Can't receive calls on Obi110 FXO port

[matrixtech]

Hello,

I have been scouring the forum for help with my issue. I am trying to set up a softphone with an OBi110, mainly to utilize it's FXO port. I can always get outgoing calls to work over the LINE port. Also, when following the Voxilla guide for how to set up Google Voice with a Cisco SPA525G (which I have done) ( http://voxilla.com/2011/02/15/how-to-obify-your-ip-phone-no-asterisk-involved/ ), I can get GV to work with the Cisco model and also my Softphone. However, nowhere, using ANY guide, can I get the LINE port to ring through to ANYTHING: Not the PHONE port (which is supposed to be the default action, NOT!), nor the SP1 or SP2 service.

I have now purchased two OBi110's thinking that mine was faulty. Both units do exactly the same thing. I can get every call direction working except for routing incoming LINE (FXO) calls.

From everything I have read, the OBi110 default behavior is to forward any incoming LINE call to the PHONE port. Nope. Also, in the Voxilla guide, it says to change the LINE port's InboundCallRoute to sp2(spaline5), which also doesn't work (and, yes I used 'spaline5' just to follow the directions exactly!).

I have also enabled the Syslog feature to see what is happening when seemingly correctly configured. I can see the ringing, Caller ID received, but there is nothing that the 110 is doing to answer the call. I have also looked at a WireShark capture when this happens and the Obi110 never tries to send a SIP INVITE or anything when the LINE port is ringing.

Seems like a bug to me. I have updated both my units today with no improvement (Firmware 1.3.0 (Build: 2776) ).

If anyone can provide a clear set of instructions for using the Obi110 as an FXO gateway to a non-registered IP phone/softphone, then the Obi will be the product I recommend to our customers. Right now, I have to recommend the older Linksys SPA and the AudioCodes MP series, while the Obihai seems like the better choice for most single line needs.

Thanks in advance,
Joe Peavey

[hwittenb]

I wasn't aware of the Voxilla guide, however I see what they are trying to accomplish.  The guide doesn't discuss sending an incoming PSTN line call to the distant ip phone.  It shouldn't be that complicated though.

At first it sounded like your OBi110 was not recognizing the PSTN line ringing.  However, if your Syslog says the FXO port is ringing, says Caller ID received, then the OBi110 should do whatever you have setup on the InboundCallRoute for the LINE Port.  The default setting is ph which is the analog phone attached to the FXS (Phone) port of the OBi110.  I would get that working first.  

I assume the phone you have attached to the OBi110 will ring.  You should be able to test that independently, or add ph to the InboundCallRouting that you setup for your GoogleVoice Sp1.

Access your OBi110 configuration and check the Line Port settings:
Physical Interfaces--> LINE Port --> InboundCallRoute --> ph

Call the PSTN line and see if the phone rings and you can answer it.  There is a default 4-second ringing delay (before the phone starts to ring) configured for the Line port to allow the OBi110 receive the incoming caller id.  If you do not care about the incoming caller id you could set that delay to zero.

If that's working then you can proceed to configuring the OBi to ring a distant ip phone using direct ip calling.  In the Voxilla guide they are setting up SP2 with a proxy address and sip port number of your ip phone and in the guide you referenced they are setting the GoogleVoice (SP1) InboundCallRoute to ring that phone for an incoming GoogleVoice call by calling whatever userid you have setup on the ip phone.  They said, for the SP1 InboundCallRoute configure sp2(spaline5) where you would substitute whatever userid you setup on the IP phone for spaline5 in sp2(spaline5).  I believe you said that worked, the incoming GoogleVoice call was routed to your ip phone or softphone.  You want use the same InboundCallRoute setting for the Line Port --> InboundCallRoute.  

The guide you referenced didn't say anything about setting the SP2 to not register.  I believe that was an omission and you should make that setting:  Voice Services-->SP2 Service -->X_RegisterEnable -->(uncheck)

[matrixtech]

Thank you for your response. You and I are thinking alike because I had already tried everything you suggest, but I'll detail it in case something else springs to mind.

At first it sounded like your OBi110 was not recognizing the PSTN line ringing.  However, if your Syslog says the FXO port is ringing, says Caller ID received, then the OBi110 should do whatever you have setup on the InboundCallRoute for the LINE Port.  The default setting is ph which is the analog phone attached to the FXS (Phone) port of the OBi110.  I would get that working first.

Yes, as I said, even with the default settings ('ph' in the LINE port's InboundCallRoute), on either of my 110s, I can never get a standard telephone to ring. I am not connected to a phone system or PSTN line--I am using a telephone line simulator, which is like a 2 station PBX (this: http://www.microseveninc.com/ls15c.htm). When I call the Obi on Port 2 from Port 1, I can see the ringing on Port 2's LED while the Syslog is also showing the ringing. I then have another analog telephone connected to the Obi's PHONE port and nothing ever happens. This is why I think there's a serious bug in the FXO portion of the Obi110. In this config, there's no SIP or GV involved. If this doesn't route properly, there's no hope that LINE routing to SP1 or SP2 will ever work.

I assume the phone you have attached to the OBi110 will ring.  You should be able to test that independently, or add ph to the InboundCallRouting that you setup for your GoogleVoice Sp1.

Access your OBi110 configuration and check the Line Port settings:
Physical Interfaces--> LINE Port --> InboundCallRoute --> ph

Call the PSTN line and see if the phone rings and you can answer it.

• No, the LINE to PHONE (and therefore, any LINE to SP1 or SP2 routing) never works under ANY circumstance (starting with just 'ph'). This is the stated default behavior in the documentation, but does not work at all.
• Regarding the 4-second ringing delay: I have waited minutes and the call is never forwarded to the PHONE port.
• Yes, the GV on SP1 DOES properly route to the PHONE port.
• I have had no issues whatsoever in routing from ObiTalk to any SPx  to PHONE in any combination. I can route any call to the LINE port, but in no case will the LINE forward to anything.

The guide doesn't discuss sending an incoming PSTN line call to the distant ip phone.

Yes it does. In step 7.

The guide you referenced didn't say anything about setting the SP2 to not register.  I believe that was an omission and you should make that setting:  Voice Services-->SP2 Service -->X_RegisterEnable -->(uncheck)

I caught that error as well.

I won't try to accomplish too much right now. If I could just get the LINE port successfully forwarding to the PHONE port, I would bet that I could use the common sense SPx(xxxx) nomenclature to make the Obi110 work the way I want it to.

I am 110% sure that this is a firmware issue and no amount of settings experimentation will make this work without Obihai getting busy on a fix. But, I'd love to be proven wrong.  When I contacted Obihai support about my issues (in the context of making the LINE port work with my Softphone), I was redirected to post in the forum. Since then, I have backed off to just trying to get the basic POTS forwarding functional. But I cannot recommend this product if this can't be resolved.

@hwittenb, I am not criticizing your post. I am thankful for your quick response and logical troubleshooting steps. You are just suggesting things I've already tried and I don't know where to go from here. Maybe I'll try going back to Obi support to tell me why basic functionality isn't working. I would leave out the part about routing to the softphone for now.

Thanks again,
Joe

[hwittenb]

I'm not so sure about the serious bug diagnosis.  It seems clear that for some reason it doesn't work with your line simulator and yes it probably is something to do with firmware, but that is a simulator not a pstn line.  People attach the OBi110 to a PSTN line or the FSX port of another analog telephone adapter, not a line simulator.

Of all the OBi110 reports from purchasers I haven't heard of lines not recognized after ringing whether they are pstn lines or the FXS port of another ata.

I would contact OBi support and provide them with a syslog of a test call showing the ringing etc.  With an incoming call on the LINE port, I believe the OBi110 should ring a phone attached to PHONE port.  I believe it should do this with default factory specifications and I would reset the OBi110 to factory specifications for the test.

[matrixtech]

Okay. I will try to get Obi support to help me identify the issue.

[EDIT] Okay, I did what I just knew wouldn't work--hooking it up to a fax line--And it worked. So now I need to discover what was different about that Fax line than my simulator. It could be that the ring voltage isn't quite high enough for the Obi to recognize. Although the simulator default voltage level works with Cisco/Linksys SPAs and AudioCodes. I will report what I find.

Just getting SOMETHING to work for inbound calls is a breakthrough and give me hope.

Thanks for getting back to me, hwittenb. Believe it or not, your responses alone help me to justify the efforts to get to a resolution--because I know that a community exists to help out.

I will report back here when I hear something from support.

Thanks,
Joe