Everyone here on the OBi forums has always been so helpful to me; especially SteveInWA. Here's hoping you all can shed some much needed light & assistance on this issue I have encountered since upgrading my Tracfone smartphone, whose number I use for my GV forwarding number.
First some history, I have been using Google Voice & OBi products since 2012. Initially the OBi 100 & then for the past 3 years, the OBi200. My current firmware is 3.2.2 Build 5898EX. This is my set up on my current OBi200:
Sp1 - Google Voice Number (forwards to my cellphone)
Sp2 - Google Voice Number (forwards to another cellphone)
Sp3 - Google Voice number (forwards to my husband's cellphone)
Sp4 - Callcentric Free DID (which will expire on 2/28/19 & be removed from my set-up)
I am not a complete dolt when it comes to using Google Voice along with the OBi, however, many times I do not understand some of the more complex technical aspects that are discussed on this forum. Thus, I don't noodle around with my OBi device and in not doing so, both the 100 and 200 devices have performed flawlessly for my purposes. So, I hope any possible advice I am given on the forum will be easy to understand.
A couple of days ago, I upgraded my old Tracfone smartphone (LG Ultimate II which got its service from Verizon) to a Tracfone Samsung Galaxy J7 Crown (which also gets it service through Verizon). 4 years ago, when I upgraded my Tracfone to the LG Ultimate II, Google Voice did request that I validate that forwarding phone number again. How Google knew I had a different phone is beyond my comprehension. Nonetheless, I just went ahead & validated the forwarding phone as requested and all was fine. Calls came through to my OBi device (connected to my home phone unit) with no problems at all .... ever ... whether my cellphone was on or off. The other day, when I upgraded to my new Tracfone smartphone, initially everything was fine & I could make & receive calls through my OBi200, plus my new smartphone also rang. A couple of hours later, my new smartphone was off & calls would not come through the OBi at all. All the caller would get is a message stating "Voicemail has not been set up for this number." Let me interject here & state that I do NOT have Tracfone voicemail set up, nor have any desire to do so. Plus, once it is set up, it cannot be terminated. So, I turned my Tracfone cell back on & calls would come through to my OBi OK again. A short period later, it got even worse. Even with the Tracfone cell on, no calls would ring on the OBi at all & the caller would immediately get the message stating "Voicemail has not been set up for this number." I was totally baffled as to why this would happen. It had never happened with my previous cellphone (which, by the way, never had Tracfone voicemail set up on it either). The only thing that has changed is that I have upgraded to a new smartphone.
At this point, I read through some threads on this forum & the Google Voice forum that had somewhat similar complaints, but not exactly like mine. I was panicking as to how to get calls to come through my OBi device again. First, I tried just unchecking the forwarding number in Google Voice settings ... didn't help. Next I deleted the forwarding phone number completely from Google Voice settings, and then proceeded to ObiTalk to delete Sp1 and set it up again, making certain that I was logged into the correct Google Voice account for that Google Voice number, and then ending with adding the forwarding number to Google Voice settings again & validating it. Doing this helped me to get calls to again come through the OBi, but only if my cellphone is ON. Once it is turned off, the OBi will not ring & the caller gets the same message that voicemail has not been set up. Today, I again deleted the forwarding phone number from GV settings & then added it back in again & validated it. Still the same problem ... if my cellphone is off, calls will not come through to the OBi.
Can someone please tell me why this is happening? It never happened before I upgraded my cellphone that carries the forwarding number for my GV number on SP1.
Thanks in advance for any assistance offered.