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Obihai Google Voice XMPP Solutions

Started by simpleAnswers, January 12, 2014, 08:18:17 AM

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simpleAnswers

Quote from: swh2 on January 13, 2014, 09:23:11 AM
..Come on t mobile act like the "un carrier" you claim to be and fix spam calls

I thought it was not allowed for marketeer to knowingly make spam/marketing calls to cell phones as it would cost the receiver money.
Usually its only if the user has filled out their cell phone as a home number somewhere and the marketeers got that. I never enter my cell as a home number anywhere. My 2cents ;D

giqcass

Quote from: simpleAnswers on February 07, 2014, 03:43:14 AM
Quote from: swh2 on January 13, 2014, 09:23:11 AM
..Come on t mobile act like the "un carrier" you claim to be and fix spam calls

I thought it was not allowed for marketeer to knowingly make spam/marketing calls to cell phones as it would cost the receiver money.
Usually its only if the user has filled out their cell phone as a home number somewhere and the marketeers got that. I never enter my cell as a home number anywhere. My 2cents ;D
You are correct if you mean inside the United States.  Many of these companies run operations in countries where they can not be prosecuted.  The fact that there was no legal avenue to stop these people is the reason the FCC had a contest to find a solution.  I usually put my cell phone numbers into the do not call list even though it is not  supposed to be necessary.  Another problem we run into these days is the fact most telephone numbers have been recycled.
Long live our new ObiLords!

SteveInWA

Quote from: simpleAnswers on January 12, 2014, 08:18:17 AM
I have been reading all the opinions on this issue on how to overcome the gv xmpp support ending and so far I have to say they have all been practically useless or just not useful answers. The solutions proposed sound so convoluted that I can't see them working very well.

I wholeheartedly agree with gderf's answers in this thread.  The alternatives aren't convoluted at all, nor were they useless answers; the solutions work great, although they cost some money.  As was already pointed out, you simply cannot continue to get something for nothing; it was an unauthorized use of Google Voice, never negotiated with Google, nor promised to be permanent by Obihai.  Obihai never said they had partnered with Google to provide the service.  They simply made the feature available for you to use.

You are simply upset that you are losing your free calling from Google.  It's like the stages of grieving.  You need to move from denial and anger to acceptance.  Free, direct GV service via a box, be it black or cream-colored, is DEAD.

Seriously, this has been thoroughly run into the ground.  Obihai has listed a good selection of SIP carriers.  The market is very competitive, with low profit margin.

Quote from: simpleAnswers on January 12, 2014, 08:18:17 AM

So my question is simple and I know there is an answer.
I have an Obi110 which is setup with my GV and I simply pickup a phone and dial. When I get a call my Obi rings and I answer, it is not plugged into a computer or connected via bluetooth etc.

Post May 2014, is there anyway I can still do this, using my GV and just a phone without having a computer always on? And No, I don't think having a bluetooth blah, connected to the phone is a solution. I don't care if the answer does not involve an Obi device. If they can't/won't fix their device, then maybe someone knows something else that does what we all paid for.

No.  There is no answer, and no, nothing is broken.  Google is simply closing the hole that allowed third-parties to use Chat for calling outside the Google ecosystem.  You didn't pay a one-time fee for free telephone service.  You bought and paid for a box -- an Analog Telephone Adapter that can connect to various internet telephone service providers.  The main thing that differentiated it from all the other ATAs out there, was that it had a built-in XMPP Google Chat client.  That XMPP Chat service is being shut down completely by Google.  DEAD.  You can be angry at Google if you like, but that attitude is useless and not helpful, not the answers provided so far.

If you do not want to pay some amount of money for convenient phone service via a box and a RJ11 analog phone jack and a phone, then make all your calls on a laptop or desktop computer, or on an Apple iOS device, or soon, on an Android device, using the replacement for Chat:  Google Hangouts.  Hangouts is where Google is investing their development funding, and it will continue to improve over time.  Just this week, for example, Google announced a turnkey solution for video conferencing using Hangouts and Chromeboxes. That's the future, not being just another VoIP telephone company.

jimates

#23
@ simpleAnswers

You said you didn't want to get into per minute billing, yet you said you didn't mind paying for a solution.

You said you didn't want a DID, SIP or whatever mixed in.

The solution actually involves something you should be using already. It just adds a slight cost to the currently free configuration.

I have a free DID from Callcentric with free incoming calls. (the only reason for this is incoming caller id with name).
My google voice forwards the call to my Callcentric number. My Obi is configured as a SIP device with my Callcentric account so my home phones connected to the Obi ring (with real caller id).
My outgoing calls from the Obi go direct through google voice.

After the change the only addition will be to add outgoing calls (at a slight cost) to my Callcentric account.
Then all my outgoing calls will also use Callcentric instead of google voice. Many voip providers now offer outgoing caller id designation (spoofing). This means you can have your google voice number show as your outgoing caller id instead of the actual DID used to place the call.

No one knows there was a change at all. Slight added cost on your end. Even with per minute billing you can just fund your account and forget about it for some time.

And for me an added bonus is I can call my Callcentric number to ring direct to my Obi without ringing all my other phones in my google voice list.

giqcass

Quote from: jimates on February 21, 2014, 11:19:47 AM
And for me an added bonus is I can call my Callcentric number to ring direct to my Obi without ringing all my other phones in my google voice list.
I use this system with a little twist.  I'm using extensions on Callcentric which you appear to be doing as well but in my case I have 2 extensions ring the same phones.  The benefit here is that each extension has it's own ring.  All the people in my Callcentric address book go to extension 2.  People not in the address book ring extension 1.  Then when a call comes in all my phones ring but I can tell which extension is ringing based on the ring itself and I know if the call is worth answering.
Long live our new ObiLords!

jimates

Quote from: giqcass on February 21, 2014, 03:14:21 PM
Quote from: jimates on February 21, 2014, 11:19:47 AM
And for me an added bonus is I can call my Callcentric number to ring direct to my Obi without ringing all my other phones in my google voice list.
I use this system with a little twist.  I'm using extensions on Callcentric which you appear to be doing as well but in my case I have 2 extensions ring the same phones.  The benefit here is that each extension has it's own ring.  All the people in my Callcentric address book go to extension 2.  People not in the address book ring extension 1.  Then when a call comes in all my phones ring but I can tell which extension is ringing based on the ring itself and I know if the call is worth answering.
Callcentric has some nice features, but I am already maintaining a contact list at google with over 300 entries for the wife and myself.

giqcass

Quote from: jimates on February 21, 2014, 05:54:57 PM
Callcentric has some nice features, but I am already maintaining a contact list at google with over 300 entries for the wife and myself.
That was an issue for me but I imported most of my contacts with a csv file.  I had to manipulate the file before importing it into Callcentric because they use slightly different formats.  I only imported the contacts that get preferred treatment. About 80 out of 251 contacts.

If you used multiple Callcentric DIDs you could manage everything via GV and route the call based on the incoming DID.  If it weren't for the lack of SMS I would have considered porting my GV number to Callcentric completely.
Long live our new ObiLords!

J4545

#27
Jimmates first explained the GV / Callcentric hybrid approach back in 2012 here:

http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=4270.0

This is a great guide that I used then and refer to periodically. Many thanks.

Yes, it is more complex to set up than an Obi alone but it has been very reliable. It also adds redundancy which will now come in handy when GV no longer talks to my Obi over XMPP.

Callcentric is very solid (except for some folks during the DDoS attack they suffered) and their web interface is polished. For what you get, the cost is extremely reasonable.

Bottom line: Rolling your own system from two different components, one of which costs a couple bucks a month, gives you a text and voice system that could not have been imagined just a few years ago.

jazzy

Quote from: jimates on February 21, 2014, 11:19:47 AM
@ simpleAnswers



I have a free DID from Callcentric with free incoming calls. (the only reason for this is incoming caller id with name).
My google voice forwards the call to my Callcentric number. My Obi is configured as a SIP device with my Callcentric account so my home phones connected to the Obi ring (with real caller id).
My outgoing calls from the Obi go direct through google voice.

After the change the only addition will be to add outgoing calls (at a slight cost) to my Callcentric account.
Then all my outgoing calls will also use Callcentric instead of google voice. Many voip providers now offer outgoing caller id designation (spoofing). This means you can have your google voice number show as your outgoing caller id instead of the actual DID used to place the call.



I just now started having the same problems with CID on  my free Callcentric DID as last weeks CID problem with IPKALL .

CID used to work just fine with both of these methods until very recently.  GV must be blocking or banning the IPKALL or Callcentric DID somehow.  ????

I too forward my GV > Callcentric #, but just last night, no CID, just "Anonymous" and no number for CID. 
Exactly the same thing started happening last week with my IPKALL # ( also was forwarding GV> IPKALL ,
but that CID just show the infamous 206-682-0185 as the CID ) 

Any else experiencing the "Anonymous" CID with the free Callcentric DID?  GV is forwarding the calls fine to IPKALL and Callcentric, but the CID is not happening.  Maybe I should try another IPKALL #.  Is there a way to turn in my Callcentric DID, and get another?

or just live with the inaccurate CID, to get free incoming calls?  Bummer

Might just have to give in and get something like Obivoice

J4545


SteveInWA

Quote from: jazzy on February 21, 2014, 07:13:25 PM
Quote from: jimates on February 21, 2014, 11:19:47 AM
@ simpleAnswers



I have a free DID from Callcentric with free incoming calls. (the only reason for this is incoming caller id with name).
My google voice forwards the call to my Callcentric number. My Obi is configured as a SIP device with my Callcentric account so my home phones connected to the Obi ring (with real caller id).
My outgoing calls from the Obi go direct through google voice.

After the change the only addition will be to add outgoing calls (at a slight cost) to my Callcentric account.
Then all my outgoing calls will also use Callcentric instead of google voice. Many voip providers now offer outgoing caller id designation (spoofing). This means you can have your google voice number show as your outgoing caller id instead of the actual DID used to place the call.



I just now started having the same problems with CID on  my free Callcentric DID as last weeks CID problem with IPKALL .

CID used to work just fine with both of these methods until very recently.  GV must be blocking or banning the IPKALL or Callcentric DID somehow.  ????

I too forward my GV > Callcentric #, but just last night, no CID, just "Anonymous" and no number for CID. 
Exactly the same thing started happening last week with my IPKALL # ( also was forwarding GV> IPKALL ,
but that CID just show the infamous 206-682-0185 as the CID ) 

Any else experiencing the "Anonymous" CID with the free Callcentric DID?  GV is forwarding the calls fine to IPKALL and Callcentric, but the CID is not happening.  Maybe I should try another IPKALL #.  Is there a way to turn in my Callcentric DID, and get another?

or just live with the inaccurate CID, to get free incoming calls?  Bummer

Might just have to give in and get something like Obivoice

There are already several old threads discussing the Callcentric free DID caller ID failures.  Search the forum; it's old news. 

TL;DR:  The VoIP call routing between Google Voice's Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (CLEC) and Callcentric's CLEC used for their free DIDs can intermittently mangle or lose CID information.  If reliable CID is important to you, spend a little money on a paid DID from Callcentric or another SIP VoIP carrier that has been around for a while.

jimates

from time to time my Callcentric CID starts showing Private Caller. I can go into my Callcentric account and turn off the CID and save, then turn it back on and save. This fixes the problem until sometime in the unknown future.

dudlee

#32
I really appreciated being able to use Google Voice as a stand alone feature of the OBI box for free the last couple of years.  I also had the Callcentric free DID as a second incoming number paying only the $1.50 for E911.  I always considered these two numbers as my second phone line in my small home office.

I have now ported my google voice number over to Callcentric's pay as you go plan for under $2.00 per month + whatever the per minute charges may be.  I have setup my free DID with Callcentric's free FAX to email feature, so I have a dedicated inbound FAX number that has been working excellent.

So even though I no longer have a free google voice number on my OBI box as I didn't want to forward my number to Callcentric,  I have an excellent 2nd phone solution with FAX for a very very low price.  After I have used this setup for a number of months to see how it works out, it may become my primary phone service.  Free phone service with google voice was great, especially because I set my two kids that were in college up with this setup to call home, but it is gone, and personally, I will not look back.  I consider what I have now as an excellent setup.


jimates

@ dudlee
with the features of CC and Anveo that are similar to GV, plus call hunting and the fax to email, I am also considering leaving google voice completely.

blackdogranch

Thumbs up for obivoice ( http://www.obivoice.com/ ).

Easy one click setup of your obi device, can spoof your google voice number for outbound calls.  Setup google voice to forward to your obivoice number and turn off obivoice voicemail - this way google voice still handles all voice mail.

Trying it out for free for 30 days.  12 month cost is $24.99 for 500 minutes a month = $2 / month.  Not as good as free, but still pretty cheap.  Includes 911 support.


valley_nomad

#35
Does "500 minutes a month" include both inbound and outbound calls?

MikeHObi

Obi202 user & Obi100 using Anveo and Callcentric.

giqcass

Quote from: valley_nomad on February 26, 2014, 11:13:59 PM
Does "500 minutes a month" include both inbound and outbound calls?

I believe that is for the total of both inbound and outbound.
Long live our new ObiLords!

Hortoristic

Just use IPKALL or Callcentric for incomming free minutes, then only outbound minutes will eat away from the 2,000 minute bucket.

DrJay

Quote from: burris on February 06, 2014, 05:08:42 AM
this really is not all that complicated people...

Callcentric, pay per minute calling...very inexpensive, higher quality, actual support, more features, done

as already noted too, the Obihai is simply an ATA that had the added feature of the GV setup...it is in fact from I can tell a better ATA across the board then the ones I had used prior with Callentric & Viatalk

i've had mine setup for both GV and Callcentric for some time (both inbound, outbound GV only)...will just go back to using Callcentric if there is not an easy GV solution

i'm not sweating this

+1 this.

Couldn't be happier. Having CallCentric spoof my GV number for the CID on outbound calls means that absolutely nothing changed with my setup as far as my callers/called parties can tell. Yes I now pay $6-9 dollars a month but the call quality is better than what I was getting with the Google Talk/XMPP kludge and I have 911 coverage now so I'm more than happy to pay for the service.