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OBI200 / GV / CC

Started by Ember1205, May 24, 2016, 04:58:52 PM

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Ember1205

I have a new OBI200 that I have been able to connect to GV without any issues and calls are connecting just fine.

I've learned, however, that making the OBI ring the phone uses the "Google Talk" device which does NOT support the full gamut of Call Screening functionality. I've also learned that CallCentric can provide me with an additional DID for inbound calling that would afford me additional controls from GV's Call Screening (Press 1 to accept the call stuff), but I have some questions.

1) Can I configure the OBI200 to receive calls on the CC service and place calls on the GV service? It would SEEM that I can configure multiple services on the device, but I'm not 100% certain of how the call routing works for inbound versus outbound.

2) I'm located in the US. This means that I will be "required" to pay for E911 on the inbound only number even though I will not actually be able to USE that service. Is my understanding correct?

3) Am I required to subscribe to, and pay for, E911 services to be used for outbound calling via my GV number? (assumes that I can't use the E911 that I am paying for via the previous question)

4) Since the OBI device is an ATA only and has no router capabilities, any tips on how to best place and configure this device to ensure I get high call quality on a busy Internet connection?

SteveInWA

#1
Hi:

Yes, this is exactly how I, and many others, use their OBi devices with Google Voice and Callcentric.

For example:

Let's assume that you used the OBiTALK portal to configure Google Voice (actually Google Chat) on your OBi's SP1.

Get a free or paid inbound phone number from Callcentric (doesn't matter, since you don't have to give out this number).  Subscribe to Callcentric's E911 service.

Refer to the attached screenshot below.

Using the OBiTALK portal page, click the SP2, then, on the next page, scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page, and click "OBiTALK Compatible Service Providers".  On the next page, select Callcentric, and OBiTALK will properly configure SP2 with optimal values for Callcentric -- all you need to add is your CC 1777xxxxxxx SIP account number and SIP password.  Check the box to ring on inbound calls, but don't check the box to make this the primary line for outgoing calls.  Check the box to use this SP for 911 service.

Call your Callcentric's real telephone number (not the 1777 number) from some other phone to confirm that it works and you can answer it on the OBi-attached phone.

Log into your Google Voice account and go to the Settings page, Phones tab:  https://www.google.com/voice#phones

Remove the check mark to the left of "Google Chat".  This will disable inbound call routing via Chat to your OBi, but outbound calling will still work.

Scroll down and click the "Add another phone" link, and add and verify your CC phone number.  Test your setup.  Outbound calls will use Google Chat by default, and inbound calls will use Callcentric by default, and 911 will automatically route out via SP2/CC.

Test emergency calling by calling 933 from your OBi-attached phone.  You should hear a machine voice read back your 911 street address and it will tell you that it's set up properly.  Ignore the bogus telephone number it reports you are using; this is a feature designed to give the E911 call center a way to reach you if the call gets disconnected.

Enjoy the benefits of GV + CC!

Ember1205

Thanks, SteveInWa.

I have everything set up and used the Expert Config to adjust the Ring Profile to "A" for the SP2 service where I have the CC SIP account tied in (the default ring profile was a bit "odd"). Seems all is working, and I now get the Call Screening functions that I needed.

It correctly chooses the GV service for outbound calls.

Now, I just need to make sure that this gets tied into my home network in such a way so as to ensure that I get high call quality passing through my router. The ONE advantage that the Vonage router / service gave me was that it was the outer-most device on my network and I was able to do a reasonably decent job of ensuring that calls took priority over everything else.

SteveInWA

Great.

In general, if you have properly-working cable or DSL broadband service, and you're not doing online gaming or file sharing (cough torrents cough), then bandwidth shouldn't be an issue.  Just plug it into one of your router or switch's Ethernet ports and give it a try.

Low-quality DSL (crappy/long copper loop, low upload speed) will be problematic, as will cable service if there are damaged coax lines.

Ember1205

I have peculiar issues with my Comcast broadband service occasionally. Sometimes I'm convinced that they interfere with the traffic of those users that own their own hardware instead of paying the ransom... er, lease fee... every month for one of their modems.

I'm upgraded the speed to the 75Mb (5Mb up) level, and realize that there should be NO issue with this little 100Kbps stream. Still...

When I ran a full-fledged Linux firewall with tc (traffic control), I never had a single issue with any VOIP calls ever.

SteveInWA

So, are you saying that calls made/received with your OBi are experiencing audio quality issues now, or were you just posting in the abstract, for nice-to-know reasons?

As much as I despise Comcast, I seriously doubt they're doing anything like degrading service for people who don't lease their modems.  It would be both illegal and a really dumb move from a PR perspective.

Cable internet problems are often caused by physically degraded coax lines -- moisture incursion into the cable, corrosion on connectors, damage by animal bites (e.g rodents), poor earth ground, etc.

If you have intermittent cable service issues, you can raise your blood pressure by calling Comcast and complaining about the service.

Ember1205

I'm sick of calling Comcast - I know more than their first two tiers of support (seriously... I've built pretty large networks plenty of times and understand the technology quite well) and get frustrated with their scripts.

I'd like to ensure that call quality is never impacted - period. So, it's a bit more of an abstract / looking for guidance on Best Practices kind of thing more than trying to troubleshoot an active issue. Part of the reason is because I would like to be able to very quickly say "it isn't my setup" if a problem DOES arise and I get right into the troubleshooting of the device, service, connectivity via broadband, etc.

SteveInWA

"Best practice" in a home network environment, with an OBi 200, would be to connect it as I said, and forget about it.  If you want to mess with QoS settings in your router/firewall, you can reserve some bandwidth for the OBi's MAC address.

Ember1205

Yeah, that's sort of what I was thinking. The ASUS AC3100 router doesn't make this terribly easy, however.

I'll give it a whirl without any special settings and see what happens.

Thanks.