Can AA answer the phone after 10 secs (or 2 rings)?

[Felix]

I set up OBi110 with GV on SP1 and PSTN on Line. There is also a SIP provider on SP2, but it's almost irrelevant for my question.

There is a telephone and an answering machine connected to the device. I want to keep PSTN number for several months, but to have an answering machine have a recording "my new phone number is [GV number]". Obviously, if the caller calls GV number, this message would be confusing.

Now, even the longest delay in answering machine (6 rings) is shorter than GV's 25 seconds. I realize that I can't do anything with GV delay, and I can't do anything to make answering machine wait longer.

What I was thinking if I could force OBi pick up the phone after, say 20 secs and call, say, cell number through SP2. Or maybe some other way. This way PSTN calls would go to answering machine, and GV calls don't. And if I am near the phone, I'll pick up either way.

Is it possible?

[Stewart]

I suggest that you use a separate voicemail account for the purpose.  Get a free Callcentric "IP Freedom" account and get voicemail for it.  Call in via SIPBroker, or set an OBi speed dial to SP2(17772223333@in.callcentric.com) where 17772223333 is the number of the new account.  Set up the greeting as you desire.  Have voicemail messages sent to you by email, in case callers leave messages on that system.  Then, for the LINE Port, set InboundCallRoute to e.g. {ph,sp2(17772223333@in.callcentric.com;d=15} , which will allow landline calls to ring your phone for 15 seconds, before sending the call to voicemail.  Calls from GV or your SIP provider would not be affected at all, assuming that the answering machine is turned off.

[RFord]

The accepted norm is that 1 Ring is equivalent to 5 seconds, therefore, 5 rings is equal to approximately 25 sec.  My Vtech answering machine will pickup if set to 4 rings and will not pickup if set to 6 rings for incoming GV calls (GV VM picks up between 4-5 rings).  If you set your answering machine to 6 rings, your GV voicemail should kick in after ~ 5 rings.  Maybe different (manufacturers) answering machines operates differently.  I'm assuming that you have tried setting your answering machine to 6 rings and a test confirms that it picks up incoming GV calls before the GV VM becomes engaged?

Other than that, if you setup the following it should accomplish what you want:

Voice Services --> SP1 Service

CallForwardOnNoAnswerEnable: (Checked)

CallForwardOnNoAnswerNumber: Your_Cell_Phone_Number

CallForwardOnNoAnswerRingCount: 4

[Stewart]

@Felix,

RFord's idea of using call forward on no answer is much cleaner than what I had suggested with InboundCallRoute.  However, I believe that he misread your post and what you want is:

Physical Interfaces -> LINE Port

CallForwardOnNoAnswerEnable: (Checked)

CallForwardOnNoAnswerNumber: Your_Cell_Phone_Number or Your_Special_Voicemail_Service_Number

CallForwardOnNoAnswerRingCount: 4

[RFord]

Stewart:

Maybe I'm a bit confused, but I thought he wants the answering machine to answer incoming PSTN calls and hear the recording: "my new phone number is [GV number]".  Incoming GV calls is what I thought he wants to reroute/interrupt, so that they do not go to his resident answering machine.  That is why I recommend the changes to SP1 (Assuming that is what is setup with GV).  Forwarding after 4 rings an incoming GV calls will pretty much result in probably 1 or no ring on his cell phone before GV voicemail pickups the incoming GV calls, avoiding the possibility that the GV Caller will hear his announcement of a change in his PSTN number.

[Huib]

You can forward your PSTN line to the AA and use customized greetings informing your callers about the new number and also give them the opportunity to connect to whatever phone you want to be reached at, LINE, SP1, SP2.

[jimates]

Put the answering machine ahead of the Obi.

PSTN calls that are not answered at the phone port will be taken by the machine.
Calls through GV will be handled by GV voicemail if not answered at the phone port within 25 seconds.

[Stewart]

@RFord, I was trying to avoid a situation where you are forced to use a delay shorter than the answering machine's delay, which is in turn shorter than GV's, which is already shorter than many would like.

@Felix, If you use jimates' approach, you'll probably want to set PHONE Port -> EnableLINEPortBargeIn.  Then, if you get to the phone after the answering machine has picked up, you can press # to seize the line and speak with the caller.

However, I suspect that the answering machine is picking up the GV calls too soon, i.e. before GV voicemail answers, because a custom ring is set, with a cadence period shorter than the standard six seconds.  Check whether for SP1 Service or SP2 Service (whichever you use for GV), X_RingProfile is set to B.  If so, and you did this accidentally, set it back to A and the answering machine (set for 6 rings) shouldn't answer GV calls anymore.  If you did this on purpose (to distinguish GV calls from POTS calls), change Ring Profile B -> Ring Pattern 1 -> RingPattern from 60;(.4+.2,.4+2) to 60;(.4+.2,.4+4)

[Felix]

Thanks everybody! I feel blessed by the quality of the answers I got.
One thing I would like to mention - is that the device is in my dad's apartment. I am not going to rehash the other thread about mature citizens and technology, but having one single phone for all three lines was a major benefit for him. Things like "barge in and press #" just won't work.

And yes, I tried to set answering machine to longest delay (6 rings), and it's still faster than GV's 25 seconds.

Anyway, @RFord's suggestion seems to be the best. One question about it... when I set up Call forwarding, what provider is used to make an outgoing call? I don't see it specified anywhere... By the way, Stewart - RFord's description of what I want to do is exactly correct; so I also think that I should forward SP1, and not Line...

[Stewart]

Call forwarding uses the Primary Line by default, or you can set it explicitly, e.g. SP1(14082691999)

You may actually want to use that number (it's a test number that always gives a busy signal), instead of your cell phone, because if GV is also routing to that cell phone (and the cell phone is still ringing), the OBi's call may go immediately to cell provider's voicemail, which is probably not what you want.

A standard US ring is two seconds on and four seconds off.  If the answering machine is working as expected, it should take a little more than 30 seconds, if it answers at the beginning of the sixth ring.  Since it's answering much sooner, I suspect that the GV calls are giving a different ring cadence.  If you can fix that, it should be a cleaner solution, as your dad will have the full 25 seconds to answer a GV call (and 30 to answer a POTS call).

[RFord]

@Felix:

I happen to agree with Stewart on the 6 ring issue.  There should be no way that the answering machine set for 6 rings should be intercepting the call before the GV Voicemail.  So I would suggest you try what Stewart suggested to see if that cure the problem.

EDIT:  Have you considered the option of porting the number to GV using the two step process (after checking to make sure the number can be ported)?.  That way, you don't have to have the message for the PSTN Line.

However, I suspect that the answering machine is picking up the GV calls too soon, i.e. before GV voicemail answers, because a custom ring is set, with a cadence period shorter than the standard six seconds.  Check whether for SP1 Service or SP2 Service (whichever you use for GV), X_RingProfile is set to B.  If so, and you did this accidentally, set it back to A and the answering machine (set for 6 rings) shouldn't answer GV calls anymore.  If you did this on purpose (to distinguish GV calls from POTS calls), change Ring Profile B -> Ring Pattern 1 -> RingPattern from 60;(.4+.2,.4+2) to 60;(.4+.2,.4+4)

[Felix]

Thanks again, guys. I'll try again to tinker with answering machine over the weekend (the 20 century technology has only limited remote access  ). Switching the current phone to google is not an option for variety of non-technical options (see the discussion of senior citizens and technology).

But Call forwarding should be a perfect solution...

[Stewart]

I'll try again to tinker with answering machine over the weekend (the 20 century technology has only limited remote access  ).

Can you just ask your dad how many rings he hears before the answering machine picks up?  If it's more than four, something is likely wrong in the OBi configuration that is causing it to play rings at faster than six seconds each.

[Felix]

So, I visited my dad today and can confirm. Answering machine picks after six rings (as set up); those six rings take a little over 20 seconds; so ring is about 2.5 secs, and pause is 1.5 secs (6 rings and 5 pauses total 22 secs).

The bigger problem is that I can't set up call forwarding. My GV is on SP2, and SIP provider on SP1. For simplicity I turned on CallForwardUnconditionalEnable and specified the number to call. Doesn't seem to work - Line rings without any forwarding. I tried putting both the number, and SP1(number).

Last - as special aside for RonR. I hate going to the device directly! First, it just wouldn't come back until I realized that I need to turn off popup blocker (don't know why, but both IE and Firefox treat the right side as a popup). Even after I did - it is painfully slow! And at least once out of five it times out and gives me XML error. OBiTALK control panel is much nicer... Just saying 

[Stewart]

So, I visited my dad today and can confirm. Answering machine picks after six rings (as set up); those six rings take a little over 20 seconds; so ring is about 2.5 secs, and pause is 1.5 secs (6 rings and 5 pauses total 22 secs).

It appears that you have strange ring settings.  Confirm that for both SP1 Service and SP2 Service, X_RingProfile is set to A.  Also, check that for Ring Profile A, all Ring Patterns are set to defaults.  If you can fix this, you won't have to deal with call forwarding.

The bigger problem is that I can't set up call forwarding. My GV is on SP2, and SIP provider on SP1. For simplicity I turned on CallForwardUnconditionalEnable and specified the number to call. Doesn't seem to work - Line rings without any forwarding. I tried putting both the number, and SP1(number).

Confirm that you set these for SP2 Service and report what appears in Call History for a call that failed to forward.

I hate going to the device directly! First, it just wouldn't come back until I realized that I need to turn off popup blocker (don't know why, but both IE and Firefox treat the right side as a popup). Even after I did - it is painfully slow! And at least once out of five it times out and gives me XML error.

I have no idea what may be wrong here; do you have another computer to try?  Or maybe a tablet or smartphone (though OBi and Android seem to be incompatible)?  Have you tried setting 100 Mbps full duplex?  I can access my OBi directly, using IE, Firefox, Chrome or Safari, and have never seen a popup.  I did get XML errors once, though rebooting the OBi fixed that.  The interface is reasonably responsive, even though my remote OBi is more than 300 milliseconds away (by ping).

[RonR]

Last - as special aside for RonR. I hate going to the device directly! First, it just wouldn't come back until I realized that I need to turn off popup blocker (don't know why, but both IE and Firefox treat the right side as a popup). Even after I did - it is painfully slow! And at least once out of five it times out and gives me XML error. OBiTALK control panel is much nicer... Just saying 

I've been configuring numerous OBi's directly for the past 12 months using IE9 with the popup blocker enabled and haven't experienced any slowness, XML errors, or any other problems.  Direct configuration is quicker and much more reliable...  Just saying 

[Felix]

It appears that you have strange ring settings.  Confirm that for both SP1 Service and SP2 Service, X_RingProfile is set to A.  Also, check that for Ring Profile A, all Ring Patterns are set to defaults.  If you can fix this, you won't have to deal with call forwarding.

SP2 ring profile was set to B (by default). When I changed it to A, GV voicemail started pick up! Hooray!

Confirm that you set these for SP2 Service and report what appears in Call History for a call that failed to forward.

I am still curious why call forwarding doesn't work  
Confirmed that it is set for SP2 service.
Same as when nothing is set up to be forwarded:

Code Select Expand

Terminal ID GoogleVoice2 PHONE1
Peer Name
Peer Number 1nnnnnn
Direction Inbound Inbound
16:17:11 Ringing
16:17:36 End Call

As far as pop-ups, etc - I did try it from another computer as well. Actually, the problem only started in the last month. Two things happened recently: Verizon changed the modem to a different model, and I upgraded firmware. Also, when I access from LAN, it works much faster, and no need to disable popup blocker. Don't know what's causing it. As I said - minor thing since I like Obi portal better, anyway.

[Felix]

I figured out why call forwarding didn't work - I didn't realize that you have to specify format as SP1(phone number) even for default line.

[RonR]

I didn't realize that you have to specify format as SP1(phone number) even for default line.

The OBi Device Administration Guide really ought to mention that somewhere.

[Felix]

I didn't realize that you have to specify format as SP1(phone number) even for default line.

The OBi Device Administration Guide really ought to mention that somewhere.

The new one (that include 202 information) does. That's how I found out. That said, reading Admin guide is a torture. I wish OBi at least ran it through the spellchecker, and then give it to a competent tech writer for review (and complete rewrite).