OBi with two Google Voice accounts

[jayarr]

Hi all,

I'm getting ready to purchase my first OBi and am trying to figure out whether I need one or two devices. I've seen conflicting info about this and am hoping someone can help.

What I'm wanting to do is to set up two Google Voice accounts/phone numbers to work on the same phone. No landlines or anything else involved; just two separate GV numbers that'll ring the same one phone.

Can I accomplish this with a single OBi device, or would I need to get two OBi devices -- one for each number -- and then connect them together (with the second OBi going into the line port of the first OBi)?

Thanks for any insights you can provide.

[Ostracus]

One, Voice Services (SP1) for the first number and Voice Services (SP2) for the second.

[jayarr]

Awesome...thank you!

[DrLee]

I want to do the same thing but I need a little more guidance.  After I have the first GV number working with my OBi do I go to my second GV account and add the same Google Chat account using the same gmail account?  Or to another gmail account that I create for this purpose? 

Or do I do something in the OBi Dashboard? 

Thanks

[jimates]

each gmail account can have one google voice number.

You will set up 2 separate accounts with GV numbers. Each will have it's own google log in credentials. Then set one up on SP1 and the other on SP2.

[Brad]

How would this work if you also wanted to use CallCentric for the E911 service?  As far as I can tell the OBi110 only allows you to add two Service Providers.  If both of those are occupied by the two Google Voice accounts, is there a way behind the scenes to add the CallCentric account as a third Service Provider?  If not, is there another solution?

Thanks,
Brad

[Stewart]

Why do you need/want the second GV account?  If it's merely to answer calls, you can bring those in via a free or paid DID, such as IPKall, to a SIP service.  If you need to occasionally make calls with outbound caller ID of the second account, you could call through the first, or call from a paid SIP service that allows you to spoof the caller ID.

If you will be doing heavy outbound calling from both accounts and also want SIP, you will need two OBi devices.

[Brad]

Thanks Stewart for your ideas, but that sounds overly complicated to me.  The reason for having two GV accounts is because there are two GV users living in the same household who share a common home phone.  GV is designed to be specific to the user and not the phone, so the ideal solution would be that the OBi is configured for both GV accounts with one account acting as the default outbound account.  Unfortunately, OBi chose to limit the device to just 2 service providers.  This needs to be expanded to at least 5 in my opinion.

Does anybody else have any other ideas on how to workaround the 2 service provider limitation and configure 2 GV accounts plus a CallCentric account for E911 services?  If not, I guess the only possible solution would be to have 2 OBi devices which is unfortunate to say the least.  I'm not sure if this would even work.  Can the phone port from 2 OBi devices be hooked up to the same telephone if a line splitter is used?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[DaveSin]

I see no reason why the Callcentric (or anveo for that matter) account cannot be setup on one of the Voice Gateway Accounts or even through a speed dial entry, with the appropriate variables specify.  If I not mistaken, Callcentric allows calls without registration, so this should work.  You might want to send an email to either Callcentric or anveo to confirm.

Does anybody else have any other ideas on how to workaround the 2 service provider limitation and configure 2 GV accounts plus a CallCentric account for E911 services? 

[Stewart]

The reason for having two GV accounts is because there are two GV users living in the same household who share a common home phone.

IMHO, that's the problem.  I surely wouldn't set up a system that prevented me from making or receiving a call, just because my wife was yapping away.  The straightforward solution is two OBi devices connected to separate phones, to several two-line phones, or to a two-line multi-handset system.

I suppose that if you just spent a bundle on a single-line cordless system with six handsets, you might feel pretty strongly about using that.  You could daisy-chain two OBi devices (at least one must be an OBi110), so one looks like a "landline" to the other.  Or, with one OBi, get a DID for your Callcentric service and have the secondary GV account ring that.  There are lots of other ways to skin this cat, but your desired combination of cheap, good and simple is IMO not available in this situation (nor in most aspects of life).

[RevKev]

I see no reason why the Callcentric (or anveo for that matter) account cannot be setup on one of the Voice Gateway Accounts or even through a speed dial entry, with the appropriate variables specify.

Although I've never tried it, it's my understanding that one of the SPx services must be setup for SIP in order to use SIP dialing on the gateways or speed dials - even if the gateway/speed dial is using a different SIP provider.

[RonR]

Although I've never tried it, it's my understanding that one of the SPx services must be setup for SIP in order to use SIP dialing on the gateways or speed dials - even if the gateway/speed dial is using a different SIP provider.

The SPx Service referenced in any SIP context (Speed Dial, Voice Gateway AccessNumber, etc.) MUST be configured for SIP.  There need not be an actual SIP provider in use on that SPx Service, but that SPx/ITSPx combination must be configured for SIP and not Google Voice.

[jimates]

Can the phone port from 2 OBi devices be hooked up to the same telephone if a line splitter is used?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Brad,

You can connect a second Obi's phone port to the line port of the first Obi. Set up your service on Obi 2 for your 911. Default settings on Obi 1 will send 911 calls to the line port (Obi 2) by default.
You can also set up a second service on Obi 2 (3rd GV # etc) and incoming calls will ring the phones connected to Obi 1. If you want to place an outgoing call via Obi 2 you just pick up a phone and dial #, this will get you the dial tone of Obi 2 and you can then place the call using whichever service set up on it by dialing the correct format.

[Brad]

Thanks everyone.  It seems the multiple OBi device (in my case 2) workaround is currently the only feasible solution to the 2 service provider limitation issue.

OBi,

If you are reading this, can you please expand the maximum number of service providers to at least 5?  This would be a terrific value add to your product.  As more families begin to catch on to GV and combine with your product for near-free landline service, this issue is sure to creep up and bite others as well.  Generally speaking, people are not going to want to buy multiple devices and daisy chain them.  The ideal solution is to expand the number of service providers on a single device.  Thank you in advance for your consideration.

[Jeff205]

each gmail account can have one google voice number.

You will set up 2 separate accounts with GV numbers. Each will have it's own google log in credentials. Then set one up on SP1 and the other on SP2.

Not necessarily true.  For free, yes, but you can have a GV number forwarded to another GV number on the same account for a fee.

http://support.google.com/voice/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=115136&topic=1708124&ctx=topic

[Sam61n2]

I'm having a problem setting up a second Google Voice on (SP3) on my OBi200, the second GV is on a different account than the device or my first GV is registered to. it seems to go ahead, but the status keeps circling till it finally states "Service Not Configured". Is this possible, to do on the OBi200, or have I missed a setting on  the 2nd Google Voice account. Thanks for any assistance.

Sam

[SteveInWA]

I'm having a problem setting up a second Google Voice on (SP3) on my OBi200, the second GV is on a different account than the device or my first GV is registered to. it seems to go ahead, but the status keeps circling till it finally states "Service Not Configured". Is this possible, to do on the OBi200, or have I missed a setting on  the 2nd Google Voice account. Thanks for any assistance.

Sam

Hi Sam:

Yes, you can configure up to four different Google accounts on an OBi 200/202.

Open a desktop or laptop computer's web browser, not a tablet or smartphone.  If you're using Google Chrome Browser or Safari, press Ctrl-Shift-N to open an incognito browsing window, or, if you're using Firefox, press Ctrl-Shift-P to open a private browsing window.

In that window, sign into the one, and only one Gmail account that holds the Google Voice number you wish to use.

Note that this will not work with a non-Gmail domain.  Go here:  https://voice.google.com/settings.  Confirm that you do see the desired Google Voice number at the top of the page.  If so, then look for an entry for an "OBiTALK device"; if found, delete that entry.

Next, go here:  https://myaccount.google.com/permissions and delete the permission(s) for OBiTALK Google Voice.  If there was no such permission, then this step is done.

Leave that browser window open, and press Ctrl-T to open a new browser tab in that same window.  Go here and sign into your OBiTALK device configuration dashboard:  http://www.obitalk.com/obinet/pg/obhdev.  Click on the OBiTALK device you wish to configure.  If SP3 has a device set up, delete it (click the trash can icon).  Next, click SP3 and follow the steps to configure Google Voice.  When it gets to the step that asks your permission to access your Google account, read closely and make sure you are authorizing the correct Google/Gmail account.  Finish the procedure and it should work.

[Sam61n2]

Thanks SteveInWA, well layed out directions, but didn't work (I tried a number of times) in the end after along time with the clock circling, it finally comes up "Service Not Configured). I have this GV line setup on my tablet for Hangouts, would that be the issue? In any case thanks for your directions.

[SteveInWA]

Sign into the correct Google account, and go here:  https://voice.google.com/settings

Is there an OBiTALK device shown in the list of devices?  Compare this to the other Google account with the working Google Voice number.

[SteveInWA]

Also:

Link a 10-digit, US telephone number as a forwarding number.  Confirm that the forwarding phone rings when you call this Google Voice number from some unrelated number (NOT from your other Google Voice number).