OBiTALK Community

Region Specific Technical / Service Provider Support => North America - Including Google Voice, Skype, etc. => Topic started by: vwnut13 on May 11, 2018, 09:30:24 AM

Title: Call Screening on Obi200
Post by: vwnut13 on May 11, 2018, 09:30:24 AM
I noticed yesterday that Call Screening is now happening on inbound calls through my Obi200.


I wonder if Google will ever allow us to disable call screening to Obitalks.
Title: Re: Call Screening on Obi200
Post by: Taoman on May 11, 2018, 09:38:31 AM
Quote from: vwnut13 on May 11, 2018, 09:30:24 AM

I wonder if Google will ever allow us to disable call screening to Obitalks.

Can't you just go here and turn call screening off?*
https://www.google.com/voice/b/0/redirection/voice/#callsettings (https://www.google.com/voice/b/0/redirection/voice/#callsettings)

*Note: I believe call screening works differently if you have joined the GV app WiFi beta. In that case, I "think" unknown callers (not in your Google Contacts) will be call screened. I'm not in the beta so I can't confirm this.
Title: Re: Call Screening on Obi200
Post by: Guillermo on May 11, 2018, 10:35:35 AM
Quote from: vwnut13 on May 11, 2018, 09:30:24 AM
I noticed yesterday that Call Screening is now happening on inbound calls through my Obi200.


I wonder if Google will ever allow us to disable call screening to Obitalks.
Title: Re: Call Screening on Obi200
Post by: vwnut13 on May 11, 2018, 10:57:31 AM
Quote from: Taoman on May 11, 2018, 09:38:31 AM

Can't you just go here and turn call screening off?*
https://www.google.com/voice/b/0/redirection/voice/#callsettings (https://www.google.com/voice/b/0/redirection/voice/#callsettings)

*Note: I believe call screening works differently if you have joined the GV app WiFi beta. In that case, I "think" unknown callers (not in your Google Contacts) will be call screened. I'm not in the beta so I can't confirm this.


I would prefer to have call screening enabled for forwarding to a cell phone, but disabled when ringing on my Obi200.
Title: Re: Call Screening on Obi200
Post by: Taoman on May 11, 2018, 11:36:25 AM
Quote from: vwnut13 on May 11, 2018, 10:57:31 AM

I would prefer to have call screening enabled for forwarding to a cell phone, but disabled when ringing on my Obi200.

Not possible, AFAIK. The closest method I could think of would be to use groups.*
Turn Call Screening on.
Put your Google Contacts into a group.
Under Groups & Circles, turn Call Screening off for that group.
This way only unknown callers will be subject to Call Screening.

*Groups are currently only available in the Legacy version of the GV web interface. Unknown whether groups will ever be supported in the new GV gui interface.

Steve, do you have any info on this? I'm guessing we're getting close to the Legacy version disappearing.
Title: Re: Call Screening on Obi200
Post by: SteveInWA on May 11, 2018, 02:46:20 PM
Some of the "legacy" features are being retired, or have already been retired, among them, the "Call options" of recording a call or transferring a call to another linked number.  Groups & Circles is undecided right now.  It's been the source of a lot of confusion and unintended behavior over the years, e.g. a user forgetting that they have set up the rules, or the system unintentionally ending up with one of the linked destinations being disabled.  The feature in its current, legacy state, will probably go away, and perhaps they will (or won't) add something like it later.

The main reasons for some of the feature changes are:  relatively little use, making ongoing support and regression testing not worth the cost, or features that were designed primarily to work with PSTN calling, which don't work across the new VoIP-centric platform.

Call screening changed recently with the new platform.  It isn't documented at the moment, and it may change, depending on "hate mail" feedback, but my understanding is that all calls from numbers not in your Google Contacts will be screened with the "state your name" prompt, and all calls from numbers in your Contacts will not be screened.  I haven't tested it lately, so this is just what I've been told, not what I have taken time to test and validate.
Title: Re: Call Screening on Obi200
Post by: restamp on May 11, 2018, 05:39:10 PM
Quote from: vwnut13 on May 11, 2018, 10:57:31 AM
I would prefer to have call screening enabled for forwarding to a cell phone, but disabled when ringing on my Obi200.
Is X_SkipCallScreening set in the Calling Features section of the appropriate Voice Service on your OBi200?  If not, try setting it.  I was under the impression that this option causes the OBi to send a touchtone '1' automagically upon answering so as to explicitly bypass Call Screening.

(I wish Google would implement a similar function on their Android phones so that Call Screening could be bypassed there, too.  It would make the roadways much safer.  But it appears the one hand of Google has absolutely no idea what the other hand is doing.)
Title: Re: Call Screening on Obi200
Post by: Crow550 on May 11, 2018, 07:50:00 PM
Adding the option to say accept call or send to voicemail would be nice.
Title: Re: Call Screening on Obi200
Post by: vwnut13 on May 11, 2018, 08:21:24 PM
Quote from: restamp on May 11, 2018, 05:39:10 PM
Is X_SkipCallScreening set in the Calling Features section of the appropriate Voice Service on your OBi200?  If not, try setting it.

Yes, X_SkipCallScreening is set to on, but it doesn't appear to be working.



I am on 3.2.2 (Build: 5859EX) if that makes any difference.
Title: Re: Call Screening on Obi200
Post by: ProfTech on May 12, 2018, 09:13:40 AM
Should be simple enough to test. Just uncheck the option and see if it acts any different when you receive a call.
Title: Re: Call Screening on Obi200
Post by: FormerYooper on May 14, 2018, 10:07:19 AM
Quote from: SteveInWA on May 11, 2018, 02:46:20 PM

Call screening changed recently with the new platform.  It isn't documented at the moment, and it may change, depending on "hate mail" feedback, but my understanding is that all calls from numbers not in your Google Contacts will be screened with the "state your name" prompt, and all calls from numbers in your Contacts will not be screened.  I haven't tested it lately, so this is just what I've been told, not what I have taken time to test and validate.

Just tested to see if call screening with the new firmware is on this morning.  Had my husband call me from a phone number that is *not* in our Google contacts.  He reported that upon calling our GV number that he did *not* get the "state your name" prompt.  Good, hope it's gone for good.