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Issues with Obi200 (pickup delay, long calls terminated, service provider issue)

Started by caleecs, May 13, 2020, 05:47:06 PM

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caleecs

That was my question about 3.1, whether there were improvements in reliability and robustness. I couldn't find any information when I looked so thanks for answering that.

I guess all this gives me plenty to try so I will follow your recommendations and see what results I get and check back in if Callcentric doesn't solve my issues.

Thanks very much again for all your help.

drgeoff

Just in case it wasn't clear from SteveInWA's post above, the **n prepend is only needed on outbound calls.  Incoming calls on any of the SPs ring the phone and can be answered just by taking the handset off-hook.

caleecs

@drgeoff Thanks very much for clarifying that. I was assuming it worked something like that, but wasn't very sure.

SteveInWA

DOCSIS 3.1 changes the technique used to modulate signals on the coax network, and it's more robust and higher-performing than earlier methods.

See:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOCSIS

Quote
DOCSIS 3.1 : First released in October 2013, and updated several times since, the DOCSIS 3.1 suite of specifications support capacities of up to 10 Gbit/s downstream and 1 Gbit/s upstream using 4096 QAM. The new specs do away with 6 MHz and 8 MHz wide channel spacing and instead use narrower (25 kHz or 50 kHz wide) orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) subcarriers; these can be bonded inside a block spectrum that could end up being about 200 MHz wide.[6] DOCSIS 3.1 technology also includes some new energy management features that will help the cable industry reduce its energy usage, and the DOCSIS-PIE[7] algorithm to reduce bufferbloat.[8] In the United States, broadband provider Comcast announced in February 2016 that several cities within its footprint will have DOCSIS 3.1 availability before the end of the year.[9] At the end of 2016, Mediacom announced it would become the first major U.S. cable company to fully transition to the DOCSIS 3.1 platform.[10]

caleecs

Thank you for that information.

By now has Comcast fully transitioned all of it's locations/customers to 3.1 or do I have to call them to find out what is supported in my area?

SteveInWA

Please do your own research.  I don't work for Comcast, I just use it.  You can sign into your account, and/or enter your street address, and their tool will tell you which cable modems will work at your address.

I just checked my girlfriend's house, for example, and they show DOCSIS 3.1 modems as approved choices, at speeds up to gigabit.  They wouldn't say that if DOCSIS 3.1 wasn't implemented.

See:  https://www.xfinity.com/support/articles/list-of-approved-cable-modems

caleecs

Of course, I'm certainly happy to do my own research and have been doing that through this process. I was simply asking as you seemed to be an expert/knowledgeable about 3.1 and it's implementation and benefits. As you posted the information about 3.1, I thought you might know. But as I noted in my post, I was prepared to call Comcast to find out.


Albert12

As I've said, it's done it with two different routers so unless you have a specific setting for me to look at, I don't see how trying a 3rd router is productive.

ProfTech

Quote from: caleecs on May 20, 2020, 04:42:53 PM
Of course, I'm certainly happy to do my own research and have been doing that through this process. I was simply asking as you seemed to be an expert/knowledgeable about 3.1 and it's implementation and benefits. As you posted the information about 3.1, I thought you might know. But as I noted in my post, I was prepared to call Comcast to find out.
I used an Arris SB2182 Docsis 3.0 with Comcast for 12 months starting in April 2018 with good results. Fine for voip, bandwidth good for 300mb. There were a couple hiccups of a few minutes but I attributed them to work being done by Comcast. The setup for the Obi with Callcentric / Obi 200 is pretty straight forward.


ProfTech

to Caleecs
I would note that in my experience, how well your voip works can be directly dependent on your selection of  router. Get the best router that you feel you can operate/afford. If you go with Comcast's combined modem/router you may not have many options about how the router is set up for voip. After all, Their standard modem contains rj-11 phone ports and they want to sell you their phone service.

caleecs

My current router is an ASUS Router RT-AC68U which I have had for a year. It's an older model, but I picked it as it had the best reviews after extensive research.

ProfTech

Oops, I gave you an incorrect model number. My last [Comcast] modem was Arris SB6183. Looks like a later model is SB6190. 1gb capable but still Docsis 3.0. I think [but not sure] these two modems operate in a "bridge" mode, which is recommended for voip use. You may want to verify.

larryjb

I'm a Newbie, so I hope I'm not doing anything too wrong by posting here.  I tried several times to direct my message to caleecs (who started this thread) but got an error message each time.  That's why I'm taking a shot at conveying my message by replying within this thread.

Below is the message I was trying to send.  I've looked extensively through this forum about how to set up a whitelist on Obi and have a general idea of how to proceed.  However, if anyone cares to provide me with some specific advice or details, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Hi caleecs,
The subject line did not permit the complete URL to show up. It's https://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=17054.0. (May, 2020)

In that forum thread you mentioned the following: "And the most important feature is the whitelist for phone calls integrated with the Google Contacts."  I've been spending an inordinate amount of time trying to set up a whitelist for Google Voice.  I followed advice about how to do it by using Legacy Google Voice, the Groups tab, etc.  I believe I did everything correctly, but it did not work.  (I also believe I correctly set up groups using the Labels feature of the current version of GV.)  I subsequently discovered in a GV forum that GV no longer recognizes settings in the Groups tab of the legacy version (https://support.google.com/voice/thread/62030486/update-7-30-2020-portions-of-the-old-legacy-web-user-interface-will-be-disabled-on-8-11-2020?hl=en).

I'm writing to ask you if your comment about setting up a "whitelist for phone calls integrated with the Google Contacts" is out of date or if you have discovered some workaround within GV.  I suppose an alternative is to set up a whitelist within my Obi202.

BTW, I found a lot of useful info in the forum thread you started.  Thanks.

Best regards,
larryjb

P.S. I'm re-sending this because I'm not sure if my original attempt was successful.



SteveInWA

Quote from: larryjb on July 30, 2021, 02:25:57 PM
I subsequently discovered in a GV forum that GV no longer recognizes settings in the Groups tab of the legacy version (https://support.google.com/voice/thread/62030486/update-7-30-2020-portions-of-the-old-legacy-web-user-interface-will-be-disabled-on-8-11-2020?hl=en).

I'm writing to ask you if your comment about setting up a "whitelist for phone calls integrated with the Google Contacts" is out of date or if you have discovered some workaround within GV.  I suppose an alternative is to set up a whitelist within my Obi202.


My announcement post on the Google Voice help community, which you linked, is still accurate.  There are only a few settings left on the Legacy settings page that will be migrated to the new website (https://voice.google.com/u/0/settings).  The "Groups" feature will not be migrated exactly as it functions today, but it will be replaced with something that has similar or improved features.  I can't post a release date.  Any bugs that pop up in the Legacy settings before that old UI goes away are very unlikely to be fixed.

I would not invest any time in setting up a whitelist for now, as it is unclear what will carry over to the new UI.

drgeoff

Quote from: larryjb on July 30, 2021, 02:25:57 PM
I'm a Newbie, so I hope I'm not doing anything too wrong by posting here.  I tried several times to direct my message to caleecs (who started this thread) but got an error message each time.  That's why I'm taking a shot at conveying my message by replying within this thread.

Below is the message I was trying to send.  I've looked extensively through this forum about how to set up a whitelist on Obi and have a general idea of how to proceed.  However, if anyone cares to provide me with some specific advice or details, I'd greatly appreciate it.

Hi caleecs,
The subject line did not permit the complete URL to show up. It's https://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=17054.0. (May, 2020)

In that forum thread you mentioned the following: "And the most important feature is the whitelist for phone calls integrated with the Google Contacts."  I've been spending an inordinate amount of time trying to set up a whitelist for Google Voice.  I followed advice about how to do it by using Legacy Google Voice, the Groups tab, etc.  I believe I did everything correctly, but it did not work.  (I also believe I correctly set up groups using the Labels feature of the current version of GV.)  I subsequently discovered in a GV forum that GV no longer recognizes settings in the Groups tab of the legacy version (https://support.google.com/voice/thread/62030486/update-7-30-2020-portions-of-the-old-legacy-web-user-interface-will-be-disabled-on-8-11-2020?hl=en).

I'm writing to ask you if your comment about setting up a "whitelist for phone calls integrated with the Google Contacts" is out of date or if you have discovered some workaround within GV.  I suppose an alternative is to set up a whitelist within my Obi202.

BTW, I found a lot of useful info in the forum thread you started.  Thanks.

Best regards,
larryjb

P.S. I'm re-sending this because I'm not sure if my original attempt was successful.



You can configure an OBi device to only ring the phone on calls from specified numbers.  Of course if you have configured GV to forward incoming calls to additional endpoints they will still ring.