Bridge Incoming POTS to Google Voice

[k9bm]

Have a new Obi110 configured with GV on SP1 via the web portal, and a local landline plugged in also.

Simple thing I want to do is configure the Obi110 so incoming calls on the landline get bridged/forwarded real time to Google Voice.  The setup is in a location that is often unattended so I want incoming calls on the landline to be redialed to my GV line so that I receive the call on my associated cell phone.

Can do?  I cannot find a way to do it in the web portal....

[drgeoff]

You need to use Expert mode on the portal.

Go to Physical Interfaces,  Line Port and change InboundCallRoute from the default ph.

If you only want to forward to your cellphone make it {sp1(1234567890)} where 1234567890 is the cellphone number.

If you wish to forward and ring a phone plugged in to the PHONE port make it {ph,sp1(1234567890)}. The call can be answered on that phone or the cellphone.

[k9bm]

So easy--YES!  It works perfectly, thank you so much!

HOWEVER, I can't seem to get voicemail to work.  If a caller dials the GV number directly it rings the phone plugged into the Obi110 and my cell phone, if I don't answer it goes to GV voicemail.

But, if they dial the landline number (the whole point of this exercise), it rings the Obi110 phone and my cell phone but after several rings the cell phone says MISSED CALL and the caller just hears silence--it doesn't go to voicemail either on the cell phone or GV.

Any ideas on this?  I really need it to go to the GV voicemail....

[drgeoff]

If you need unanswered calls to go to GV voicemail,  you need another GV number. If you use a GV number to dial itself you go into the 'owners' menu which is not what you want other callers doing!

The current method should result in unanswered calls going to your cellphone voicemail.  From the phone on the OBi dial your cellphone number and do not answer it.  What happens?

[SteveInWA]

Google Voice does not support inbound calls from a number which has been forwarded through yet another number.  It's designed to be THE single inbound number, not an intermediate forwarding point.

Port the land line in the remote office to either GV or any of the SIP VoIP service providers which are easily configurable on OBi devices, and then provision it on the OBi.

[k9bm]

First, the landline cannot be ported.  For the 295 million of you served by former Bells, you won't believe this.  But numbers owned by the handful of small rural telcos still out there cannot be ported, period.  Let's not debate this one, I've tried it.

So, I have the landline forwarded in advanced settings to my cell phone, per drgeoff's instructions, and the call routing works perfectly.  It just won't go to voicemail.

If I forward it to the GV number, you're right, it will just go to my voicemail admin as if I was checking voicemail--so that's no good.

So, there is no solution?  I should just pitch the Obi110 and the new GV account?  The whole reason I bought it was because of the advertised line bridging....

[SteveInWA]

If I forward it to the GV number, you're right, it will just go to my voicemail admin as if I was checking voicemail--so that's no good.

If the forwarding is otherwise working reliably (there is no guarantee that it will do so in your configuration), then you can experiment with this:  log into your Google Voice account's Settings page, click the Edit button under your cell phone number, then click the advanced settings link, then set Voicemail access to "no".

[k9bm]

Well it was already set to NO for "Direct access to voicemail..." for both lines, the cell phone and the GV phone.  Still not working....

[SteveInWA]

When Google Voice receives an inbound call, it looks at the caller ID of the calling party.  If that caller ID is one of your (up to) six verified forwarding phone numbers on the GV Phones tab, then it will, or won't send the call straight to VM, depending on how you have that Voicemail access setting toggled.

Is the number you happen to be using to make these tests also listed as a GV forwarding phone number?  If so, that's the problem.  If not, then no, you are not going to get this to work.

Given that you can't port your rural pots line, then your alternatives would be:

• Try to get a new phone number for that office from a SIP VoIP carrier, like Callcentric or voip.ms, and just bite the bullet and publicize the new number.
• Or, get an inbound SIP VoIP number, again from, for example Callcentric (one of their free NY State DIDs will work), and forward that rural POTS number to the DID, and use its voicemail system instead of GV.

[k9bm]

I'm making the test calls from a completely unrelated (cell phone) number, so I guess that's that.

Unfortunately I'm not at liberty to change the landline, it's for a Masonic Lodge that has had the same number for 100 years or so and more important is listed in the local telephone directory.  VOIP numbers don't get published, at least not in a rural telco's directory.

Honestly I'm just pay $1/mo. to use the telco's call forwarding, except that all my lines and cell phones are outside the local dialing area (all of 2 prefixes!), so we would have to set up a long distance carrier and pay charges every time a call came in and got forwarded.  THAT was the rationale for this (failed) experiment.

If only I could send incoming calls directly GV voicemail.  Or find an answering machine that would email me a notification....

[SteveInWA]

OK, one last attempt:

Does the lodge's telephone company support conditional call forwarding, also known as "no-answer/busy transfer"?  This is not the same as unconditional call forwarding.

If so, then add the lodge's telephone number as one of your GV account's forwarding phone numbers.  You will need to either be there, at the lodge, to answer the phone and verify the number, or coordinate with one of the members to be there to answer and enter the two-digit verification code.

After you do that, then you would enable conditional call forwarding on that line, to your GV number.  This would accomplish what you want.

[SteveInWA]

Oh, and don't forget to remove the number you added to InboundCallRoute, and return it to the default value.

[k9bm]

I'm sure the telco does support conditional call forwarding, but again the problem is that they only have one nxx exchange locally, and the GV number is long distance from the lodge line as no one else can get any of these numbers (nor can they be ported)....

[SteveInWA]

Well then, either pay the long distance charges, or fuggedaboudit.

[k9bm]

Actually, for those reading this after the fact, I solved it by simply getting a second GV account and forwarding to it using the original instructions by drgeoff.  Still free, and seems to work reliably....