Obi202 not consistently ringing inbound calls (in fact: fails on most calls)

[Godot]

Hi,

I have an Obi202 hooked up via Google Voice (sp2) account and a Voip.ms (sp1) account. I have no problem making outbound calls. However, I am getting many complaints from family and friends that I am not picking up my phone but my phone hasn't been ringing. When I call myself to test inbound calls (using my mobile) -- the results are inconsistent (sometimes it rings sometimes it doesn't -- mostly it doesn't). All the calls are being logged as inbound through the VOIP.MS call history web page -- so it seems the problem is with the OBI202 (VOIP.MS help desk insists the problem is the Obi202).

One note that may help somebody help me: in the advanced tabs of the Obi202 router the configurations all seem to be on default (except for my Voip.MS log-in details in the SIP credentials section).

Thank you for any assistance.

[pc44]

All the calls are being logged as inbound through the VOIP.MS call history web page

Hi Godot,

You mentioned that the calls are logged on the Voip.ms call history page.  How about in your Obi call history page?  Look under Status -> Call History.  Let us know if the calls are showing up here in the Obi call history page.  I'm going to guess that they are not.

For Voip.ms, you may need to forward some ports in your router for incoming calls.  Have you already forwarding any applicable Voip.ms ports in your router to your Obi device?  If not, your router may be blocking this inbound traffic.

Let us know,
pc44

[Godot]

Thank you for your quick and helpful reply.

Thanks to your post, I think I found the problem (I will now display my stupidity as penance and in the hopes of helping anyone who follows).

I didn't realise I could see my call history on the Obi202 advanced interface (thank you for directing me there). My calls were indeed being registered on the Obi202 -- just not ringing my phone. However, I noticed they were labelled as SP2 calls (which I had set-up to ring on Phone Jack 2). I therefore switched my phone from Phone Jack 1 to Phone Jack 2 -- and, voila, my phone rang. Yeah! This still doesn't explain to me why my phone (while plugged into the wrong Jack) was ringing occasionally. If the phone had never rung at all -- I would have noticed the problem sooner.

However, now I'm still a bit stymied and hoping for more guidance. I have two voip.ms DID numbers but only one voip.ms account (I bought one DID to test the Obi202 and when all seemed well I ported over my home number). The ObiTalk dashboard only asks for the Voip.ms account name and password. How does it distinguish which number is SP1 and which is SP2? Is this why my phone plugged into the wrong jack rang occasionally? Will they become crossed again? I'd rather have my primary phone number plugged into Jack 1 -- but I see no way to identify it on the Dashboard. Am I missing something (probably, I know)?

[pc44]

Hi Godot,

Glad we're making progress here!  

Please keep in mind that SP1 and SP2 do not refer to the Phone Ports of your OBI202, per se.  On your OBI202, you should actually be seeing SP1, SP2, SP3, and SP4.  Yes?  To double-check, take a look under -> Voice Services and -> Physical Interfaces in your OBI Menu.

If I understand correctly, SP1 and SP2 would be linked to Phone Port 1 by default, and SP3 and SP4 would be linked to Phone Port 2.  This feature by Obihai allows you to use two voice service providers on each physical phone port.

I don't know enough about the OBI202 to pinpoint the reason for the partially-successful calls on the other port.  Perhaps it was a failover feature as you suggested.  However, if you have 2 (two) Voip.ms DIDs associated with only 1 (one) Voip.ms account, then I would suspect that you may need to double-check your Voip.ms settings.  Perhaps if you could log in to your online Voip.ms account, you may see some options for how the call routing/priority is handled for your two DIDs.  With some VOIP providers, an additional sub-account is provided in order to distinguish between the two DIDs.  Or, your two DIDs may be set to both forward to the same, single Voip.ms account you currently use.

Perhaps someone else with Voip.ms and/or OBI202 experience can comment on this!

Keep us posted!
pc44

[Godot]

Thank you PC44.

As you can tell, I'm a newbie at this but I'm learning a lot as I go along.

You are correct: I had to re-route the secondary DID into a sub account in my voip.ms portal. It now has it's own user name and password -- so it all makes sense to me now (probably makes perfect sense to everyone else long before now). So, yes: now I have one DID on Sp1 using phone Jack 1. Another DID using Sp 2 on phone Jack 2 and Google voice as Sp3 on Phone Jack 1 (just for fun). Hopefully it is all sorted now. Thank you for your help. I hope plenty of good Karma flows your way.

[pc44]

Hi Godot,

This is great news!  I'm glad you got everything figured and sorted out.  On this forum, people help each other.  So I'm sure with time, you will be helping me out with something.

Glad it's working!!
pc44

[MichiganTelephone]

If I understand correctly, SP1 and SP2 would be linked to Phone Port 1 by default, and SP3 and SP4 would be linked to Phone Port 2.

Not exactly.  When you set up a service provider using the OBiTALK portal, you can specify which phone port(s) should be used:



Note the line "Incoming Calls Will Ring On" and the checkboxes for Phone 1 and Phone 2.  That's where you set whether you want calls from that service provider to ring Phone 1, Phone 2, or both (I imagine that "neither" would also be a valid choice).

The above screenshot was from my article, "First look at the Obihai OBi202 VoIP device: Setting up a Google Voice and/or a SIP account (Part 2)"

[pc44]

Thanks for this info, MT.  I was not aware of this.

The above screenshot was from my article, "First look at the Obihai OBi202 VoIP device: Setting up a Google Voice and/or a SIP account (Part 2)"

This article should be a sticky or somehow marked for new OBI202 users... perhaps in the Installation and Set-Up sub-forum.

pc44

[QBZappy]

pc44,

Don't hold it against yourself. At the moment very few people on this forum have an OBi202 to play with. I don't even own one myself. Because of that I will have to limit my comments to what I have had a chance to experiment with. I am beginning to feel like such an old timer, not keeping up with the new tech toys. My time on this forum may be coming to an end as I become superseded. LOL

[infin8loop]

I am beginning to feel like such an old timer, not keeping up with the new tech toys.

Adults, children, and babies point and laugh when they notice me using my "flip" style cell phone.

[MichiganTelephone]

pc44,

Don't hold it against yourself. At the moment very few people on this forum have an OBi202 to play with. I don't even own one myself. Because of that I will have to limit my comments to what I have had a chance to experiment with. I am beginning to feel like such an old timer, not keeping up with the new tech toys. My time on this forum may be coming to an end as I become superseded. LOL

Hey, I know you were responding to pc44, but I just wanted to add that I'm not exactly "in the loop" with all the newest technology myself — in fact, the older I get, the more it frustrates me.  Lately it seems that every time I try to upgrade a major piece of software, I have some new issues that I didn't have with the previous version, and I have no clue at all how to fix the problem.  Some days I think that in 20 or 30 years there will be two types of technology:  The stuff that takes the equivalent of a rocket scientist in order to install and use it, and the stuff that's so simple that all you have to do is think about what you want it to do, and it will do it, but it will be super expensive. Fortunately for me, if I haven't departed this life by then, I'll at least be much too old to care!

Anyway, don't just assume that anyone here is younger or smarter than you... you might be surprised! 

[pc44]

I am beginning to feel like such an old timer, not keeping up with the new tech toys. My time on this forum may be coming to an end as I become superseded. LOL

You'll never be superseded!!  Not QBZappy.

Adults, children, and babies point and laugh when they notice me using my "flip" style cell phone.

They probably do the same when they see my vehicle's GPS device... a very large analog compass.  (at least it never needs to be re-charged)

Anyway, don't just assume that anyone here is younger or smarter than you... you might be surprised! 

True, but even if some of us are technological dinosaurs, we can still provide 'some' support to new kids on the block... maybe just enough to point them in the right direction.  (And then maybe ShermanOBI will open a Senior Citizens OBI sub-forum for us )

Oh well