News:

On Tuesday September 6th the forum will be down for maintenance from 9:30 PM to 11:59 PM PDT

Main Menu

Can I Use Whitelist with Obi & Google Voice & No Forwarding Number?

Started by audioresearch, November 07, 2013, 09:32:13 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

audioresearch

How can I setup my Obi 110 used with a Google Voice number so that only people whose phone numbers are on a whitelist I setup can ring my phone even though I will have NO second phone number for Google Voice to forward calls to. I plan to connect all my in-house phones directly to the Obi 110 box and to nothing else.

In case this cannot be done when Google Voice is used, then I will be happy with any method, even one that does not make any use of Google Voice, that gives me a free phone number that I can use to make/receive calls in the USA, uses my OBI 110 box, and lets me setup a whitelist.

Thank you very much for any help you can provide.

azrobert

Sign into your GV account.
Create a Google contact for everybody in your white list.
Click on Gear Symbol and then Settings.
Uncheck all your forwarding phones.
Click on "Groups and Circles".
Edit "All Contacts".
Check the Phones you want to ring for your contacts.
Save

Anybody not in your contact list will hear about 5 rings and then will go to voicemail.

audioresearch

"Check the Phones you want to ring for your contacts."

What phones should I check? I won't have anymore forwarding phones to check. The whole idea is to find a way to make a whitelist work if there are no forwarding phones and all my house phones are connected directly to the OBI 110 box.

azrobert

Just check Google Talk,

I consider Google Chat/Talk a forwarding phone.

audioresearch

Thanks, however I'm looking for a solution that lets me use only my landline telephones, a router, Google Voice, and nothing else including no computer that needs to be left on all the time.

azrobert

What I described in my 1st reply is done once, then the computer is not needed.

Another approach is to change your OBI configuration:

Change Voice Services -> SP1 Service -> X_InboundCallRoute to:
{(1?4801111111|1?4802222222|1?4803333333):ph}

Where 4801111111, 4802222222 and 4803333333 is your white list.

audioresearch

Oh no, I just read that the OBI 110 box I own is not going to work directly all by itself with Google Voice around May, 2014.

Maybe my question is now moot.

What do I do now?

Do you think I should add a DID provider, as suggested elsewhere, so my OBI box will still work with Google Voice (which I use solely for its white list) and do you think that solution will work? Would it cost me less to use a Magic Jack instead of my OBI box with a DID provider?

gderf

Google Voice + DID for incoming calls works now, and there is no reason to suspect it won't work in the future.

A free DID from CallCentric or IPKall will cost $0. CallCentric might be a bit easier to set up.
Help me OBiHai PhoneOBi. You're my only hope.

audioresearch

If I obtain a free DID from CallCentric or IPKall, does that only enable incoming calls to work with Google Voice and my OBI 110 or will it also enable outgoing calls too? The "I" in "DID" is for "inward" and that is why I wonder about that.

gderf

A DID number allows you to receive incoming calls either dialed directly to the number or forwarded to that number via incoming calls to your Google Voice number.

If you take one with CallCentric and tell them you are inside the US/Canada, then they are going to charge you the E911 recovery fee. This will allow you to dial out to 911, but not to other numbers.

You can also call other CallCentric customers using their Callcentric #: 1777xxxxxx. This capability comes with the free IP Freedom package which is bundled with your free DID. Calls to SIP URIs are also possible with the free IP Freedom package.
Help me OBiHai PhoneOBi. You're my only hope.

audioresearch

I have not been able to get incoming calls to my GV number to ring a phone connected to my OBI 110. I can make outgoing calls fine and the caller id number that appears on the caller id of phones that I place calls to does show my google voice number as the caller id. So, making outgoing calls is not a problem.

The fact that outgoing calls can be made from the OBI through my GV # means at the least that I have done whatever setup was needed to let the OBI and GV "talk" to each other. I followed the setup instructions for GV that I found on my OBI Talk web page setup screen.

The problem is that no incoming calls go to the phone I have connected to the OBI 110.

I can setup Google Voice to forward only calls originating from numbers on my white list to my Verizon phone line and that works fine. When people on my white list call, phones sitting on my Verizon line ring and I can pick up and have a normal conversation.

All I really want to do is have incoming calls to my GV # ring the phone that I connect to the OBI 110.

I have tried all combinations of checking/unchecking "forward to google chat" in the GV setup screen for "phones" along with the GV setup screen for each contact group's privileges. No combination of check marks or lack of checkmarks next to "forward to Google Chat" in either of those screens makes the phone connected to the OBI ring when an incoming call is placed to my GV #.

GV does not allow me to specify a GV # as a phone to be forwarded to. It only accepts "real" phones plus Google Chat as forwarding destinations.

I wonder what I am missing or doing wrong? Or maybe my OBI is not working right?

Have you confirmed that the setup procedure you told me to do actually works with your own OBI and your own phone so that when calls have come in to your GV #, the phone connected to your OBI rang and you could pick it up and have a normal phone conversation with the person calling you?



gderf

Sounds like you are doing everything right. Did incoming calls to your GV number ring the phone  connected to your OBi before you started trying to restrict incoming calls in any way?
Help me OBiHai PhoneOBi. You're my only hope.

audioresearch

No, incoming calls to my GV # have never rung a phone handset plugged into the OBI box. They forwarded to and rang my Verizon landline and my cellphones ok when I enabled that. The handset I plugged into the OBI box to try receiving calls to my GV # through that OBI box is normally connected to my Verizon landline and it rings and works there without ever a problem.

I'm wondering if GV is not supposed to ring a phone connected to an OBI and is only supposed to ring "real" phones like a cellphone or a landline. Just from the GV interface, it seems GV is setup to forward calls to other phones.

Do you know for sure that a call to a Gv # is supposed to ring a handset plugged in to a properly setup OBI?

audioresearch

I just got it working. On the OBI talk web page, I had to go into expert config and there click on "revert to obitalk" and now a call to my gv # finally rings the handset connected to the OBI and also forwards to my landline & cellphone as I wish.

I haven't configured an OBI box in a long while, but I did seem to remember something to the effect that changes made on the web page might not automatically propagate to the OBI box and that is why I did the above. I don't know for sure that is the reason, but it worked, so I'm happy.

gderf

Quote from: audioresearch on November 14, 2013, 01:11:52 PM
Do you know for sure that a call to a Gv # is supposed to ring a handset plugged in to a properly setup OBI?

Absolutely, positively. Most Obi users are doing exactly that.

You are plugging the phone into the OBi 110 jack labeled Phone and not the jack labeled Line, right.
Help me OBiHai PhoneOBi. You're my only hope.

estus

I've got a similar situation that I'm trying to figure out how to setup a whitelist with. I've got an Obi200 setup with google voice for my home telephone line and a callcentric DID setup for 911 service. What I'd like to do is setup a whitelist so that any numbers that aren't on the list get sent to voicemail, but I'm worried about unchecking the all the forwarded calls options in the event I disable my 911 service. Can anyone help with what I ought to be doing?

SteveInWA

Same answer.

Here is the concept:

People call your inbound Google Voice number.  You control how calls will, or will not, be forwarded to your forwarding destinations.  In your case, the forwarding destination is Google Chat, assuming have not added your Callcentric number as a forwarding destination.

estus


Ember1205

A couple of things I'll add...


1) If you're using whitelist only controls via GV, you should ensure that you're using the same whitelist with Call Centric. Otherwise, people will be able to call your CC number directly and "get through".

2) In order for GV to be able to apply its SPAM filters, you MUST forward your calls to another phone number. You can't use the direct connection option via the Google Chat "phone". This may also be true for whitelisting calls, so forwarding your calls to CC would be a necessity if it is.