Dropped calls when calling multiline phone systems

[managerharry]

I've been using the Obi110 + Google Voice for over a year now and have generally been very happy with it but there is one vexing, if trivial, problem: whenever I call in to my local radio station for ticket giveaways it rings through a few times and then hangs up.  Back in the day when I had a AT&T POTS I used to be able to win tickets regularly so it's a bit of a drag not to be able to ever get through. It's almost impossible to win tickets from a cell phone since the dialing delay is too slow.  It also happened a few times from my cell phone when dialing through GV (I've now installed Voice Choice and added the radio station number to the exclusion list) so maybe it's a problem or limitation of Google Voice?

Any ideas? 

[Stewart]

Radio stations typically have special lines for their contests, which are set up by the landline carrier to allow only one or two calls from each exchange to be routed to the destination.  This prevents inter-office trunks from being needlessly tied up (for calls that wouldn't complete anyway).

I believe that because your call arrived after others, you should have heard a circuits-busy tone, which is given for only a few seconds before the call is intentionally dropped by the destination carrier.

Google Voice has a deficiency, in that they don't support "Early Media" (search this forum for details), so you heard ringback tone instead of the fast-busy tone.  However, using another provider without this problem (or your cell phone) would likely have not helped you get through; you just would have heard fast-busy instead of ringing.

If you haven't already done so, set a speed dial in the OBi for the contest number, so you can dial e.g. 2# instead of 7 or 10 digits.  If you use a SIP provider to call, e.g. Anveo or Callcentric (which you would probably want for 911 service anyhow), that will shave another ~1 second off the setup time, in addition to avoiding the false ringing issue.  Unfortunately, your total setup time will still be ~1.5 seconds worse than using a landline (for a local call).  AFAIK, there is no way with VoIP to avoid this.

[Stewart]

Another suggestion:

If you are near a computer when listening to the radio, you could set up Gmail (using a GV account separate from the one on your OBi) and predial the station number.  Then, when you get the alert, you would just press Enter to send the call.  Since most of your competition would have to get dial tone and dial seven digits, you should have the inside track, even though there is an extra ~2.5 seconds delay in the Google system.

[managerharry]

Hmmm, I think you hit the issue on the head with your explanation of the "early media" issue.  I noticed that when calling from the GV line it almost always appeared to ring through and I would only occasionally get the fast-busy tone.

Would you suggestion re: setting a predial up in Gmail avoid this issue somehow? 

Right now I have the number set in my phone's speed dial-- is there any benefit to setting it in the Obi instead?

Thanks!

[Stewart]

The OBi speed dial has two advantages: the phone will be sending only two characters, e.g. 2#, rather than 7, 10, or 11 digits depending on your dialing format.  Also, unless your digit map is carefully set up, if the number does not end in #, the OBi will wait an additional delay to see whether more digits are coming.

If your phone has dedicated buttons that function as speed dials, it makes sense to use both -- set a phone button to send 2# to the OBi, with the OBi set up to dial the station when 2# is entered.

Using Gmail won't solve the early media problem -- I only suggested it as a way to make the call by pressing only one button.

If you want to avoid the early media issue, you will have to use a non-free service.  That's won't cost much, because nearly all your calls will get a busy and so won't get charged.  However, unless you have such an account for 911, as a backup, or for some other purpose, it probably wouldn't be worth the hassle to get one just for contest calls.