100 on August 09, 2018, 11:50:08 AM
Quote from: LTN1 on August 09, 2018, 10:20:18 AM
Is SteveInWA correct with issues beyond Sprint/GV? Maybe not. However, the main issue here is the OP's Sprint and GV problem. Steve, so far, has the most experience with the Sprint/GV issue, having worked with this specifically with GV for years. He is more persuasive on THIS issue than some forum newbie with an AT&T problem and so-called solution not directly related to the original post.

With narcissistic responses such as this, if I were the OP I wouldn't bother coming back.

I don't think it's an att issue, rather a google issue because google engineer's can't seem to leave well enough alone, always implementing some sort of change which results in [un]intended side effects.  Every few months something breaks in one form or another. 

I relayed my experience, just because it goes against the way system should work does not make my solution wrong.  Regardless, what exactly is your contribution in this thread besides trolling?

You don't understand how to use the true definition of narcissism. I have Sprint and GV on one of my family's cell phone and can confirm that for that phone (obviously I can't speak for all phones), the issue is exactly as Steve describes. A simple fix for Sprint and GV integration--but you have to at least have Sprint (not AT&T) to test that solution.

Now go away.

A_Friend

Allow me to interject a related experience, which might also serve as a feature request for Google Voice.

Because I'm distributing incoming calls to 2 SIP URIs and a cellphone, I obviously couldn't use GV for the distribution, so I'm forwarding it to a Callcentric DID (okay, so now technically I'm effectively distributing it to one DID, one URI, and a cellphone) where I use their "Call Treatments" to do the distribution, specifically a simultaneous ring.  

It worked great most of the time, except when I was in the subway, or the local cell tower was on the fritz or the battery on my thirsty little LG ran out.  When that happened, the cell service would announce I wasn't available and hang up.  Well, Callcentric has a feature where you can selectively set "Push "1" to accept call" for each destination in the group.  I just set that for the cell phone and that fixed it right up.  Doesn't matter if the phone is on, off, or out of signal.  The SIP lines ring.  If you answer with the cell phone, you get a brief message to press 1 to accept.  As I'm mostly answering on a SIP line anyway, it's a minor inconvenience at worst.  If nobody answers, it goes to GV voicemail.  (I had the voicemail on the cell disabled.)

Now, wouldn't that "Push 1" seem to be a nice feature to add to Google Voice?