Obi100 & GV - Keep getting "Status - Offline" in Obitalk.com Dashboard

[JerseyDevil]

Hi everyone,

I have had an issue the past week or so where it seems every day (or night?) my Obi service disconnects. I have an Obi100 with 2 Google Voice accounts connected to it. The device was purchased around December 2014, so has been in use for just under 2 years.

All the lights on the device look fine (solid green on the power, blinking on the middle light for data), but I realized when myself or the wife gets a call that comes through to our cell phones, the landline phones plugged into the Obi100 do not ring.

When I check my account dashboard on obitalk.com, it says "Offline" under "Configure voice service providers" in the "Status" column.

When this is the case, I cannot dial out or get any calls in. I just get an error message upon calling out (even to the echo line by doing **9 222-222-222).

I can fix this by unplugging the Obi100 and then plugging it back in. It immediately reconnects and everything is good. The status changes to "Connected" and I can call the echo line, make/receive calls, etc.

Then the next day I will inevitably be working, my cell rings, and again no ring on the Obi phones. It would be nice to not have to preemptively reset the device every day, plus I'm not sure that would keep it running all day as I can't tell what is triggering it to disconnect.

I DID pay the $10 for support and updated my firmware a few months ago. I have checked the firmware version and it appears it is still the latest. I also spent a little bit of time checking out the forums, but do not see anyone having quite the same issue where the device seems to disconnect at some point within every 24 hours, even though the device appears to be fine and all the lights are operating as normal.

Thanks for any help!

[LeoKing]

I would assign a static IP address to the OBi100 in the router's DHCP Reservations List/Table.

[SteveInWA]

The fact that the OBi can't call the OBiTALK network test number AND it's losing its connection to Google Chat, indicates that the device is losing its DHCP lease, or it has some sort of hardware failure.  I like Leo's suggestion, but it may not help if the device has some more fundamental problem.

Next time, before power-cycling it, pick up the phone and key in ***1 and see if it responds with an IP address, just to confirm that this is the issue.

Also, just for the heck of it, you could try replacing the Ethernet cable, making sure it is securely and fully plugged in at both ends.

I assume that none of your other home network devices (computers, streaming boxes, etc) are having similar problems?  Have you tried power-cycling your modem and router, in that order, before power-cycling the OBi?

[JerseyDevil]

Thanks for the replies. Showed Offline in the Obi dashboard, and I tried ***1 and heard the IP address and that DHCP is enabled. I've already set the device to have a static IP and have that IP address set as the DMZ Host IP. I can look and see that the DHCP Clients List shows the Obi100 Lease Time is set to "Permanent".

None of the other internet connected devices are having any issues whatsoever, and it appears that the Obi is connected to the router (and likely therefore the internet) without any issues at least. Pretty tech savvy and don't skimp in this area as I run a web design company from home. Have the best internet I can get through my cable company which is 110mbps down/5mbps up, connected via ARRIS Surfboard SB6183 and an Archer C7 router. So my instinct would be that the problem likely lies elsewhere.

I will attempt power cycling the modem and router before the Obi right after posting this and will see how it goes. Unfortunately I had to power cycle the Obi just after checking this forum and doing those steps as I had to make a call and couldn't take the whole network down with my wife on a GV call over wifi from her cell phone.

Thanks again.

[SteveInWA]

Thanks for the replies. Showed Offline in the Obi dashboard, and I tried ***1 and heard the IP address and that DHCP is enabled. I've already set the device to have a static IP and have that IP address set as the DMZ Host IP. I can look and see that the DHCP Clients List shows the Obi100 Lease Time is set to "Permanent".

None of the other internet connected devices are having any issues whatsoever, and it appears that the Obi is connected to the router (and likely therefore the internet) without any issues at least. Pretty tech savvy and don't skimp in this area as I run a web design company from home. Have the best internet I can get through my cable company which is 110mbps down/5mbps up, connected via ARRIS Surfboard SB6183 and an Archer C7 router. So my instinct would be that the problem likely lies elsewhere.

I will attempt power cycling the modem and router before the Obi right after posting this and will see how it goes. Unfortunately I had to power cycle the Obi just after checking this forum and doing those steps as I had to make a call and couldn't take the whole network down with my wife on a GV call over wifi from her cell phone.

Thanks again.

That's great that you are tech-savvy, as it makes the forum discussion more productive.

There's nothing inherent in the OBi configuration that would cause it to mysteriously and repeatedly lose its lease.  It's more likely a LAN problem (something screwed up in the router's ARP table, or a bad Ethernet cable, or a loose connection), or a flaky AC/DC power adapter, power cord or power plug/connection, or, less likely, a flaky/about-to-fail OBi.

I'd at least try unplugging and re-plugging everything while powered off, power-cycle everything, clear your router's ARP table, confirm that the router shows one, and only one IP address assigned to the OBi's MAC address, and then wait and see if it fails again.

[lhm.]

I had a similar challenge. The solution for me was to enable ObiTalk Sevices. (Voice Services > ObiTalk Sevices > Enable) prior to deleting GV in the ObiTalk dash board and then resetting up GV on SP1.

[JerseyDevil]

Thanks guys.

I did power cycle everything yesterday and today saw that the Obitalk lost it's connection again when my wife received a call and only her cell rang.

I then saw lhm.'s reply and went into the Obi settings. One thing I noticed was this time I was not able to login - I just got an error message akin to "Page not found" when I typed in the static IP address. The devices' lights were on as they should be, and after I power cycled the device I was able to login with no issues.

ObiTalk services was enabled, but I disabled it, rebooted, and then re-enabled and rebooted. After that I removed the Google Voice configurations from my Obtitalk dashboard before reconnecting both lines to GV.

If this doesn't work, I'll try powering off all my devices, changing out the ethernet cable, maybe even swap the router port it is plugged into in case of loose connection on that device, and clearing the router's ARP table.

After that, I suppose it could be the power cable is loose/loses its connection, though the Obitalk is tucked away in a corner with my router, modem, backup battery, etc. and not jostled around whatsoever besides my recent need to power cycle it every day for the phone to work.

But it is concerning to me that the lights were all fine yet I wasn't able to pull up the Obi's device settings until power cycling it. Hopefully the device is not failing, but the chance of that being the case seems greater as I keep going through all these troubleshooting steps and the problem isn't being resolved.

Thanks again! I really appreciate all the time and help.

[Lavarock7]

I personally have all my devices at home configured with fixed IP addresses.

When I worked at a big computer company (hint: they owned a Class A IP space), most of the devices had fixed IP addresses. Even the occasional visitor was handed a temporary fixed IP to use.

[boke]

I have been having the exact same problem with my obi100 for the last week or so.
It happens ounce daily at random times. A reboot fixes it. But it is annoying.
Assigning a static ip-address does not help. 

[pilligrimm]

Put your Obi device ip address in DMZ on your router and problem will gone