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GV Voicemail Indicator

Started by MMUser, February 04, 2020, 11:20:27 AM

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MMUser

I'm new to the OBI so please point me in the right direction if this is the wrong forum.

I've set up an OBI200 for my mother, who is 86. She moved into a home and couldn't get her old number, so I ported it to Google Voice for her. Everything works fine with the phone, she doesn't realize it's any different for calls.

However, when she had an AT&T landline, her phone had a button that lit up when she got voicemail. And she could hit that button to listen to it. Can this be set up with the OBI200 and Google Voice? This FAQ https://www.obitalk.com/info/faq/GV-and-the-OBi/GV-VM-Notification-Missed-Calls seems to say that it will not work. But the admin guide https://www.obitalk.com/info/documents/admin_guide/OBiDeviceAdminGuide.pdf has a section for "Monitor VM" and I think I've seen a couple of posts that indicate that it will work.

I'm sure this has been asked before, but I haven't been able to find it through searching forum posts.

If this won't work, does anyone have any suggestions for what I should do? She does have a cell phone. Maybe I can set up the phone to access the GV voicemails without actually ringing?

Thanks for any help, and again, if this is the wrong place, please direct me to the right one.

SteveInWA

Google Voice does not support MWI (the stutter tone) or VMWI (the light).

Google Voice is too complicated for an 86-year-old.  As seniors age further, attempting to perform some task that they can't remember how to do, or don't understand, causes anxiety and distress, especially if they are in an actual or perceived emergency.  Don't put your mom through this.

If she is comfortable understanding and remembering how to access a provider's voicemail when a message is waiting, sign up for service with Callcentric or voip.ms, which do support MWI/VMWI, and set the "1" key as a speed dial to access voicemail.

MMUser

I appreciate the response. Other than the voice mail, GV with the OBI200 is transparent to her. So I thought it was a good choice. I'm using Callcentric for 911 service for her, so maybe I'll check that out.

My other option would be to just buy her an answering machine.

azrobert

You can use Callcentric's VM, it supports MWI. Get a CC Dollar Unlimited number and define it as a GV forwarding number. Have CC's VM pickup before GV's VM. This also gives you CallerID Name.

https://www.callcentric.com/dids/dollar_unlimited_phone_number

I think you can use CC VM without the Dollar number, but I would have to try it to see if it works correctly.

MMUser

I clicked on the link and it looks to me like the Dollar Unlimited can accept unlimited incoming calls and comes with VM. I currently have GV set to ring the OBI200. If I understand you correctly, I now add a single forward to the new Dollar Unlimited number. That makes sense to me. GV picks up after 25 seconds, so I set the new number to pick up after 20 seconds (or whatever time I need) so that the phone will stop ringing at the house and Callcentric VM will pick up. The caller does not know that they were forwarded to a different number.

The last step is to get the phone at the house to flash when there's a message and to pick up the voice mail. I'm not sure how to hook that up. Just set the OBI200 to a third SP? Right now SP1 is Google Voice and SP2 is my Callcentric account for 911. If I set up a third one for the new number, then that's where the VM indicator comes from. Or maybe it all ties in to SP2 since I already have a Callcentric account there.

Then I have to learn how to get the phone to dial the VM when there's a message, but I assume that's covered somewhere.

Am I understanding correctly?

drgeoff

At voice.google.com remove the OBi from the devices that incoming calls are forwarded to.  That does not impact using the OBi to make outgoing calls via GV.

MMUser

Oh, I see. Basically, I will never get calls into the "real" phone number. I will forward calls to GV number to the new Dollar Unlimited number, which will ring the OBI200 because I will set it up as a SP there. Then that handles all incoming calls, including VM. But outgoing calls still will use GV.

That makes sense.

If I already have a Callcentric account with Pay as you go for 911 service, do you know if I add Dollar Unlimited to that same account? And since Pay as you go is already set up as SP2, do I just leave it alone, or do I add the Dollar Unlimited as SP3? If this is a question for Callcentric, let me know.

MMUser

I found a topic here http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=11386.0 that walks through the steps I think I need to take. I'll be trying that.