I am currently use the OBI 100 with my Google Voice number. Incoming calls work great, but I am having difficulty with outgoing calls. Often, the first time I call a number I will hear the ringing tone up to 20 times without the phone being answered. The party I am trying to call reports that the phone has not rung at all. If I call the same number back again immediately it usually rings through to the correct number, but I may hear 7 to 8 rings while the other party advises that the phone has only rung to or 3 times.
If the extra rings are a "feature" GV, I can live with that, but the initial failure to make a connection is extremely annoying.
Have others had a similar experience? Is there a way to eliminate this problem that would make my OBI experience more like a regular landline?
Hi:
In fact, Google Voice is not like a regular land line, and GV isn't a regular telephone carrier.
The best way to troubleshoot this is to isolate whether the problem is on the Google side, or something specific to your OBi setup.
Unplug your OBi from power. Log into your Gmail (not Google Voice) account, using the same user name as you are using on your OBi. Assuming that you are either using Google Chrome Browser, or MS IE, Safari or Firefox with the Google voice and video plugin installed, click on your chat avatar on the left middle side of the Gmail page (the generic head and shoulders, or a photo you may have uploaded). If you have upgraded your account to use Google Hangouts, then look at the bottom of the Hangouts setting box for the small link "Revert to old Chat" and click it. Otherwise, use Chat to make several different outbound phone calls to various different phone numbers, and take note of what happens.
Do you experience the same issues, or do the calls promptly answer?
What type of numbers are these? Are you calling residential land lines, cell phones, or businesses with some sort of IVR (Interactive Voice Response) system, or answering service, or a toll-free number, or a so-called "free" conference service?