Configure Caller ID WITH NAME?

[babobi]

My Comcast Digital Voice number is forwarded to my Google Voice number to filter spammers with the Obi 110 using the line port for the landline phone. All INCOMING calls are filtered thru Google Voice. All OUTGOING calls use the Comcast Digital Voice number from the PSTN output. The downside is that incoming calls from Google Voice only display the number and not the name on Caller ID. Is there any way I can configure the Obi 110 to display the name? Thanks!       

[Rick]

My Comcast Digital Voice number is forwarded to my Google Voice number to filter spammers with the Obi 110 using the line port for the landline phone. All INCOMING calls are filtered thru Google Voice. All OUTGOING calls use the Comcast Digital Voice number from the PSTN output. The downside is that incoming calls from Google Voice only display the number and not the name on Caller ID. Is there any way I can configure the Obi 110 to display the name? Thanks!       

No.  Many posts on this.  GV does not forward the name.

[MichiganTelephone]

There's always this option, but it has its pros and cons.

[babobi]

Thanks MichiganTelephone, but right now that's not an option. I went to the Simon Telephonics Registration page and got this message:

The Google Voice Gateway is full to capacity and registration is temporarily disabled. Thank you for the huge response, and stay tuned while I build out for additional growth. If you have registered already, you can use the form below to get your SIP registration credentials or delete your gateway registration.

Are there any alternate solutions that you know of? Appreciate the referral!

[MichiganTelephone]

Wow, I knew he'd gotten some publicity lately; didn't realize it was putting a strain on his resources.  I don't know of any other options to get Caller ID name other than running a PBX that has an add-on caller ID lookup module.  That's what I do, but the results are iffy at best, because none of the sources I can access are "official" phone company CNAM sources (there may be paid sources that are more reliable, but I just use a few of the free ones).  If you are desperate enough to do that, probably the easiest way is to use PBX in a Flash, and the add-on Caller ID Superfecta module, and route your incoming calls through that as described here.  But that will not be anywhere near as simple as using the Simon Telephonics server, assuming Bill manages to add some capacity.

[babobi]

  Geez that sounds really complex MT and I'm not really sure what you are talking about. Thanks just the same for all the info tho. Right now I have my Obi 110 hooked up to my landline phone which uses Comcast Digital Voice for all OUTGOING calls via the PSTN Line. The INCOMING calls are received from my Google Voice number which gets forwarded FROM my Comcast Digital Voice landline phone number. So since I already have an existing Caller ID with name from Comcast Digital Voice, is there any way I can utilize/configure that with my existing setup to be able to see the names with the numbers on Caller ID for incoming calls?

If not, guess I'll just have to wait for an opening from Simon Telephonics and hopefully it will be in the near future.   Thanks again!

[RFord]

What you can do is to connect the Line from your Comcast device to a splitter.  Connect one line from the splitter to the OBi ATA LINE port and the other Line to a dedicated CallerID Box or a Phone with CallerID.

[Rick]

Geez that sounds really complex MT and I'm not really sure what you are talking about. Thanks just the same for all the info tho. Right now I have my Obi 110 hooked up to my landline phone which uses Comcast Digital Voice for all OUTGOING calls via the PSTN Line. The INCOMING calls are received from my Google Voice number which gets forwarded FROM my Comcast Digital Voice landline phone number. So since I already have an existing Caller ID with name from Comcast Digital Voice, is there any way I can utilize/configure that with my existing setup to be able to see the names with the numbers on Caller ID for incoming calls?

If not, guess I'll just have to wait for an opening from Simon Telephonics and hopefully it will be in the near future.   Thanks again!

I've not used Comcast Digital Voice, but I can't imagine that they don't offer certain screening / blocking capability.  A quick Google search showed you can block up to 12 numbers. 

[babobi]

What you can do is to connect the Line from your Comcast device to a splitter.  Connect one line from the splitter to the OBi ATA LINE port and the other Line to a dedicated CallerID Box or a Phone with CallerID.

Now that sounds like something simple that I am capable of doing. Thanks for the tip, RFord. Does anyone know if this would work?

[babobi]

I've not used Comcast Digital Voice, but I can't imagine that they don't offer certain screening / blocking capability.  A quick Google search showed you can block up to 12 numbers.  

Yes Rick, Comcast Digital Voice DOES offer screening/blocking -- but as you see, it's ONLY for 12 numbers maximun, which is not nearly enough for the TONS of junk, spam and scam calls we are inundated with ALL THE TIME. I don't know how we got on these cursed "lists," perhaps the fact that we have a public phone number that's in the white pages? We are also on the Do Not Call registry, but that doesn't deter charities, politicos, salesmen, and unscrupulous bottom feeding con artists from calling EVERY DAY. The tally for junk phone numbers I've accrued and sent to our Google Voice spam folder is well over 200 and counting. Comcast Digital Voice allows one to block 12 numbers, which is quite pathetic.  

[rob613]

In another thread I have inquired about and posted the result of how I am using an Obi 110 to answer calls on my PSTN line from known spam caller-ID and forward them, via GV out, to a rejection line.   As I tell new callers to not call here again I add their caller-ID information to my list of bad guys that should be intercepted as soon as caller-ID comes through and forwarded out.  I don't yet know what the size limit is for the digit map or how many times they will keep calling once forwarded.

http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=2893.0


In your setup, once a call is forwarded to GV, if it is not a known spammer, does GV forward the call back to your PSTN line?  Or does the Obi then get the call from GV and ring through to your Obi phone port?  What are you using for the initial forward from Comcast to GV?

[prospero]

It's not a wonderful solution, but with some phones, if the number and name are listed in the telephone's memory, it will identify those calls and display the name.

Google Voice is free, but it also comes with these annoying defects.  Paid VOIP service only costs $30 a year, which is what AT&T charges me for a single month, so it's still a whopping savings -- and the first year of service is free. You might want to look into changing.

[babobi]

In another thread I have inquired about and posted the result of how I am using an Obi 110 to answer calls on my PSTN line from known spam caller-ID and forward them, via GV out, to a rejection line.   As I tell new callers to not call here again I add their caller-ID information to my list of bad guys that should be intercepted as soon as caller-ID comes through and forwarded out.  I don't yet know what the size limit is for the digit map or how many times they will keep calling once forwarded.

http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=2893.0


In your setup, once a call is forwarded to GV, if it is not a known spammer, does GV forward the call back to your PSTN line?  Or does the Obi then get the call from GV and ring through to your Obi phone port?  What are you using for the initial forward from Comcast to GV?
[/quote

Thanks rob613, I already have all known spammers forwarded to my GV rejection pile. To answer your question (and I am no expert so I am only guessing here) I assume GV is not forwarding the call back to my PSTN line, I think it is coming from the Obi phone port. I have my Comcast Digital set so Call Forwarding is on at all times, every INCOMING number to my landline home phone is forwarded to my Google Voice number which filters the scum into spam folders. The "good" callers are filtered to ring thru. Hence there is no NAME on the Caller ID since GV doesn't offer that service for free.

[babobi]

It's not a wonderful solution, but with some phones, if the number and name are listed in the telephone's memory, it will identify those calls and display the name.

Google Voice is free, but it also comes with these annoying defects.  Paid VOIP service only costs $30 a year, which is what AT&T charges me for a single month, so it's still a whopping savings -- and the first year of service is free. You might want to look into changing.

Thanks prospero, I do have some numbers listed with names in my telephone's memory, but there is a 30 number limit. So you're saying with a paid VOIP service I could get Caller ID WITH NAME?! Can you recommend any specific brands? Which one do you use that only costs $30.00/yr? You get name Caller ID w that? Thanks for any referrals. The only thing I am dreading is reentering all the junk numbers manually into new VOIP provider database.

[pc44]

Thanks prospero, I do have some numbers listed with names in my telephone's memory, but there is a 30 number limit. So you're saying with a paid VOIP service I could get Caller ID WITH NAME?! Can you recommend any specific brands? Which one do you use that only costs $30.00/yr? You get name Caller ID w that? Thanks for any referrals. The only thing I am dreading is reentering all the junk numbers manually into new VOIP provider database.

Hi babobi,

A lot of people on here seem to like Anveo and Callcentric for reasonably-low-cost VOIP solutions with CNAM support.  Alternatively, if you have a PC always on in your house, there are good, free software options that will allow you to filter/reject an unlimited number of incoming calls using your existing or any other provider.  Copying your existing list from GV to the PC software would not be too bad of a process.  Just an extra, extraneous thought

pc44

[prospero]

babobi, I looked at a lot of different services, just about everything I could find on Google, and finally settled on NetTalk.  They currently have two devices, one that can use WiFi to connect, the other requires a wired connection but is US$20 cheaper and competitively priced with the OBi100. I went with the cheaper one because I don't really cotton to the idea of doing this by WiFi.

You can probably buy either at your local electronics megamart. I picked mine up at Fry's because I like their return policies.

The NetTalk devices come with a year of free service, then is $29 per year after that, has caller-ID NAME, can do a version of emergency calls, you can disable their Voicemail if you don't want it, and you get unlimited free calls to the US and Canada. (I've never called overseas in my life.) 

It does take an unseemly while to port my number away from GV to NetTalk, (like up to a month -- but so does everybody else nobody I talked to could do it any faster), but when you register the NetTalk box, you get a new phone number, and have no choice about that.

Then you request the port and wait. Meantime, you can forward your GV account to this new number, and that will get you back your caller-id NAME (as well as working with touch-tone services and doing away with all the other problems I'm having with GV.)

You can log into your OBi box and make various parameter changes, but you can't do that with the Nettalk box. They won't tell you the login and don't want you messing with the parameters, so that you can't even, e.g., assign it a static IP address, it has to use DHCP. 

Like the OBi box, the Nettalk box doesn't require a computer, just the router/gateway provided by your ISP, to work.  The Nettalk box draws power from a USB cable. You *can* connect it to your computer via said USB cable, or you can connect it to your gateway via an Ethernet cable and just use the USB port for power from a wall plug, as I do. Physically it's about the same size as the OBi. It will give you enough juice to ring phones throughout the house, if you're set up that way.

I haven't found a significant downside to it so far.

[pc44]

You can log into your OBi box and make various parameter changes, but you can't do that with the Nettalk box. They won't tell you the login and don't want you messing with the parameters, so that you can't even, e.g., assign it a static IP address, it has to use DHCP. 

Like the OBi box, the Nettalk box doesn't require a computer, just the router/gateway provided by your ISP, to work.  The Nettalk box draws power from a USB cable. You *can* connect it to your computer via said USB cable, or you can connect it to your gateway via an Ethernet cable and just use the USB port for power from a wall plug, as I do. Physically it's about the same size as the OBi. It will give you enough juice to ring phones throughout the house, if you're set up that way.

Interesting.  Sounds a lot like MagicJack Plus.  I was not familiar with Nettalk, and while I currently prefer the extensive capabilities of GV and OBI, thanks for bringing it to my attention.

pc44

[babobi]

Hi babobi,

A lot of people on here seem to like Anveo and Callcentric for reasonably-low-cost VOIP solutions with CNAM support.  Alternatively, if you have a PC always on in your house, there are good, free software options that will allow you to filter/reject an unlimited number of incoming calls using your existing or any other provider.  Copying your existing list from GV to the PC software would not be too bad of a process.  Just an extra, extraneous thought

pc44

Thanks pc44, and can you tell me about these good free software options that will allow you to filter/reject an unlimited number of incoming calls using your existing or any other provider? Can you provide me with specific names of these software programs? I did alot of research prior to purchasing the Obi 110 and for the life of me I could not find anything other than Google Voice that had the ability to block or forward UNLIMITED spam calls to voicemail. I did find a few devices, but none to my liking -- all were limited in the number of calls they allowed one to block, the top contender had maybe a 100 numbers capacity limit.

[babobi]

babobi, I looked at a lot of different services, just about everything I could find on Google, and finally settled on NetTalk.  They currently have two devices, one that can use WiFi to connect, the other requires a wired connection but is US$20 cheaper and competitively priced with the OBi100. I went with the cheaper one because I don't really cotton to the idea of doing this by WiFi.

You can probably buy either at your local electronics megamart. I picked mine up at Fry's because I like their return policies.

The NetTalk devices come with a year of free service, then is $29 per year after that, has caller-ID NAME, can do a version of emergency calls, you can disable their Voicemail if you don't want it, and you get unlimited free calls to the US and Canada. (I've never called overseas in my life.)  

It does take an unseemly while to port my number away from GV to NetTalk, (like up to a month -- but so does everybody else nobody I talked to could do it any faster), but when you register the NetTalk box, you get a new phone number, and have no choice about that.

Then you request the port and wait. Meantime, you can forward your GV account to this new number, and that will get you back your caller-id NAME (as well as working with touch-tone services and doing away with all the other problems I'm having with GV.)

You can log into your OBi box and make various parameter changes, but you can't do that with the Nettalk box. They won't tell you the login and don't want you messing with the parameters, so that you can't even, e.g., assign it a static IP address, it has to use DHCP.  

Like the OBi box, the Nettalk box doesn't require a computer, just the router/gateway provided by your ISP, to work.  The Nettalk box draws power from a USB cable. You *can* connect it to your computer via said USB cable, or you can connect it to your gateway via an Ethernet cable and just use the USB port for power from a wall plug, as I do. Physically it's about the same size as the OBi. It will give you enough juice to ring phones throughout the house, if you're set up that way.

I haven't found a significant downside to it so far.

Thanks prospero. Does NetTalk have a spam filtering option like Google Voice and does it allow one to block an UNLIMITED number of junk calls or send them to voicemail? Is it similar to the Obi Web Portal?

[pc44]

Thanks pc44, and can you tell me about these good free software options that will allow you to filter/reject an unlimited number of incoming calls using your existing or any other provider? Can you provide me with specific names of these software programs? I did alot of research prior to purchasing the Obi 110 and for the life of me I could not find anything other than Google Voice that had the ability to block or forward UNLIMITED spam calls to voicemail. I did find a few devices, but none to my liking -- all were limited in the number of calls they allowed one to block, the top contender had maybe a 100 numbers capacity limit.

Hi babobi,

Keep in mind that as I mentioned previously, this option will require you to keep your computer on in order for the software to filter/reject unwanted calls.  You wanted a specific name for such a program, and the best one that comes to mind is PhoneTray Free.  They basically read the Caller ID information from each incoming call via your modem and then block or allow the call based on your filter.  Because the filter/blacklist is stored on your computer, the number of incoming entries you can have is virtually unlimited as far as I know.  I have tested this program with my OBI device, and while this might not be for everyone, it certainly works.

Hope it helps
pc44