Obitalk 202 and Google Voice

[cerickso88]

I've had the Obitalk202 for about 2 months and it has worked fine.  Recently, it does not work correctly.  Now when I make a call from my landline phone to any cell phone, the call does 2 things... it goes to voicemail and... it gets answered.   How do i keep it from doing this?

Our alarm system is also now showing errors with the phone line as well.

Any ideas?

Thanks,
Clayton

[GeeObi]

If you meant to say receive a call:
Check the Google Voice, Legacy Google Voice, settings.
It will show "Forwards calls to:" and will probably have both the Obi and your cell checked.

[drgeoff]

Check the Google Voice, Legacy Google Voice, settings.
It will show "Forwards calls to:" and will probably have both the Obi and your cell checked.

That is only relevant to calls to the OP's GV number and as such has no bearing whatsoever on the OP's problem with calls from his GV number.

[cerickso88]

Thanks for the responses...  Call forwarding is not enabled so this is not the issue.  As drgeoff said, this issue is happens when I make a google voice call from my landline phone connected to the obitalk (i.e. Google voice enabled) to another cell phone.

Any other ideas?  This is making my alarm system fail so I do need to find a work around.

[SteveInWA]

If you check the box on the OBiTALK device configuration page, to use it for alarm monitoring, it cannot be used for regular telephone calling.

I do not recommend using OBiTALK devices for alarm monitoring.  Use either a 4G LTE commuicator or a IP communicator supplied by your alarm company.

[cerickso88]

Thank you Steve for your response.   I found the configuration check mark for "Use this service for a Security Alarm" and it is enabled.   So I disabled, rebooted the Obitalk, called my wife's cellphone.   Same result.    The call went straight to voicemail and kept ringing (so it could be answered).   Another words, this did not fix it.

I've not read anything that says using the OBI202 with a security alarm is not support or should not work...  Is that stated somewhere?  It has been working since I first set it up (a few months) but in the past few days, it stopped working. 

[SteveInWA]

I don't understand exactly what you are doing.

You have a Google Voice telephone number.  You configured SP1 (or some other SPx) to use the Google account that holds your Google Voice number.  You call your wife's cell phone.  The rest is confusing.  What do you mean, exactly and clearly?

You said "The call went straight to voicemail and kept ringing (so it could be answered)."  Hunh?  "kept ringing" where?  On her cell phone handset?  In your ear (you are hearing ringing on your OBi-attached telephone)?  Which voicemail did it go to?

Did you add her cell phone number as a linked/forwarding number to this Google Voice account?  If so, remove it.

Unplug the OBi from your house wiring.  Plug a regular telephone cord and phone directly into the Phone 1 or Phone 2 jack, depending on which one you configured to use with this Google Voice number.  Call her phone.  What happens?

[cerickso88]

I have a landline phone connected to the OBiTALK.  I also have an Alarm system with an out going phone line connected to the OBI202.

If I call my anybody (my wifes cell for example) from the landline phone, the call will go directly to her voicemail.  However, on her end of the call,  her phone will continue to ring and can be answered.  If she answers, we can both hear her voicemail and our conversation will be recorded.  My wife's number is not configured in any way with Google Voice.

From you last message I got the idea to try something.  I did some testing and found that none of this happens if i disconnect the alarm system from the OBI202. 

I also tried to disconnect my landline phone and have only the Alarm connected.  I haven't completed this yet as I need to involve the alarm company.

At this point, I will investigate getting a cellular module for my alarm or a 2nd OB202 for the Alarm.

Thanks Steve...I appreciate your help.

[SteveInWA]

I can't imagine why your called party's phone would behave that way, since neither Google Voice nor OBiTALK have any control over it.  As far as they know, it's just another phone call.  But, if the alarm panel is connected, there's no telling what signals from it might be interfering, or if there is an impedance problem with it in the circuit.

You do realize that an OBi 202 has two physical phone ports?  For example, you could have two different Google accounts, each with one Google Voice number.  You could then provision SP1 with the GV number you want to use for regular calling, on your primary Google/Gmail account.  You'd then provision SP2 with the other Google Voice number, solely for use with the alarm panel.  You'd provision SP3 with a SIP VoIP service provider that offers E911 service.

Google Voice isn't intended for this purpose, and use it at your own risk until you can upgrade your communications with the alarm company, but it should work.  Note that alarm panels are typically wired into your premises jacks via a special phone jack, known as a RJ-31X "exclusion" jack.  This jack loops the telephone line from the telephone company (or from your OBi in your case) through a relay in the panel.  Normally, the relay simply passes the two wires' connections through to the premises wiring, but when the alarm goes off, it "seizes" the line by disconnecting the two wires going to the premise, so nobody can take a phone off-hook to kill the call to the central station.  This can be confusing to wire, and a mistake could render your panel unable to communicate, and/or your premises phones to not work.  It's best to have an alarm technician do this.

Here is a DIY tutorial, so you can at least understand how it is wired up:  https://youtu.be/Z2gcXngLgVE

[stevies3]

What does "Use this service for a Security Alarm" actually do?