Google Voice - still working - and its 16 May 2014

[7Priest7]

Should we start taking bets on days in which xmpp might stop working?

Everybody can bet on 7 different days(PST), Let the best guesser win!
No money bets, just for fun.

[telecomengineer]

Yep, Google Voive still working July 17, 2014; False Alarm!

Wow, you're even better than telecom engineer, you can see into the future. Congrats.

I guess you do have a serious issue with people putting dates in their posts.  I have explained why I did it.  Apparently, my explanation is not enough.

Now, let me give you a scenario why sometimes it makes sense to have the date:

Someone makes a successful OBi/GV call and leaves home on vacation.  Next day, he gets online in his hotel room and reports that OBi/GV still worked last time he checked when he left home.  Should he put the date in his post or let the readers calculate the date themselves?

Back to the "future seer", I assume a smarty pants like you should have heard about time differences, no?

[zorlac]

[userforum]

is it just me or did google voice stop working?

[zorlac]

I just used my GV # to check my voicemail at work by dialing in & it worked OK.

[Lester]

OK - an updated report on my OBi110 and Google Voice.
Thankfully there have been NO Changes!  My OBi110 and Google Voice remain a perfect marriage with no conflicts or other problems.
I'm still sticking with this pair unless the Wyoming volcano erupts or a major asteroid hits my part of the USA.
FREE is such a wonderful thing!
Lester  (aka TW)

[Newme]

So far, so good.
I was tempted to buy Anveo two years $60, but didn't dare.
Procrastination pays. 

[dranon]

I have 3 google voice numbers and my sister has one . One of my gvoice numbers stopped working on the obi and hers did also yesterday.  O well must be a slow rollout! The other2 numbers are still working for now... ???UPDATE: I got them to work again!  I reset the obi device and kept trying to configure GV and it finally took. Just keep trying or try the next day like I did.  
OK UPDATE I can use my phone to make an outgoing call BUT Incoming does NOT work! Also I cannot use the GV webpage to click on a number and make an outgoing call. Have to pick up the phone and dial...

[dranon]

OK update For incoming to work you need to log into your obi from the yellow port with a computer and SET the GV password in voice services sip credentials. When I did this incoming worked again. With obitalk it somehow does NOT put the GV password into this spot. So I configured it myself and it works again!Ill keep using GV until it really doesnt work anymore!!

[duile]

First off, this is for a land line for my parents. We have been paying for Vestalink since May, when the Google Voice stopped working one day on the Obi100. Lately, I've been having issues with the Vestalink line being unclear, the other side couldn't hear us at times, and there were dropped calls, especially to friends who had MagicJack numbers.

Yesterday, the phone line stopped working and the Obi100 lights started blinking red and green. After doing some fixes, including forum searches, and following the suggestions, my Obi100 was still blinking with alternating red and green lights.

Today, after another round of unplugging and replugging, resetting with a paper clip, and deleting the device from the ObiTalk Dashboard page, I just noticed that the light was a solid green again. I started to add the device again to the dashboard, and was pleasantly surprised to find that Google Voice is working again on the home land line! I'm going to follow some of the others on this thread and just wait it out, until Google Voice will finally stop working, once and for all.

[KCChris]

Back when the cut-off date for GV arrived I put my Obi100 aside and kind of wrote it off.  I pulled it out again today to see if I could find a use for it and when I plugged it in it I was surprised to see it was still working through GV.

When I was mucking around in the Obi Dashboard I clicked on the GV provider option and got a prompt that my device needed new firmware to support GV.  I proceeded with the update and everything continues to work fine.  I can't find any real details on the firmware and what it provided.

So to my question - is there some magic in this new firmware to make my Obi Google Hangouts friendly or was this just a normal process when configuring GV and I'm still at the mercy of Google shutting off XMPP whenever they choose?

Thanks!

[MikePA]

So to my question - is there some magic in this new firmware to make my Obi Google Hangouts friendly or was this just a normal process when configuring GV and I'm still at the mercy of Google shutting off XMPP whenever they choose?

No, there's no 'magic' to make it work with Google Hangouts. If it did, Google Hangouts would be shown as an Approved Service Provider, not Google Voice.

Yes, XMPP could disappear.

There are plenty of posts by SteveinWA that go into more detail.

[SteveInWA]

So to my question - is there some magic in this new firmware to make my Obi Google Hangouts friendly or was this just a normal process when configuring GV and I'm still at the mercy of Google shutting off XMPP whenever they choose?

No, there's no 'magic' to make it work with Google Hangouts. If it did, Google Hangouts would be shown as an Approved Service Provider, not Google Voice.

Yes, XMPP could disappear.

There are plenty of posts by SteveinWA that go into more detail.

Right; thanks, Mike.  I specifically answered that question already.  The firmware update only changed the way that the OBi devices authenticate to the user's Google account.  It removes the old method, which used the user's Google account user name and password, to simulate the user directly logging into the Google Chat system.  Instead, it now uses Google's OAUTH 2.0 authentication method to ask the user to permit OBi to have secure access to their account, and then exchanges access tokens to enable it.  The user name and password are never stored by Obihai.  You can tell that you have the new firmware, if you hear the female voice prompts on your OBi device, instead of the former male voice.

This doesn't change the continued, actual use, by OBi devices, of XMPP protocol for call setup and call management.  You will not find any reliable, official information on Google's continued support of XMPP, nor any public commitment by Obihai or Google to support OBi devices on Hangouts, going forward, unless or until such support actually changes.  Google never comments publicly on specific future product features.

[ramjet73]

This doesn't change the continued, actual use, by OBi devices, of XMPP protocol for call setup and call management.  You will not find any reliable, official information on Google's continued support of XMPP, nor any public commitment by Obihai or Google to support OBi devices on Hangouts, going forward, unless or until such support actually changes.  Google never comments publicly on specific future product features.

@SteveInWA I've seen your posts in the Google Voice group so I know your information is pretty accurate, and apparently you are also an Obihai beta tester.

Without getting into Google or Obihai future plans, is there some explanation for why Google Voice is now featured at the top of the list of approved providers (see attached screenshot) and Obihai has bothered to change its authentication method for a service that is presumably dead and Obihai users were expecting to be cutoff "any day now". It seems like if the authentication method needed to be changed for compatibility that would have been a perfect opportunity to officially drop support for Google Voice. 

I'm not asking for futures, just an explanation of these changes that have already occurred.

[dircom]

Steve does not work for Obi, so how would he or anyone (expect for an Obi employee), know why Obi does what it does?
your question makes no sense

[ramjet73]

Steve does not work for Obi, so how would he or anyone (expect for an Obi employee), know why Obi does what it does?
your question makes no sense

He doesn't have to answer if he doesn't want to and I'm sure he doesn't need you to tell him that.

Steve seems to know as much about Google Voice and Obihai devices as anyone and may at least have a theory or opinion on why Obihai decided to modify their firmware to support an alternate authentication method for a service that was previously documented as end-of-life.

If my question makes no sense to you then please refrain from trying to answer it.

[SteveInWA]

Steve does not work for Obi, so how would he or anyone (expect for an Obi employee), know why Obi does what it does?
your question makes no sense

What he said, but "nicer":  It's partly a marketing strategy move on Obihai's part, not some indication as to the future availability of GV access via XMPP.  I've been viciously flamed over on DSLReports for daring to try to interpret Obihai's strategy, so I'll leave that to Sherman, who is in charge of marketing for Obihai.

On the technical side, however, the answer is clearer:  Google told third parties that it would stop allowing direct access to their users' accounts (by direct access, using their user name and password) via XMPP.  Obihai has now complied by replacing their access method, and instead, using Google's more secure OAUTH 2.0 method.  That's a "good thing" as Martha Stewart would say.  I can't speculate beyond that.

[ramjet73]

I can't speculate beyond that.

Nor am I asking that you do that. As to why Google Voice is featured (again) as a supported provider, and the authentication method was updated for a service that was supposed to have already lost support, the rest of us can speculate about that. I'm just glad I stayed with pay-as-you-go VoIP providers instead of jumping on the long term commitments that have recently been featured on this site.

Thanks for your clear answer on why it was necessary for Obihai to update the Google Voice authentication method regardless of what that may or may not imply about their future plans for that service.

[nlurker]

Google Voice - OFFICIALLY SUPPORTED - and its 11 Sep 2014

[ramjet73]

Google Voice - OFFICIALLY SUPPORTED - and its 11 Sep 2014

You must be referring to this.

How timely.

Now all the complaints from the Obihai users that abandoned Google Voice and subscribed to other services will begin.

ramjet73