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Procedure for ObiTalk reconfiguration of OBI202 after network crash

Started by BGood, June 19, 2018, 07:45:43 PM

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BGood

I use an Obi202 with 2 phone lines: Anveo (SP1) and Google Voice (SP2).  Yesterday, our home LAN crashed from a lightning strike that blew out a service filter in our Comcast network interface.  After internet service was restored, my Obi202 recovered the Anveo line (SP1) but Google Voice on SP2 is dead (doesn't ring on incoming and no dial tone for outgoing).

Where is the current procedure for an Obitalk configuration reset?  Can I just reconfigure the non-functional SP2  or do I need to factory reset and reconfigure everything? 

Thanks for any guidance.


  • Configuration - Obi202 with 2 lines Anveo + GV
  • Firmware - 3.2.2 build 5859EX
  • Router -TP Link AC 1900 (ArcherC9 v1)

SteveInWA

It sounds to me that the lightening strike destroyed the circuitry for the phone 2 jack.  It should always get a dial tone, as long as a working telephone is plugged into it.  Assuming nothing, did you try plugging a different telephone into the OBi's phone 2 jack?

drgeoff

+1 to SteveInWA's thinking that the OBi's Phone2 port has been damaged. OBi device phone ports should give dial tone irrespective of the status of the VoIP accounts.

Using a phone that is plugged into the PHONE1 jack, try to make a GV call by dialling **2 in front of the usual number.  If that works there is nothing amiss with your GV configuration.

BGood

Per suggestions from SteveInWA and drgeoff:


  • When a test set is plugged into phone port1, off hook gets dial tone but when plugged into port2 off hook gets nothing. 
  • Likewise **2 + number dialed from working phone port1 completes the call.

So I guess I am in the market for a replacement Obi202.  In the meantime, I added my phone port1 number (Anveo) as a forwarding number in my Google Voice configuration so I will continue to receive calls to my GV number while at home (cell reception is unreliable here).

It also looks like I missed recent Obi202 sales at Newegg and B&H Photo.  Know of any good sales available now?

Thanks again for the help.

drgeoff

A 202 with a defective Phone2 port is functionally extremely similar to a 200 and many users of those manage to have more than 1 voice service.

It is trivial to configure the OBi202 to have all incoming calls go to Phone1 port.

If there are numbers which you always want to call using GV on SP2 it is possible to have the Obi recognise them and use SP2 even if dialled on Phone1. The **2 prefix is then only required for 'non-regular' GV calls.

BGood

Quote from: drgeoff on June 21, 2018, 12:23:39 AM
It is trivial to configure the OBi202 to have all incoming calls go to Phone1 port.

If there are numbers which you always want to call using GV on SP2 it is possible to have the Obi recognise them and use SP2 even if dialled on Phone1. The **2 prefix is then only required for 'non-regular' GV calls.

Thanks for the advice, drgeoff. 

Rather than activating a forwarding route in Google Voice as I have done, would it be better to route SP2 incoming calls to Phone port 1 via the "Phone Port Configuration Summary" table in Obitalk?

drgeoff

Quote from: BGood on June 21, 2018, 04:28:45 AM
Quote from: drgeoff on June 21, 2018, 12:23:39 AM
It is trivial to configure the OBi202 to have all incoming calls go to Phone1 port.

If there are numbers which you always want to call using GV on SP2 it is possible to have the Obi recognise them and use SP2 even if dialled on Phone1. The **2 prefix is then only required for 'non-regular' GV calls.

Thanks for the advice, drgeoff. 

Rather than activating a forwarding route in Google Voice as I have done, would it be better to route SP2 incoming calls to Phone port 1 via the "Phone Port Configuration Summary" table in Obitalk?
Do you incur any charges for incoming calls to your Anveo number?

BGood

Quote from: drgeoff on June 21, 2018, 06:07:35 AM
Quote from: BGood on June 21, 2018, 04:28:45 AM
Quote from: drgeoff on June 21, 2018, 12:23:39 AM
It is trivial to configure the OBi202 to have all incoming calls go to Phone1 port.

If there are numbers which you always want to call using GV on SP2 it is possible to have the Obi recognise them and use SP2 even if dialled on Phone1. The **2 prefix is then only required for 'non-regular' GV calls.

Thanks for the advice, drgeoff. 

Rather than activating a forwarding route in Google Voice as I have done, would it be better to route SP2 incoming calls to Phone port 1 via the "Phone Port Configuration Summary" table in Obitalk?
Do you incur any charges for incoming calls to your Anveo number?

No.  Unlimited inbound and 300 minutes/month outbound. 

jumafl

If you route SP2 incoming calls to Phone port 1 via the "Phone Port Configuration Summary" table, SP2 can have a distinctive ring so you know which of your two lines is ringing.  I believe SP1 and SP2 have different rings by default so may not need to change the X_RingProfile setting.

BGood

OK, I'm resigned to the fact that the phone 2 circuit of my Obi202 being trashed by the lightning spike.  As a temporary measure to receive incoming calls from the Google Voice number normally routed to the phone 2 port, I tweaked my Google Voice forwarding configuration by adding the Anveo number configured for the Obi's port 1.  This does enable reception of incoming GV calls and inception of outgoing GV calls by prefixing **2 to the called number.

Thank you for reminding me that the Obi202 is designed for flexible configuration where a single phone port can handle multiple SIP numbers.  With my 2 different phone numbers and 2 independent phone ports handled by multi-line phone devices, I did not have to worry about this before.

But now with one working phone port, I think it might be better to configure the Obi202's single working phone port 1 via the "Phone Port Configuration Summary" table in Obitalk.  If I do this, is there any way to get around having to prefix GV calls with **2 when I want to initiate a call from SP2 (Google Voice)?

Any other special setup ideas you can suggest for this situation?  Thanks.

SteveInWA

I think you are making this more difficult than it needs to be.

If I understood your original post, you only have two service providers:  Anveo and Google Voice.  You formerly had one SP pointed to the Phone 1 port, and the other SP pointed to the Phone 2 port.  What drgeoff pointed out, is that you now essentially have a OBi 200.  It still can host up to four SP's (SP1--SP4).  The only significant difference is that you only have one physical phone port, which will work on one analog telephone via the one working RJ-11 jack.

Just choose:  which of the two service providers do you use the most for outbound calling?  Configure SP1 to use that service.  Configure SP2 to use the other service.  Inbound calls from either service can ring the one working phone line.  This is very easy to set up using the OBiTALK dashboard.  I don't see any point to forwarding from Anveo to Google Voice or Google Voice to Anveo, unless you want to divert inbound calls through Anveo to pick up caller ID name (CNAM).

For example:  Assume you make the large majority of outbound calls via Google Voice.  Configure SP1 to use Google Voice.  Configure SP2 to use Anveo.  When you want to make an outbound call via Anveo, preface the dial string with **2.  That's all you need to do, other than to set both SPs to ring the Phone 1 port, not the dead Phone 2 port.

BGood

Thanks for the clear explanation, Steve. I'll undo the Anveo forwarding in my Google Voice configuration and use the ObiTalk phone port configuration table instead.