OBI200 Old story: Can phone out but can't receive calls via Google Voice

[RRick]

I know this is an old story with many variations.  My version is:

I bought the OBI200 believing that it would work with Google Voice (GV) without out the need for any other phone or service.  This seems reasonable from the advertisements, but is this true?

I can phone out from the OBI200, but can't get any incoming calls.  My Obitalk account is good and the Obitalk dashboard says the OBi200 SP1 is "connected" to GV.  Also. I can login into GV with a google gmail account.  So far so good.

I think, the problem arises in the GV account because I don't have a GV phone number.  Every time I try to make one, it wants a forwarding phone number.  I have tried using the "Obi Number" as a forwarding number (which is missing the last digit, so I added a "1" from SP1) for GV.  This doesn't work and makes me wonder if I have a chicken or egg issue.  I want the OBI200 to be my land line, but do I need a cell phone to get GV to work with it?

The Obihai troubleshooters tell me to delete the GV chat entry for my email address at www.google.com/voice.  Unfortunately, there is no delete button for the GV chat entry and no GV phone number either.  I suspect the chat delete option is depended on having a GV number.

Finally, I can't make a phone call from my gmail account (needed to complete the process) probably for the same reason, no GV number.
Note: I have done a factory reset on the OBi200,  but not on the gmail account.


Any ideas on how to fix this?  Is this fixable?


Cheers,
RRick

[SteveInWA]

No, this is not an "old story"; it is your misunderstanding of how Google Voice works.  Think about it:  you don't have an inbound telephone number, so how can someone call you?

Google Voice isn't a freestanding telephone company.  It's an inbound call forwarding service.  You can either select a Google Voice inbound telephone number from Google's pool of available phone numbers, or you can port in a mobile phone number.

Once you have a Google Voice inbound telephone number, people can call you on that number.  Google Voice then forwards those calls to the forwarding destinations you select, on this page:

https://www.google.com/voice#phones

You can add up to six different 10-digit telephone numbers, and optionally, you can forward calls to Google Chat.  OBi devices emulate (act as) Google Chat clients.

If you don't have an inbound Google Voice telephone number, then you can still make outbound calls, but there will be no caller ID number sent with your calls, again, since you have no phone number.

So:  Go to the page I linked above, and click "Get a Voice number".  To be eligible to claim a Google Voice inbound telephone number, you need to submit a forwarding phone number.  This number needs to be located within the 48 contiguous US states, and must be with a traditional land line telephone carrier (e.g. AT&T, Comcast, Charter, CenturyLink, Frontier), or one of the "big four" mobile phone carriers.  The forwarding number you submit must not have been previously submitted to claim a GV number.

Here are my complete instructions for using Google Voice on an OBi device:

http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=8560.msg56460#msg56460

Learn more about Google Voice:  https://support.google.com/voice/#topic=1707989

[HHinFlorida]

You can get a free phone number (usually geographic Long Island) for inbound calls from callcentric
http://www.callcentric.com/dids/free_phone_number
The only restriction on keeping it is that you have to use it regularly or it lapses after a couple of months or so of idleness.

[tacman7]

This sounded like my issue from the title, I posted in day to day use because I've been using it a month without problems...

copy of post:

I bought an Obi200 about a month ago, joined google voice and everything was fine.

Yesterday it stopped being able to get calls.

The calls show up in Google voice though.

If I call the number with my cell phone and it sounds like it's ringing on the cell phone but nothing happening on the obi. If I answer the phone while I'm calling I get a dial tone.

The 222 222 222 test gets me a recording that my call can not be completed.


Sorry if this is the wrong place...

[drgeoff]

Please do not post the same question more than once.  It doesn't gain you anything, probably the reverse as it makes things more difficult for those who might offer help.

[joee]

I'm in the same boat. Been with Obihai since the OBi100 first came out. Currently using an OBi200. Been working for years with the same GV account.
A few days ago, July 15-16 or thereabout, I started getting "There is no service available to complete your call" and incoming calls were shunted to GV voicemail. I signed in to the dashboard and SP1 Google Voice shows as Offline. I went to SP1 settings and did the Click here to replace the active Google account process. The site goes back to the Device Configuration - OBi200 page and SP1 Google Voice Configuring. The circle spins for a few minutes and the display goes back to Offline. The OBi200 always shows the power and connection lights as green and the phone light as off.

Any suggestions for next steps? Thanks.

[SteveInWA]

I'm in the same boat. Been with Obihai since the OBi100 first came out. Currently using an OBi200. Been working for years with the same GV account.
A few days ago, July 15-16 or thereabout, I started getting "There is no service available to complete your call" and incoming calls were shunted to GV voicemail. I signed in to the dashboard and SP1 Google Voice shows as Offline. I went to SP1 settings and did the Click here to replace the active Google account process. The site goes back to the Device Configuration - OBi200 page and SP1 Google Voice Configuring. The circle spins for a few minutes and the display goes back to Offline. The OBi200 always shows the power and connection lights as green and the phone light as off.

Any suggestions for next steps? Thanks.

Upgrade the firmware on your OBi.  Follow the instructions in this sticky post:  http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=11384.0  but, instead of using the firmware mentioned for the OBi 100/110 products, use this link to download the firmware:  http://fw.obihai.com/OBi202-3-1-0-5285.fw

Use the OBiTALK web portal, and delete the SP1 configuration entirely off the device.  Then, click on SP1 again, and set it up from scratch with Google Voice.

You can read my detailed instructions here:  http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=8560.msg56460#msg56460

If the configuring spinner just sits there, spinning, then leave it alone for a while (15 minutes ought to do it), and then refresh the page.  If it says "Configured", then it worked.  If it is still "offline", then try it again on Monday, as the OBiTALK portal's Google Voice configuration system sometimes gets hung up over the weekends.