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Help setting up 2 OBis to call to/from Overseas.

Started by Dave, May 31, 2011, 04:50:43 PM

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Dave

I need help to configure obi's to enable calls to and from overseas.  The existing sticky on this subject is too general.

I will take one Obi110 to Philippians.  It seems I should be able to set-up Goggle Voice on SP1 and it will ring when I am overseas the same as it does now in the states.  TRUE?   Is this the preferred method? 

What do I do with the Obi in the states?  I want to be able to make free calls to non-obi phones.  At present the Obi has my brother's GV on SP1.   Should I get a 2nd GV number set-up on his SP2 so it will have my caller ID when I call through?   

To enable AA do I add my 1st GV number as a Trusted Caller on the overseas' Obi and then add my 9 digit OBI number as a trusted caller on the Obi in the states? 
   
I'm guessing I will need a local VOIP service in Philippians so I can call through my Obi when I am not at home.  This should also allow callers to use AA to call through to me on my cell phone.   TRUE?      Any other suggestions?     

RonR

Dave,

It's not clear to me exactly what you're trying to set up.  Is one OBi110 going to be permanently placed in the US and another permanently placed in the Philippines?  Will either or both of them be connected to a PSTN line or is Google Voice going to be the only provider?  You mention a local VoIP service in the Philippines - is that for making calls to Philippine phone numbers from the OBi located there instead of using a PSTN line?

Please be as detailed and explicit as possible regarding what you want to accomplish.

I don't know if Google Voice will work from the Philippines.  It's not intended to, so I wouldn't count on it.

jimates

Quote
I will take one Obi110 to Philippians.  It seems I should be able to set-up Goggle Voice on SP1 and it will ring when I am overseas the same as it does now in the states.  TRUE?   Is this the preferred method?

If google voice will work on the Obi in the Philippians then you should be able to make outgoing calls also. It doesn't know where it is so any limitation would come from google blocking the non US ip address. If google voice doesn't work there then you can set up your google voice on the US obi and have it fork the calls to your other obi.

Dave

#3
RonR

I'm basing my set-up and questions from the sticky "Using OBi and GV Outside the USA".   It suggested 2 different methods for sending/receiving calls.  I want friends/family/myself to make free calls to/from US/Philippians using 2 Obi's when I go to the Philippians.     

"Obi-US" stays in USA at my brothers house.  At present it only has his GV set-up on SP1. No PSTN ever.    "Obi-Phils" will be taken with me to the Philippians. 

Based on sticky, method 1 was to configure my GV number on Obi-US on Sp2 and forward those incoming calls to Obi-Phils.  In Phils I would use Ob-Phils to call Obi-US and use AA to place outgoing calls through Obi-IS on SP2.     

Method 2 is to set-up my GV on my Obi-Phils.  It was reported to work in Phils like it currently works in the USA.  I would then use Obi-Phils to call Obi-US and use AA to make outgoing calls to US family/friends.      I'm thinking I will need a 2nd GV number on Obi-US on SP2 so callers will know its me calling vs using SP1 with my brother's GV.

From reading other posts I found that to forward to Obi's I need to format   CallForwardUnconditionalNumber   PP(ob200123456)

MY QUESTIONS: 
A: Is one method better than another?  Is there a reliable 3rd option? (free).
B:  To activate AA do I add the Obi numbers or GV numbers entered as trusted callers?   Will any configuration send the callers actual phone number which would prevent their access to AA?     

I was hoping someone in the Philippian's could  recommend a 3rd party VOIP service I could use to  bridge Obi-Phils to my Phils' cell phone or to make any local (phils) call.       

Dave

jimates

Somehow I had the understanding the GV incoming calls to overseas Obi is working, but  not outgoing.  Hence the reason for using a US based Obi unit.   

jimates

I would think that if you need obi to obi for calls going one way, you may as well use it both ways to keep things more simple. And that way you can use your google voice number all around, because you can't use the same account on 2 different obi's at the same time.

Do you want all calls from Obi-Phils to go out sp2 and carry your google voice caller id?

Do you want all calls coming into Obi-Phils to come in on your google voice number or one other single number.


If google voice will work for incoming calls you can actually get 3 different numbers for incoming calls. Outgoing calls through Obi-US will have to be either through sp1 or sp2 and carry the respective caller id.

RonR

Quote from: Dave on June 04, 2011, 05:34:44 PM
A: Is one method better than another?  Is there a reliable 3rd option? (free).

I'm not sure at this point.  I'd like to see something a little more flexible, but I don't have a second OBi to play with at the moment, so I'm afraid to start throwing out suggestions.

Quote from: Dave on June 04, 2011, 05:34:44 PM
B:  To activate AA do I add the Obi numbers or GV numbers entered as trusted callers?   Will any configuration send the callers actual phone number which would prevent their access to AA?     

I believe incoming calls from another OBi carry the OBi's CallerID, not the real caller, so I think you'd need to use the OBi's OBiTALK number for COT purposes.  I'm paranoid, so I'd PIN protect the Auto Attendant to make sure only authorized users can place calls.

jimates

As RonR pointed out, any calls forwarded from Obi to Obi or calls between Obi's will carry the caller id of the Obi, not the actual call. This is supposed to be fixed when firmware v1.3 comes out "soon".

Dave

jimates

I think your first statement, "I would think that if you need obi to obi...' you are referring to Method 1.  But your questions make me think your are asking about configuration to support method2.

If so, then
Q1:  Do you want all calls from Obi-Phils to go out sp2 and carry your google voice caller id?
A1:  If GV works both directions then GV is setup on SP1 within Obi-Phils.  If GV outbound (to US) doesn't work, then I think I must use Obi to obi call (obi-phil to obi-US) using PP port.   Obi-US would give me AA to make outgoing calls.   I may add a VOIP service on SP2 on Obi-Phil.          

Q2: Do you want all calls coming into Obi-Phils to come in on your google voice number or one other single number?
A2:  Hummm, not sure how to address this...... If incoming call is from GV then use GV number.  If incoming call is from Obi-US then isn't the incoming number the obi-US number?   Or, if I add a 2nd GV number to to Obi-US on SP2 and have all calls forwarded to obi-Phils then I need it to offer AA.    

jimates

Q1:  Do you want all calls from Obi-Phils to go out sp2 and carry your google voice caller id?

Once your call routes are set up you can dial from the Obi-Phili the same as from the phone connected to the Obi-US. No need to use the AA.

If all of your calls to the US are going to use the same service on Obi-US (sp2), you can just pick up the phone connected to the Obi-Phil and dial a US phone number. If you want to call the Obi-US direct and ring the phone connected to it, you just call the number for that Obi.

Q2: Do you want all calls coming into Obi-Phils to come in on your google voice number or one other single number?

Nothing to do with caller id. Which service do you want incoming calls to use. Do you want all US callers to dial your google voice number, or do you want multiple numbers for them to use.

RonR

Quote from: Dave on June 04, 2011, 05:34:44 PM
I want friends/family/myself to make free calls to/from US/Philippians using 2 Obi's when I go to the Philippians.

I got the impression Dave wants to provide a service to others on both ends rather than just making and receiving calls on the OBi's phones.  Unless the others are running OBi's or OBiON apps, they would have to do two-stage dialing through the AA.

jimates

#11
That is why I asked what service they wanted to use from the Obi-US.

I assumed since his brother's number is on sp1, and there was no mention of land line; and he said about setting up a 2nd GV number on sp2, that they may only want to use sp2 for all calls.

Originally there was no intention for any service on Obi-Phili, which made me assume only outgoing calls to Obi-US.

I thought we discussed direct dialing using modified call routes on the features forum the other day.


way too many variables and not enough information. It is hard for one to explain what they want when they don't know what the limitations are for the device.

jimates

I'm guessing I will need a local VOIP service in Philippians so I can call through my Obi when I am not at home.  This should also allow callers to use AA to call through to me on my cell phone.   TRUE?

Is your cell phone local where the Obi-Phili is so that you don't incur any extra charges.

Dave

RonR and Jimates

Thanks for all of your efforts to help me.  It's obvious I am many chapters behind you on the capabilities and limitations of using Obis and services.   Mix that in with the the unknowns of how this may or may not work in the Philippians and it really gets complicated.  Let me try to clarify and answer some of your questions the best I can.

At least one person states Obi and GV in the Philippians is working just as it does in the states.  If that's true then nothing more need be done.  BUT it relies on a google not changing or the ISP, etc in Philippians doesn't block GV.  It makes since to have a more reliable system which I am assuming is to use 2 Obi's.  Take mine to Phils and have another here in the States.   So let me restate the request without suggesting a solutions....at least for a moment. 

1st:  Enable my friends and family in the states (some but not all will have their own Obis) to call me in the Philippians for free.   If cost effective allow their call to route to my Philippians' cell phone or my wife's cell (I may not know about VOIP options until I get to Philippians).

2nd:  Enable the reverse.   Me to call friends and family in states. If I get Phils VOIP service then my wife or I can route through Obi-Phil to Obi-US or directly to other Obi.   

If a friend in the states has an Obi, we will make Obi to Obi calls.  If not, use my brothers Obi.  We could get a 2nd GV number mated to his SP2  (Obi-US SP2).   All calls coming in on Obi-US SP2 would be routed to Obi-Phils.   I don't think I want every call to also go to my Phill Cell phones, but would like the option for some people to get to our cells.     

On the Obi going to Phils, if we don't need/want GV on it I could delete it....now on SP1.   That means I would  not have service on the Obi UNLESS I find a Phils VOIP service.  I think the only reason to add a Phils' VOIP service to Obi-Phils is to allow US calls to Obi-Phils to be forwarded/routed to my Phil cell phones OR my wife or I to use our cells to call through Obi-Phils back to the states. 

QBZappy

#14
Dave,
Hi, this is my take on your idea. You seem to have a group of people that you can identify that you would like to communicate with. To use a business analogy, consider this group as employees in the family business. You can think of the OBi as a poor man's PBX system. If for any reason GV does not work in the Phils you might consider the following couple of setups: This will take up one SP account, leaving you the second one to experiment with GV or other SIP SP. All the OBi tricks, can be handled on the local OBi unit (CF, Callback, etc...)

Don't forget the OBiTALK service can connect all the OBi's as well.

1) Voip.ms offers a feature called sub-accounts. Each OBi can be registered under a voipms sub account.

Pros:
Free if calls are made between sub accounts using internal extensions.  I think you can see the benefits of that.
Gives PBX like features to the OBi (voice mail, and more)
Calls using regular telephone numbers are possible. No explanation of sip uri dialing required.
Large selection of US tel numbers to choose from.
Their service has been rock solid. I have not lost registration to their service yet.

Cons:
Downside is that one person has to pay the bill for at least one main account. Their rates are low, should not be a problem.
If the Phils OBi will handle all the call forwarding services to your cell this will work if you don't mind paying the voipms long distance rates. You will have to decide if this is interesting or not. Compare voipms rates to a local Phils voip or POTs service and decide.
Voipms rates .15-.18 cents/min to Phils. Not the cheapest on their international calling list.
No Phils DID numbers available.

2) Totally free solution might be to get a SIP account from sip2sip or other  similar service.
( https://mdns.sipthor.net/register_sip_account.phtml )

Pros:
Free
Their service has been rock solid. I have not lost registration to their service yet.
Some features available (VM via Email, video calling)

Cons:
You will need to explain how to dial using sip uri:  2231234567@sip2sip.info
Not as straight forward. You can setup speed dials to make it easier for the group.

Hope this helps.
Owner of the 1st OBi110/100 units in service in Canada & South America. 1st OBi202 on my street. 1st OBi1032 in Montreal.