Google Voice Voicemails are not activating the message waiting light on my phone

[twood]

I see what you guys are talking about.  Like I said there is no option to "Turn off the OBi device as a forwarding number" which is what I was looking for.  That option does not exist.  The option is "My devices/Turn on the devices you want to answer calls on". 

There is an option for "Call forwarding Turn on the linked numbers you want to forward calls to." which like I said, does not have the Obi listed and you cannot do that. 

I see that you can accomplish what you guys are saying though so my bad on implying the functionality doesn't exist.  Still, it's probably best to reference this the way Google Voice does. 

So, inbound for ALL CALLS on callcentric is just 1 dollar a month?  If so, that's a cheap option for sure.

[Taoman]

NO IT DOES NOT.  Screenshots!  Show the screenshots.  IT IS NOT EVEN AN OPTION IN GOOGLE VOICE.  Noob or not, it simply does not work like that.

Ok, here are two screenshots. You can disable it in the Legacy version or the new UI.

[Taoman]

I see what you guys are talking about.  Like I said there is no option to "Turn off the OBi device as a forwarding number" which is what I was looking for.  That option does not exist. 

Wrong again!

[SteveInWA]

You are trying to turn Google Voice into something it's not.  It is not a "free telephone company".  It is not a bare-bones SIP ITSP.  It is a complete, integrated telephone call forwarding, calling, voicemail and text messaging service.  You cannot pick and choose, and you cannot make it work like an old-school SIP ITSP.  You cannot disable its voicemail and use Callcentric's voicemail.  IF you attempt to do that, and you are on a phone call, and another call comes in, that call will go to Google Voice's voicemail.  Now, you will be worse-off, because you have VMs going to two different places.

Google Voice was not designed to be a standalone SP for OBiTALK products.  It was designed to enable OBi's to just one more place where you can send calls.  Google assumes you are using their service as designed, which means you have a smartphone that can run the mobile Google Voice app.  You receive notifications via the app, and/or via email.  I already explained that you can set it to push a notification to your phone of missed calls and/or voicemail messages and/or SMS/MMS messages.  You can also have it send an email notice.  Those are the notification methods, not MWI.  Period.

If you don't like this, like zsak23 said, go get your VoIP service from some other company.  You are just being unreasonably argumentative because you want everything for free.  This service doesn't meet your needs, so go pay a modest fee to use another service and not Google Voice.

[azrobert]

See:
https://www.callcentric.com/dids/dollar_unlimited_phone_number

It looks like you also get E911.

[SteveInWA]

See:
https://www.callcentric.com/dids/dollar_unlimited_phone_number

It looks like you also get E911.

NO.  Callcentric sells inbound and outbound services separately.  E911 is an outbound call.  You either pay them $1.50 for that service a la carte, or you pay them for one of their monthly OUTbound calling plans that include E911.

[twood]

Taoman 

Yeah, I see what you guys are saying.  Still you have to know to go to legacy or use the other option.

Thanks for the screenshots. 

I still think Obi should implement the service I described.  Then they would have a full service imo but hey, I'm just one guy.  Still, I'm certain many, many others would want that too.  It's tantalizingly close to being 100% awesome.

It's good enough for me though.  Thanks.

[twood]

Google Voice was not designed to be a standalone SP for OBiTALK products.  It was designed to enable OBi's to just one more place where you can send calls.  

No, Google Voice was not designed to be anything for ObiTalk.  ObiTalk is an afterthought on some backroom deal a couple of goobers had where they disabled functionality for all the people that WERE USING IT JUST FINE just so a few people could profit.  

One thing is certain, they CAN make this work.  They probably won't though (they certainly won't if you guys are successful in squashing all the squeaky wheels) and what likely will happen is in a year or two, Google will drop support for Obis out of the blue just like they dropped support for everybody else using XMPP at which point, I'll toss my Obi in the trash and regret telling others about it.

[Taoman]

It's good enough for me though.  Thanks.

I sent you a PM.

[azrobert]

IF you attempt to do that, and you are on a phone call, and another call comes in, that call will go to Google Voice's voicemail.  Now, you will be worse-off, because you have VMs going to two different places.

Please explain how this works. I thought GV will ring for 25 seconds even when you're on another call and definitely when call waiting is enable. Callcentric VM should pickup before GV VM.

[SteveInWA]

There is no reliable way to make it work as you think it will work.  Test it yourself and see.

Assumption:  Google Voice number forwards to a CC DID.  CC DID is provisioned on an OBi device.

Call the Google Voice number from some unrelated phone number.  Answer the call on the OBi-attached phone using the CC DID as the SP.  Remain on that call.

Call the Google Voice number from a different unrelated phone number.  You'll hear a call-waiting beep tone on the first call.  Ignore the CW tone.  The second call will eventually go to Google Voice VM, depending on the ring period set for the CC DID.

If you set the CC DID's ring period to be significantly shorter than 25 seconds, it may work, but you, the answering party will have to rush to answer the call before it goes to CC VM.  Also, if a third call comes in, that call will go to GV VM.  It will also interfere with any other 10-digit forwarding phone number's ability to answer the calls, as the CC DID will grab the calls before the other numbers can answer it.  Eventually, the user will miss some important voicemail message that ended up on the wrong VM system.

Remember:  the very large majority of Google Voice users use the service with linked mobile phone numbers set up with conditional call forwarding.  Trying to "win the race" against Google Voice's voicemail will interfere with any other 10-digit forwarding phone number's ability to answer the calls, as the CC DID's VM will grab the calls before the other numbers can answer it.

Bottom line:  Google Voice is not a bare-bones SIP telephone service provider; it's an integrated calling, voicemail and messaging service.  If users just want bare-bones SIP phone service, then the better option is to pay for it on an ITSP.