I purchased an Obihai 200 from NewEgg a couple weeks ago with the intent of using it to replace my Vonage service. I finally got it hooked up to my Google Voice account and when it works, it's awesome! Unfortunately, it seems to stop working every 3 hours or so.
The first two lights will still be lit up, but the phone light will be dark. The physical phone hooked up to the Obihai 200 thinks it has service, but when I dial a number I get an error message that I have no service. If I power cycle the device it works again. But after a couple hours it will stop working again.
Any ideas?
-Sean
Dialing ***1 gives you basic network status including IP address etc. That could be used to see if things are hung up in the OBi somehow. Hang up when done listening.
Try dialing **9 222 222 222, which is the OBi echo test, while you are having the problem. That would see if you are getting out.
I suspect your problem may involve some kind of connection timeout with your router. I wonder if there is some keep-alive setting.
I am not expert in such things, but these tests could get more info.
Dialing ***1 tells me that it has the IP I expect and basic networking is fine.
Dialing **9 222-222-222 fails the same way all other calls fail.
"There is no service available to complete your call."
Quote from: Shale on October 13, 2014, 02:28:35 PMI suspect your problem may involve some kind of connection timeout with your router. I wonder if there is some keep-alive setting.
Shale is very likely correct. What router do you use?
While the problem is occurring, are you able to access the OBi's internal configuration? If so, please take a look at Status >> System Status >> SP
x Service Status and see if that gives us any clue as to what the problem is.
Some routers inexplicably disable their internal DNS server after a time. Please navigate to System Management >> Network Settings >> Internet Settings. Set the following:
DNSServer1: 8.8.4.4
DNSServer2: 208.67.222.222
If you use OBiTALK to configure your device, you may need to use OBi Expert Configuration to change these settings. If this does not solve the problem, you may return DNSServer1 and DNSServer2 back to default and we will investigate your router further.
I had a similar problem. Outbound calls would always work, but inbound calls would stop working.
I don't know what I'm doing with Keep Alive, but the following fixed my problem.
Voice Services -> SPx Service
X_KeepAliveEnable: Checked
X_KeepAliveExpires: 60
I have not worked out how quote from a previous post yet but I use Keep Alives . They are sip pkts sent to the voip provider which keep your router nat session refreshed . With a setting of 60 secs mine are actually sent every 120 secs for some reason but most nat sessions remain alive for a couple of minutes so 120 secs is fine. Registers actually do the same thing if set at this frequency but some voip providers will not accept register less than 300 secs to limit server activity.If the router nat session closes incoming pkts will be rejected unless you use port forwarding or dmz which are both security hazards.
No luck so far.
I tried enabling X_KeepAliveEnable and set X_KeepAliveExpires to 60. That didn't work, so I tried setting X_KeepAliveExpires to 30. No luck there either.
Same problem as before. Rebooting the Obihai temporarily solves the problem.
I'm using an SMC combo gateway/router/cable modem provided by Comcast. I believe it's the SMC8014. Unfortunately, I'm stuck with that specific router as part of my business class service.
Should I open a support ticket with OBI at this point?
Did you get the chance to try the tests I suggested in my previous post?
Also, please confirm that **9 222-222-222 normally works (when the device is not having the problem).
Various people have stated that there is a 3 hour limit to all google voice calls. I can't find anything official or authoritative on this however.
But every Google Voice call I've made cuts out at exactly 3 hours. (I have a female friend that occasionally engages in long talks).
Quote from: Codesmith on October 26, 2014, 01:32:08 AM
Various people have stated that there is a 3 hour limit to all google voice calls. I can't find anything official or authoritative on this however.
But every Google Voice call I've made cuts out at exactly 3 hours. (I have a female friend that occasionally engages in long talks).
A 3 hour cut-off on a call in progres is a different issue and not the same problem as the one being trouble-shooted here.
I agree with the suggestions from the other posters above.
Whoops. Left out some details in my last reply. Let me try to summarize everything so far.
First, the three hour window I mentioned isn't an exact number and isn't tied to actual calls. I haven't had a 3h+ call since I got the Obihai, so I can't comment on that. However, I have noticed that after *roughly* three hours the device no longer receives incoming calls nor allows me to make outgoing calls. The process is along the following lines: I make a call with the Obihai that works. A couple hours later I get an incoming call that doesn't ring on the Obihai. I check the device and phone light is dark. I try making an outgoing call and I get the "There is no service available to complete your call" message.
Second, dialing "***1" (network stats) always tells me that the Obihai device has the IP I expect and basic networking is fine. That's true regardless of whether I can actually make and receive phone calls.
Third, dialing "**9 222-222-222" (echo test) works perfectly when the phone light is lit and I can make/receive calls. The echo test does *not* work when the phone light is not lit and I am unable to make/receive calls.
Fourth, I tried enabling X_KeepAliveEnable and set X_KeepAliveExpires to 60. That didn't work, so I tried dropping X_KeepAliveExpires down to 30. No luck there either.
Fifth, I tried explicitly setting the DNS servers to the Google DNS servers: 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4. No luck there either.
Sixth, I tried settings the DNS servers *AND* enabling the KeepAlive. That also did not work.
Next time the problem happens, please check Service Status (via your device's IP address) for your SP configured for Google Voice and let us know what it says.
Some other diagnostics to try, if possible:
-Factory reset and reconfigure to eliminate the possibility of an obscure configuration issue.
-Assign the device a static IP address, outside of your router's DHCP range, to eliminate the possibility of DHCP causing a problem.
-Next time the problem happens, unplug the network cable from the OBi for a few minutes (or at least the length of a reboot) then plug it back in. This will determine whether the absence of network activity or the reboot is solving the problem.
-Install the device at another location behind a different router.
Another diagnostic suggestion. Configure the OBi with static IP addressing and when it next 'fails', power cycle the router but not the OBi. What happens?
So, the Service Status is interesting:
SP1 Service Status
Parameter Name Value
Status Connecting to 74.125.28.125
PrimaryProxyServer
SecondaryProxyServer
CallState 0 Active Calls
Also interesting was that unplugging the network cable and plugging it in again did
not solve the problem. A reboot
is required. That said, even when the Obihai isn't working properly, I do see traffic coming through that port on the router.
I still need to try:
- Static IP
- Power cycle the router (yuck)
- Factory reset
It's unlikely I'll be able to try the device behind a different router any time soon, due to the significant inconvenience involved.
Okay, this is what we know so far about the problem:
- Not service-specific, since both Google Voice and OBiTALK do not work.
- Not due to a physical networking issue, since the OBi's internal web server works.
- *Probably* not due to DHCP (see above reason) but I would try a static IP just to cover all bases.
- Not due to a failed DNS lookup, as we have tried alternate DNS servers and we see from the SP1 Service Status that it finds a Google IP.
- Does not seem to be due to a corrupted NAT connection, as unplugging the network cable for the length of a reboot did not solve the problem.
- Not related to the phone, since ***1 works, and Service Status does not show Connected.
What on earth is left?
Is there any possibility you're using an old firmware version that has a bug? Note that the latest firmware version requires OBiTALK to configure Google Voice. If that's not okay with you, I believe version 3.0.1 (Build: 4330) allows you to configure Google Voice via the device's internal web server.
Yeah, I'm kind of running out of ideas myself.
I bought the OBi200 from NewEgg on 9/23/2014. According to the System Status page, the device has Hardware Version 1.4 and Software Version 3.0.1 (Build: 4420). Which is a little strange, because that firmware is not listed at http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=9.0. That page lists the latest as 3.0.1 (4350).
I'm not sure about the reason for the discrepancy, but 4420 does seem to be the latest version.
If you decide to open a ticket, or have one open already, I'd be curious to know what Obihai's support says.
I just opened a ticket. Given all the ideas you proposed and the breadth of everything we tried, I thought it seemed like a reasonable time to contact their support. :)
Build: 4420 is what I got updated to automatically when I set up a new GV service in the Obi portal
a month or so ago. I had build: 4330 before setting up GV. It seems build: 4420 has what is needed for GV now.
Quote from: Veghead on October 26, 2014, 07:12:01 PM
.... Software Version 3.0.1 (Build: 4420). Which is a little strange, because that firmware is not listed at http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=9.0. That page lists the latest as 3.0.1 (4350).
Obihai has chosen not to update the firmware pages for a couple of releases, nor provide release notes (not even one of their "Various bug fixes and enhancements" comments). However, as the new firmware is required for the new Google Voice authentication API used by the portal, the firmware gets updated if you set up a new GV service. If ***6 does not cause a firmware update (and there was at least one report it did not), you can always explicitly download the 4420 file using the URL http://fw.obihai.com/OBi202-3-0-1-4420.fw and then upload it to your device locally.