Time Zone Mystery

[HHillsman]

I am quite puzzled by this issue, as I've never owned a piece of IT gear that has exhibited this previously.  With the time zone and DST settings correct for my location (Los Angeles - GMT-8, DST enabled) the time shows one hour later than it is.  My workaround was to switch to Alaska time.  Not a big deal, really, other than what I anticipate could be a problem when the seasonal DST changes occur.

Very grateful for any light you can shed on this.

[N7AS]

Did you see if the DaylightSaving setting was correct?

[HHillsman]

N7AS, hi!

...and thank you for your swift response.

I believe so.  DST runs from March to November...offset is 1...local timezone is Pacific.  I've attached a screenshot of the settings from Obitalk.  Currently showing 1 hour later than it really is.

[SteveInWA]

Your timezone settings are years out of date.  Recall that the US added more days to DST by starting earlier and ending later?  This leads me to believe you've done something to remove your device from OBiTALK and its firmware updates.

Change the settings:

[HHillsman]

Hi, SteveInWa - thank you for jumping in!

I've updated the settings to align with your suggestion (please see enclosed) and have the same result:  my phone is one hour ahead of the actual time.  I guess Obihai is just a bit in the future.

Interestingly, the first DST settings I tried were based on info from a web search (also enclosed).  The start and end dates had no effect on the time displayed, however.

I'm pretty sure auto-updates are on and that the phones software is not out-of-date.  The phone is two days old and has software version 6.2.3 (Build: 4860.1311).

Again, many thanks for your suggestions!

[HHillsman]

Sorry - thought I could attach > 1 file.  Here's a copy of my settings.

Thanks again!

[SteveInWA]

Your screenshot shows that your settings are still wrong.  Go look at my screenshot again.

If you are making these changes locally on the device's embedded web page, you should understand that those settings will be overwritten immediately after the phone reboots and re-syncs to your OBiTALK settings.

Based on your other discussion thread, I am afraid you have gotten into the realm of changing things you don't fully understand.

There are NO special settings needed to use an OBiTALK device with Google Voice.

Do this:

• Sign into your OBiTALK portal account:  http://www.obitalk.com/obinet/pg/obhdev
• Click on your device.  On the device page, click the blue "Delete Device" button to completely remove the device from the portal.
• Wait for the device to reboot.  Then unplug the device from power and Ethernet.  Plug in just the power cord and wait for it to boot up.
• Pick up the phone and key in ***8 then 1 to confirm restoring the device to factory defaults.  Wait.  It takes several reboots and several minutes.
• Unplug the power cord.  Plug in the Ethernet cable.  Plug in the power cord and let it boot up.
• Go back to the OBiTALK device page.  Follow the **5 procedure to add the device to the portal, and give it plenty of time to automatically reboot the device.
• Configure SP1 with Google Voice.  Make sure that you are authorizing the device to the correct Gmail account that holds your Google Voice phone number.  Do NOT do anything with your local PBX.
• Confirm that inbound and outbound calls work, and that the timezone is correct.
• Do NOT make any changes via the local device web page.
  

[HHillsman]

SteveInWA, hi again:

Thank you for your follow up! 

As it turns out, I have, in fact, performed three factory resets exactly in the manner you described.  Although it does not relate to this issue, I have posted separately on the fact that GV has worked for me if it is the first SP configured and no other SIP services are listed.  As soon as additional SPs are configured, GV stops registering with messages like "Connecting to 0.0.0.0".  I am forced to conclude that the Obihai software, which can handle multiple SIP registrations, cannot support GV when mixed with other SIP registrations.  To confirm:  100% of my config edits have been performed on the Obitalk web client - not via a browser instance to the local IP address of the phone.

As to the time of day issue, each time I've done the reset, with the local TZ set to Pacific (GMT-8), DST enabled, and a 1 hour offset (all default settings) I've had the same result:  1 hour fast.  The only manual entry I made was to change the NTP Server to "us.pool.ntp.org" as you showed in your screen shot from the default "pool.ntp.org" .  Either way, same outcome (screen shot enclosed).

You've been very patient...and I do very much appreciate your assistance.  Unless you have other suggestions, at this point, I'm prepared to accept the system with these known issues and press on.  I can manage without GV on my desk phone and I don't mind pretending I'm in Alaska to show the right time of day.

Thank you!

[SteveInWA]

The time of day should display correctly given those settings.  Nobody else is reporting a problem with it.

There is absolutely no problem having a mix of Google Voice and other SIP providers configured on the device.  I have configured a very large number of OBiTALK ATAs and IP phones, and they all have SPs configured with Callcentric and with Google Voice.  It always works.

The 0.0.0.0 symptom is normal, and it is caused by excessive "tweaking" of your device configuration.  Google Voice will reject multiple, rapid connection attempts.  Every time you change something and reboot your device, it's re-connecting.  It should eventually reconnect automatically.  Don't make so many changes so quickly.

Here's a definition of "tweaker":


tweaker
Also: tweeker.

1. Person who constantly stays up cleaning, washing, organizing, powertooling, sorting or otherwise keeping themselves busy doing menial tasks.
2. Someone who constantly makes slight alterations on (usually a very specific) object, i.e. computer, software, automobile, etc.
3. A compulsive liar, thief, or both.
4. A methamphetamine ("tweak"), or other form of speed, addict (who displays all of the above in an obsessive-compulsive manner).
"Tommy what are you doin' man?"
"I've been real busy sorting bolts!"
"For three days?"
"It's important though..."

[HHillsman]

SteveInWA:

Thanks again for your guidance!  On the basis of your comments, I will assume, relative to the TZ issue, that the unit is defective.  As to the tweaking, I encountered the problem when I first set up the device.  It didn't seem like excessive fiddling, but I take your point.  As this instrument has 7 call appearances with three lines and several speed dials, the setup resulted in multiple restarts. 

I'm used to queuing changes on the IP PBX so it doesn't reload each time I change a setting.  With Obitalk, it seems like every time I change something, there is a reboot.  Is there a way to queue the changes so there isn't so much re-registering?

Anyway, I'll set up the exchange and try again with a new unit.  Many thanks for helping me diagnose the problem!

[SteveInWA]

There is absolutely no hardware issue that could possibly cause the time to differ.  Your unit is not defective.  Think about it:  it is a computer.  It has no idea what time it is.  It gets that information externally and displays it.  There is no battery-operated RTC as you would find in a PC.

When you followed my instructions earlier, did you look at the time after you deleted/reset/re-attached the device, and BEFORE you started adding SPs?

Note that Google Voice itself has a time zone setting, which could be sending the wrong time to the phone.  I just tested this by changing my Google Voice timezone to a random different TZ (GMT +3 Minsk), rebooted my phone, and it briefly displayed the wrong time before connecting to the Callcentric SPs.

Sign into your correct Gmail account (the one that holds your Google Voice phone number).  Go here:  https://voice.google.com/settings.  Scroll down the left-sidebar and click the three stacked dots.  Scroll down and click "Legacy Google Voice."  On the Legacy page, click the gear icon to get to settings.  On the settings page, click the "Account" tab.  On that page, change the time zone to Pacific and save your settings.  Reboot the phone.  If the TZ is still wrong, you have a configuration issue on the phone, because...

The phone is going to show whatever date/time is being sent from the service provider configuration.  If you added PBX settings (contrary to my instructions), then perhaps your PBX is sending the wrong time, overriding the Google Voice SP.

It is customary for IP phones and ATAs to require reboots for most configuration changes.

If this product isn't meeting your expectations, then perhaps you would be happier with another brand of IP phone.

[HHillsman]

SteveInWA, hello once again:

I did confirm the legacy GV settings - correct TZ there.  Your comments got me thinking, so I popped onto Webmin to see how the Linux IP PBX box was set.  I was surprised to discover that, in fact, it was set one hour ahead.  I was unaware that the Obihai was getting NTP data from the PBX, but, as you say, you've seen it happen yourself.  Good one!  We've got a couple dozen Polycom units here and they don't behave that way. If I were in WA, I'd give you a pat on the back myself.  This is definitely worth documenting somewhere.

As to GV, I think the strategy I will next assay is to let it sit for 24 hours with the GV SP deleted (to avoid continuous registration attempts) until the Google host timer resets.  If I keep the current config and simply add GV as a penultimate step (need to set the line appearance, but otherwise no fiddling) I think that might do it.  I considered the effect of high-frequency re-registration at GV earlier on in the process, but could find no documentation on that issue.  It was weird that I got fails on all three GV accounts, but maybe they were blocking the subnet's public IP address.

With respect to the frequent restarts, for all the 500 and 600 series Polycom IP phones we've had, few of the config changes triggered restarts.  A good thing, actually, since the Obi phones are WAY faster to reboot than the Polys.  I mean...like five minutes for a restart.  I see the same thing on the IP phone/cam equipment we have on doors and gates:  make a bunch of changes and you get a message that says "RESTART THE DEVICE FOR THE CHANGES TO TAKE EFFECT"

Again, many thanks for the TZ hint!  <sigh> now to get back to MUCH less fun stuff....

[SteveInWA]

...if only you had followed my instructions from the get-go, and not configured the PBX SPs, then the problem would have been obvious.

In any case, I am glad the problem has been discovered and fixed.

[HHillsman]

SteveInWA, following up....

Obihai support just solved the GV registration issue.  Turns out, 'tweaking' was not the problem - it was the firmware version.  Although the unit showed 'no updates' for the SW version, the support team pushed 6.2.3 (Build: 4907.1311) to the unit and that did the trick.  Apparently, the installed version (6.2.3 Build: 4860.1311) would not allow GV to operate in a configuration with Asterisk-type IP-PBX SIP registrations on other SPs.

Appreciate your efforts and interest!