Baffling issue with Obi100+Google Voice+Tracfone

[FormerYooper]

I am posting this issue on the ObiTalk Forum as I did *not* have this issue prior to adding the Obi100 to the mix.  

I am using the Obi100.  Sp1 is a Google Voice Number.  Sp2 is a different Google Voice number.  I have a Panasonic cordless phone connected to the Obi100.  I also have the Google Voice Number on Sp1 forwarded to my cellphone (which is a Tracfone with service through Verizon).

This issue does not happen every call ... about every 5 calls.  Someone will call My (Sp1) Google Voice number.  Both my Panasonic cordless phone & Tracfone cell phone will of course ring.  I answer the call using the Panasonic cordless phone.  Once I pick up the call with the Panasonic ... my cell phone stops ringing and the screen reads "Missed call."   But here is the weird thing that will then happen.  I will be talking to the person who made the incoming call to me on the Panasonic cordless phone ... and my Tracfone starts ringing again and it reads that Google Voice is calling me.  Then Google Voice voicemail picks up the call (on my Tracfone) and here is the really weird part ... I can HEAR the Google Voice voicemail answering message (that is being given on my tracfone) ON THE CALL I AM CURRENTLY ON on the Panasonic cordless phone.  This is unacceptable.  The person on the other end of the line can hear it as well.  We then have to end the call & call each other again .... otherwise Google Voice VM will record our entire call.  

Hope I have explained this well enough.  This issue is just maddening and I *must* have a resolution to it.  Please, please, please .... someone help.  I don't want to be sorry I cancelled my landline and went exclusively with Obi and Google Voice.

This never happened before I added the Obi100 device.  

[Stewart]

I am guessing that you have a DTMF talkoff issue, i.e. the OBi is falsely detecting that you pressed * to switch phones.

Confirm by intentionally pressing * on an incoming call and see whether the same thing happens.

If so, and you don't need the Recording, Switch or Conferencing features, just turn them off in GV Settings, Calls tab, Call Options.

If you need those features to work, you may be able to reduce or eliminate the talkoff by setting Phone Port -> DTMFRxMode to Software, or by setting ITSP Profile A -> General -> DTMFMethod to InBand.  Either of those settings might degrade recognition of DTMF by IVR systems, so confirm that you can still reliably access your conference calls, phone banking, etc.

[FormerYooper]

Stewart ... thank you for your reply.  I am not very tech savvy ... so please be patient with my questions.

You suggested pressing the * key on an incoming call.  Is that BEFORE I answer or AFTER I answer?

Also, I checked in my settings in Call options ... and the Conferencing call, etc. option is NOT enabled at present.

I don't get many calls .... so it may be awhile before I can test what you first suggested.  Would appreciate your answering back when I should press the * key.

[Stewart]

After answering an incoming call (from other than your own cell phone and with your cell phone idle), confirm that you are properly connected and then press *, to see whether the system behaves the same as when you have trouble.  If it does, then it appears that disabling from GV is not effective, so you will want to try the other options.

If you are configuring your device on the OBiTalk portal, make these changes in Expert Configuration.  OTOH, if you are configuring the device by accessing its web pages directly, do the same for these changes.

[FormerYooper]

Stewart ... just had my husband call me from work to troubleshoot as you suggested.  Once I answered his call on my Panasonic phone, my cell phone also stopped ringing and the screen said "missed call."  I then pressed the * key on my Panasonic phone and the cell phone started ringing again ... and the caller ID said it was an incoming call from Google Voice (which is the Sp1 on my Obi Device).  I waited to see if it would go to Google Voice voicemail and if we could hear the announcement audibly in our phone call, but NO, we did not hear anything.  Eventually the screen on my cell phone just said "missed call" again.   

So, do you have any other suggestions for me?  As mentioned in a previous post ... I did make sure the Call Conferencing, etc. is NOT enabled in Settings. 

I really appreciate your time, consideration & especially your patience with my limited knowledge.

[Stewart]

Well, it appears that I guessed wrong.  Unfortunately, I'm stumped.

Try logging into the OBi directly (at the IP address reported by dialing ***1 from the OBi phone).  The default login is admin/admin -- if that doesn't work, check the OBiTalk site for the admin password.  Go to Status -> Call History, and post what, if anything, gets logged for the "ghost" call when you have the trouble.

Also, check History on the GV site and report what, if anything, other than the original call, appears there when you have trouble.

[FormerYooper]

Ok ... on 6/20 ... a friend called me at 10:42:45.  This was an INBOUND CALL.  I answered it on my Panasonic Cordless phone, but my cellphone rang also.  When I picked up the call on the Panasonic, the cellphone screen read "missed call."  Then, the cellphone started ringing again and it said on the screen that the call was from my Google Voice number.  It eventually picked up and both of us could hear the Google Voice VM announcement .... so I ended the call & called my friend back at 10:43:50.  What appears in the call history from Obi & Google Voice is only the original incoming call & then the OUTBOUND call I made back to my friend after we hung up when we heard the voicemail message bleeding into our conversation.  There is NO HISTORY in either Obi or Google Voice of that "ghost" call that came into my cellphone stating on caller ID that it was from Google Voice. 


I was going to attached a screen shot of both call history's ... but I didn't want to put the phone number of my friend over the internet.  She is a very private person. 

[Stewart]

Shoot, no history.  I'm running out of ideas here -- below are just guesses.  It's especially puzzling, because AFAIK no one else has reported this problem.

Possibly, something goes wrong with the protocol, such that GV doesn't see the call as properly answered, and it continues to try other destinations.  If this is the case, I would expect the trouble (if it occurs) to always happen within the first minute of a call.

Possibly, you have a talk-off issue that is inadvertently triggering some new, unpublicized feature of GV.  I confirmed that on an incoming GV call, DTMF events do get logged to syslog.  You could set System Management -> Device Admin -> Syslog -> Server to the private IP address of your PC, run Wireshark or a syslog server to capture traffic, wait for a failing call, and see whether any false keypresses were detected.  Also, something else might be reported that proves to be relevant.

It may be possible to work around the problem, without understanding the cause.  For example, have GV ring to a free Callcentric number, rather than Google Chat.  Unfortunately, you are already using SP2 for another GV account.  If you use the second account with the OBi only for receiving calls, you could funnel that into the same Callcentric number, which would free up the SP2 slot.

If you haven't already done so, you might try shutting down the OBi and answering your GV calls from Gmail for a while.  It that also has the trouble, it would at least show that it's not related to the OBi; you could then pursue getting help from Google or on the GV forum.

BTW, if you want to post a screenshot that has private info, open it in an image editor (e.g Paint, if you've got nothing better) and use the Eraser tool to white out any information that you consider personal.  Save the modified image and post that.

[FormerYooper]

Stewart ... thanks so much for all your ideas.  Some are just too technical for me ... for example this:

Possibly, you have a talk-off issue that is inadvertently triggering some new, unpublicized feature of GV.  I confirmed that on an incoming GV call, DTMF events do get logged to syslog.  You could set System Management -> Device Admin -> Syslog -> Server to the private IP address of your PC, run Wireshark or a syslog server to capture traffic, wait for a failing call, and see whether any false keypresses were detected.  Also, something else might be reported that proves to be relevant.
  I would have no idea how to do something like this. 

For weeks, I've been searching the GV forums for something on this & have come up just today with plenty of posts like this:

http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/voice/_K4hGWa0COA

I wonder if it's something in my voice that is triggering this.  My husband rarely answers our phone ... but since we added the Obi100 device ... it has never happened to him. 

This voice issue and calls all of a sudden being recorded seems to be a known issue in GV.  And, as I reported to you earlier, I DO have the Call Options ... Enable Recording, Switch and Conference Calls UNCHECKED.  It was unchecked yesterday when I did the "test call" you suggested.  But even with it unchecked ... when I got the incoming call on my Panasonic phone from my husband and pressed the * key, my cell phone did ring & the screen said it was a call from GV.  Oh and BTW, that call never appeared in the Call History either. 

Some have had to toggle the Call options feature back & forth.  I will try that for awhile.  I will also try changing the "tone" of my voice to see if that helps.  This is truly weird.  And, as mentioned in my original post, NEVER happened before I added the Obi100 device. 

Thanks for all your troubleshooting and ideas on this.  You have been very helpful and patient in considering this issue. I'll let you know if I ever get it sorted out. 

[Lavarock7]

Ok ... on 6/20 ... a friend called me at 10:42:45.  This was an INBOUND CALL.  I answered it on my Panasonic Cordless phone, but my cellphone rang also.  When I picked up the call on the Panasonic, the cellphone screen read "missed call."  Then, the cellphone started ringing again and it said on the screen that the call was from my Google Voice number.  It eventually picked up and both of us could hear the Google Voice VM announcement .... so I ended the call & called my friend back at 10:43:50.  What appears in the call history from Obi & Google Voice is only the original incoming call & then the OUTBOUND call I made back to my friend after we hung up when we heard the voicemail message bleeding into our conversation.  There is NO HISTORY in either Obi or Google Voice of that "ghost" call that came into my cellphone stating on caller ID that it was from Google Voice. 


I was going to attached a screen shot of both call history's ... but I didn't want to put the phone number of my friend over the internet.  She is a very private person. 

FWIW, I have a VOIP phone. If I pick it up and hand up, it rings again because it thinks I hit FLASH.

[Stewart]

OK, since it appears that (probably because of a GV bug) you can't disable GV listening for Switch, Record, etc. during a call, I feel that a talk-off issue is likely.  If the problem rarely or never happens when your husband takes the call, it's IMO almost certain (talk-off is far more likely with female voices).

If that's the case, try the measures suggested in my first reply (reproduced below):

You may be able to reduce or eliminate the talkoff by setting Phone Port -> DTMFRxMode to Software, or by setting ITSP Profile A -> General -> DTMFMethod to InBand.  Either of those settings might degrade recognition of DTMF by IVR systems, so confirm that you can still reliably access your conference calls, phone banking, etc.

If neither helps, perhaps someone else will have some suggestions.

[jimates]

There would be no call history unless call waiting is enabled. Is call waiting enabled on the Phone port?

Disable the call record/forward feature in google voice. If it is already disabled, reenable it, save changes, then disable and save the changes again.

[FormerYooper]

jimates ... thank you for your reply.  See my notes below .....


There would be no call history unless call waiting is enabled. Is call waiting enabled on the Phone port?

I do not know how to determine if call waiting is enabled on the phone port?  Can you please tell me how I can find this out?

Disable the call record/forward feature in google voice. If it is already disabled, reenable it, save changes, then disable and save the changes again.

Yes, I have been toggling back & forth today.  Now, will wait to see if the call record/switch/conference has been disabled. 

I did receive a phone call today.  In the course of the call, as I was relating a frightening experience I had this morning, my voice increased in volume and was at a higher frequency.  It was at that point that my cell phone started to ring & the screen said the call was from GV.  So, apparently, the female voice and it's frequency have something to do with this issue.

[jimates]

if you didn't change the settings, call waiting is enabled in the default settings.

If you use the portal, once in the Obi Expert Configuration go to
Physical Interfaces -> Phone -> Calling Features -> Call Waiting Enable
To change the setting, uncheck the box on the right (Obitalk Settings), then the one next to it (Device Default) and then the one on the far left.

With the feature disabled at google voice there should be no way that anything (including voice tones) could trigger it.
You can also check the feature(s) status by pressing 4 during a call. If the features are enabled, pressing 4 will start the call record and you will hear the female voice say "call record on". If the features are disabled, pressing 4 will do nothing except emit the dtmf tone.

[FormerYooper]

jimates .... thank you!  Yes, call waiting is (checked) enabled.

Don't get many phone calls.  Once I get one ... will test to see if the other feature is finally disabled. 

I so appreciate everyone's help on this forum! 

[FormerYooper]

Call Options has been unchecked for a day now.  Just got a call.  Pressed 4 and got the female voice telling me the call was being recorded!  Ugh!  It seems many people have been complaining they CANNOT turn OFF call options in Google Voice on the GV Forums.