Obi 200 has worked well for almost a year with our Google Voice number. NOW for about a week
there's no audio (voice) in or out for INCOMING calls. The phone rings but no audio when we pick up - we can't hear the caller and the caller can't hear us. But outgoing calls are OK - audio is good.
- Also, our GV pages look OK, including Legacy.
- Also, the Obihai 200's Obitalk pages show the latest firmware 3.2.2 (Build: 5859EX).
I did Steve-in-WA's complete reset at
https://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=13868.msg89076#msg89076 (https://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=13868.msg89076#msg89076)
but that did not help. The problem continues.
ADDED DETAIL - In our GV pages, there is no reference any more to "Chat". Instead, we see:
QuoteOBiTALK Device - [Our Obi number]
sip:[Many letters]===@obihai.sip.google.com
What should I try? (This is an important line for my wife's SOHO.)
Thanks!!
One more clue: On my browser in GV Legacy, at the upper left, there's an orange square button "Call". For the first time ever, I used it to try to make a call, selecting the ObiHai in the "Phone to Call With" dropdown. Will not work - get "We had an error" on that web page under the "Call".
But instead, if I select "Mobile," it works and connects my personal mobile to the dialed number.
Also,
my network setup is the following (as it has been for the entire year we've been using the Obi 200 with GV):
This is all in my wife's mini-office, which she rents in a mini-office location in NYC. The mini-office company provides an ethernet socket for our link to the internet. We connected that to an old Verizon DSL modem-router to be our internal router. We changed that router from DSL modem to "Routed Bridge".
- We changed "WAN uplink port Settings" from PPPoE to Routed IP.
- Also, the "VersaPort", which is one of its four ethernet sockets, remains "WAN uplink port" which says in a note "VersaPort (Ethernet 1) is currently configured as the broadband port". I have NOT yet tried the other option, "LAN ethernet port".
This setup continues to work well for our purposes and also provides WiFi in the mini-office. The three wired LAN connections are the Obi and two PCs (including the one I am writing on.) The printer is on the WiFi, and so is a list of portable devices when we're in the office, like my wife's iPhone and iPad and MacBook.
So, does our setup conflict with the new GV tech (which changed this month)? What would you recommend?
And more - just now, an internal **9 Obi call to our internal Obi number worked!
What does THAT mean?
Two thoughts:
1) Is it possible that the mini-office company is blocking the incoming audio signal on its internet feed to us?
I note that the ALG page of our mini-router's EWS has SIP unchecked. That makes me wonder if it is the type of internet signal/packet that can be blocked and whether the mini-office company's IT folks might be blocking the audio.
2) Right now, our Obihai is on the LAN side of our mini-router described above. But what if I moved it to the other side? I could get a switch. I would have the mini-office's ethernet cable go to the switch, and I would have both the ObiHai and our mini-router connected to the switch as well. That way, the ObiHai would be before the mini-router, not behind it.
But would I still be able to access it in ObiTalk to re-do the GV?
What do you think?
Some more info -- In GoogleVoice, Call Screening is OFF. Has been OFF from the beginning almost a year ago.
ObiHai support asked me to turn it off, but I replied that it is already off. I hope they come up with something else.
Ideas?
Update - Obihai responded to my service-request emails (because I'm still in the first-year warranty for the ObiHai 200) and suggested
(A) deletion of the obihai device from the GoogleVoice phone tab setting, (B) deletion of the GoogleVoice number from the Obihai SP1, and (C) re-setup, and
(D) if there is still a problem, create a new gmail name (but without a new number), transfer the GoogleVoice number to the new Gmail name and then transfer it back.
Unfortunately, these suggestions did not work. One of my following test calls worked but then following calls stopped working. After three more delete and re-set tries, the same happened a bit later. (I did MANY test calls over 90 minutes in between variations of these steps.)
Well, I think ObiHai tech is still working on this and I hope we find an answer.
(By the way, my wife's mini-office landlord advises that they are not blocking anything.)
Again, any thoughts?
No fix from me, I'm sorry...
I doubt that the switch-around for the modem > router > obi (to modem > obi > router) will do anything for you... because that's what I have (for years), and am still having my own issues (audio is fairly bad every few seconds.. it cuts off a word).
Chances are good your wife's mini-office has a NAT router that's serving the tenants. Since you've added your own router, this results in a double NAT. This is not always a problem, but sometimes it is. Let us test to see if this is causing a problem today.
1) Set a good strong user/admin password on your OBi200.
2) Connect your OBi200 directly to the office's ethernet socket, bypassing your Verizon router.
3) Try to dial the OBiTALK echo test at **9 222-222-2222.
4) Try to use your cell phone to call your OBi and test for audio in both directions.
Let us know if this changes the symptoms.
Update -- I brought the Obi200 home and connected it to my home network. It works. Calls coming in work - I can hear the caller and the caller can hear me.
So - how is my wife's mini-office network different from my home network?
The setups are somewhat similar.
In both cases, an internet-connected Ethernet cable goes to the "WAN Port" on our router. The Obi200 is plugged into the LAN side of the router.
The routers are different. At home, it's a new Verizon FIOS Quantum G1100 router. My internet speed is typically 700Mbps down and 940Mbps up, with very low latency (3 ms ping) to any nearby test server.
In my wife's mini-office, it's an older Verizon Westell 7500 DSL modem-router that has been switched to "Routed Bridge" or "Routed IP" status. (It does not expect DSL any more.) The internet speed is typically 50Mbps down and 70Mbps up, with even lower latency (1 ms ping) to any nearby test server.
In my wife's mini-office, on this Westell 7500:
- The "Firewall Settings" are set to "No Security (None) - All traffic is allowed."
- QOS is NOT enabled (and has never been enabled)
- On its ALG settings page, FTP, PPTP and IPSec are checked, but H323, TFTP and SIP are NOT checked (always like this).
- For external DNS, it is set to query OpenDNS at 208.67.222.222 or 208.67.220.220
- On its VPN page, PPTP PassThru, L2TP PassThru and IPSec PassThru are all checked. There are no other entries.
- UPNP is enabled.
- This router provides DHCP IP Address Distribution to our computers and devices. When it was last plugged in, the Obi200 was assigned 192.168.0.39. (Private LAN is enabled, and Private LAN DHCP Server is enabled.)
But I don't think any of these settings is a problem. The Obi200 and our Google Voice number worked well in the above setup for almost a year until about two weeks ago!
So - what has changed recently that is somehow an issue in my wife's mini-office? I know that GoogleVoice recently changed its technology, but our Obi200 shows the latest firmware (firmware 3.2.2, Build: 5859EX), and it's working when plugged in at home. So, what's wrong?
Mango - Thanks for suggestion. I will try when I bring it back. Problem then is that all my other devices are no longer connected to the internet, so I can no longer access ObiTalk to see anything.
Is it possible that the ISP in my wife's mini-office is interfering with GoogleVoice audio? That ISP is Level 3.
(Our ISP at home is Verizon FIOS, and per above we have no problem when the same ObiHai 200 is plugged in at home.)
What do you think?
What do I think? I think you should stop posting the same stuff here and on the Google Voice forum. Given that it works at home, it is obvious that there is nothing whatsoever wrong with your OBi device, nor with Google Voice. Your problem is the office. Get rid of the router completely. Plug an Ethernet switch into the office network, and plug your stuff into the switch. We don't need post after post asking more questions and supplying more details about how it used to work, because it's irrelevant.
So Steve, don't you also think that if Obihai/Polycom wants their customers to use Obihai solution problem-free w/o constant troubleshooting and insanity (sorry, that's Einstein's definition, not mine) of doing same thing and expecting and indeed getting different results, Obihai engineering could've define a BKM of configuring a router. If not all of them (which is likely) would do, then choosing one or a few which work and post the model/config data?
A customer just shared his troubleshooting data. He also proved that the problem in his case may (just may, not for sure is) be with his office router. Why being rude? Not thankful...
I maybe live in a different world. In my world the SW is mission critical. With system downtime resulting in liabilities and big $$$.
Is old&good SW testing to avoid intermittent bugs we all see (with OBI) no more? Is old&good SW support no more?
Steve and not_obi_happy - You are both correct.
The IT guy at my day job lent me a very old switch from the used equipment junkpile (max 10 mbps, wide enough for a WWII equipment rack, with a noisy fan and vacuum tubes).
Now, in my wife's mini-office, and with everything plugged into it (external ethernet, router and Obi200), everything works!!!!!
So, when GoogleVoice changed its technology a few weeks ago, something about the new technology did not agree with my Westell 7500 router. I suppose we'll never know what is the exact problem.
A few questions:
- As the Obihai 200 is now "out in front" directly connected to the network provided by the mini-office company, and no longer behind my Westell 7500 router, it is presumably accessible by anyone else on this network. What are the real-world risks?
On the one hand, that Westell 7500 router has its Firewall Settings set to "No Security (All Traffic is Allowed)" so maybe isn't doing much blocking anyway. On the other hand, the Obihai was NOT getting an IP address from the network of the mini-office company.
- Should I now change the "Webpage Admin Password"? of the Obihai 200?
- I don't want to use this slow dinosaur-with-a-fan of a used switch, so I will need a new switch with higher speeds. Although this mini-office's max speed to the internet is 100Mbps, you'll probably recommend a switch that goes to 1Gbps. What are your recommended makes and models for a compact "plug it in and forget about it baby" switch? And not expensive - which is why I recycled my Westell 7500.
Thanks.
Is $17 cheap enough for you?
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122608&ignorebbr=1 (https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833122608&ignorebbr=1)
How about $14.40 and no tax and free shipping: https://www.ebay.com/itm/NETGEAR-5Port-Gigabit-Ethernet-10-100-1000Mbps-Switch-GS205-LED-Fast-Plug-speed/332681992194?epid=26018887449&hash=item4d75645802:g:xcUAAOSwHqpbHZg1
Steve and LTN1 - I ran out and bought a TP-Link TL-SG105 for $19.95.
But what do you think about my first two questions:
- As the Obihai 200 is now "out in front" directly connected to the network provided by the mini-office company, and no longer behind my Westell 7500 router, it is presumably accessible by anyone else on this network. What are the real-world risks?
On the one hand, that Westell 7500 router has its Firewall Settings set to "No Security (All Traffic is Allowed)" so maybe isn't doing much blocking anyway. On the other hand, the Obihai was NOT getting an IP address from the network of the mini-office company. - Should I now change the "Webpage Admin Password"? of the Obihai 200?
Quote from: glnz2 on July 05, 2018, 08:40:52 PM
Steve and LTN1 - I ran out and bought a TP-Link TL-SG105 for $19.95.
But what do you think about my first two questions:
- As the Obihai 200 is now "out in front" directly connected to the network provided by the mini-office company, and no longer behind my Westell 7500 router, it is presumably accessible by anyone else on this network. What are the real-world risks? We have no idea. Ask whoever manages that network how it is set up. For example, does each office tenant have their own VLAN on the building's switch? It's a safe assumption that they
have some sort of firewall, but it's up to you to ask. - On the one hand, that Westell 7500 router has its Firewall Settings set to "No Security (All Traffic is Allowed)" so maybe isn't doing much blocking anyway. On the other hand, the Obihai was NOT getting an IP address from the network of the mini-office company. Throw that thing out. It's obsolete.
- Should I now change the "Webpage Admin Password"? of the Obihai 200? Of course.
Steve - thanks again.
My new TP-Link TL-SG105 switch into which is plugged
- the ethernet connection to the internet (the mini-office's landlord's network for its tenants),
- the Obihai200 and
- our obsolete Westell 7500 router
is working and the phone works!
Hallelujah! And I successfully changed the password on the Obihai 200 - to "SteveInWA".
The instructions for the TP-Link TL-SG105 switch are the shortest I have ever seen - just plug stuff in.
However, the box and specs say it offers "Advanced features: 802.1p/DSCP QoS, IGMP Snooping." Have no idea what that does except that I wonder whether it's possible to give the phone connection more priority than everything else. Would the phone then sound 5% better? If yes, how would I turn that on?
As that question might be a bit outside this forum - please just point to some links for QoS for Dummies.
Thanks.
There is no need to keep posting duplicate posts here and on the Google Voice forum. I answered you over there.
I had exactly the same problem starting several weeks ago.
In my case, it was because the Google Voice update a few weeks ago has started using new outgoing UDP ports, and my firewall is set up to block all outgoing connections except whitelisted ones. In particular GV has started using outgoing UDP ports 26500-26501.
The new port requirements are documented here:
https://support.google.com/a/answer/9206518?hl=en#zippy=%2Coutbound-ports-need-to-allow-voice-traffic
Everything works fine again after updating my firewall to allow these ports. No new router required :-)