I don’t understand how the X_SkipCallScreening with GV is supposed to work

[CoalMinerRetired]

I don't understand how the X_SkipCallScreening with GV is supposed to work when unchecked.

I'm completely mixed up, and frustrated on this, and don't understand it if my setup is working the way it's supposed to be, or if something is wrong or missing.

Setup: In GV, the setting is Call Screening, it's set on On, and 'Ask unknown callers to say their name' is checked.  GV calls the feature 'Audio Caller ID', I'll use that term here also. GV help link: http://support.google.com/voice/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=115083.

With the above GV settings, and with X_SkipCallScreening set in an Obi202 (and with no other phones set under Forwards calls), when the Obi phone rings with a call, this is what happens: I answer, I hear no one on the other end. If I do nothing, the Obi hangs up the call after about 15 seconds.  The caller is then sent to GV Voice mail.

By accident I discovered that if when I answer the Obi call, and press 1, I am immediately connected to the call. Immediately connected means no 'Audio Caller ID' happens. I tried pressing 2, and the the GV ListenIn™ feature comes into play, i.e., you can listed in. Although I didn't explicitly try it, I assume you can then press 1 and connect (as advertised, it's like picking up a traditional hardware answering machine call in the middle of a message being recorded).

Now introduce to the above setup (Call Screening, unknown callers checked and X_SkipCallScreening unchecked) a second forwarding phone, GV: Phones > Forwards calls to: check a second phone. This is what I observe to happen: The Obi phone behaves same as above, however on the 2nd forwarding phone, the 'Audio Caller ID' works as advertised, a voice on GV announces the first recorded name of the caller, and you either accept "1", or send to VM by pressing "2".

What I was expecting is the 'Audio Caller ID' to work on the Obi phone just like it works on a cell phone or other forward to phone. IMO having to press 1 or 2 on the Obi phone with no prompt makes it seem like some piece is missing. In fact, I read a lot of the product documentation, and a lot more on here, and was surprised by this behavior. And worse still, only discovered by accident that pressing 1 or 2 makes the call on the Obi phone complete, I probably tried it 20 times varying different settings and wondering why the Obi phone just hang's up and the call goes to GV VM with  no voice prompts heard on the Obi phone.

Can someone answer 'is this the way it's supposed to work?', If yes, 'why is that so', and is this the behavior you get on your Obi202?

Edit: On this thread http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=1207.0, I  read someone gets a voice prompt when they answer their obi connected phone ("To accept, press 1..."), not sure what Obi model is in use there, but I get no voice prompts whatsoever.

[QBZappy]

With the above GV settings, and with X_SkipCallScreening set in an Obi202 (and with no other phones set under Forwards calls), when the Obi phone rings with a call, this is what happens: I answer, I hear no one on the other end. If I do nothing, the Obi hangs up the call after about 15 seconds.  The caller is then sent to GV Voice mail.

By accident I discovered that if when I answer the Obi call, and press 1, I am immediately connected to the call.

SkipCallScreening enabled only works in combination with GV. The OBi dials the "1" for you when the setting is enabled. It simulates the expected operation of a phone call and what users expect when picking up a call using the GV+OBi.

[CoalMinerRetired]

With the above GV settings, and with X_SkipCallScreening set in an Obi202 (and with no other phones set under Forwards calls), when the Obi phone rings with a call, this is what happens: I answer, I hear no one on the other end. If I do nothing, the Obi hangs up the call after about 15 seconds.  The caller is then sent to GV Voice mail.

By accident I discovered that if when I answer the Obi call, and press 1, I am immediately connected to the call.

SkipCallScreening enabled only works in combination with GV. The OBi dials the "1" for you when the setting is enabled. It simulates the expected operation of a phone call and what users expect when picking up a call using the GV+OBi.

Thanks. The part about it sending a 1 I understood, from reading on here.  And the simulates the expected operation I inferred.

But how about with it disabled? Are you confirming that with SkipCallScreening disabled you also hear nothing on the line, Obi line hangs up after 15 +/- secs, unless you press 1 or 2? 

[jimates]

When SkipCallScreening is disabled on the Obi, the caller will continue to hear ringing and when you answer the phone you will be presented with the call screening and have to press the appropriate digits.

Google voice mail will pick up after 25 seconds if the phone is not answered at all.

[CoalMinerRetired]

When SkipCallScreening is disabled on the Obi, the caller will continue to hear ringing and when you answer the phone you will be presented with the call screening and have to press the appropriate digits.

Google voice mail will pick up after 25 seconds if the phone is not answered at all.

Thanks.

Based on your reply, 'presented with the call screening', and what is said in this thread (http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=1207.0) I think something is not working in my setup.

I hear nothing when I pickup, and if I do nothing the Obi disconnects the call.  Any ideas what settings to look at? I'm guessing it's some interaction between GV and the signaling protocol the Obi uses, because as I said, it all works as expected on a call forwarded to a cell phone.

[jimates]

SkipCallScreening is checked by default now when set up with Google Voice.

Check the call history for the calls and see if the Obi shows the call as being connected or just ringing.

If you do not answer the phone at all, does google voicemail take the call?

[CoalMinerRetired]

jimates, thanks for your responses. Replies to your questions below, one in great detail.

Question for you: Exactly what do you hear on the Obi phone when you answer, the GV voice prompts? Have to ask because I'm beginning to question this, I've read twice on here people (you being one of the two) get the GV prompting, and now have read contradictory things indicating people get no prompts.


> SkipCallScreening is checked by default now when set up with Google Voice.
Thanks, I'm aware of this, and am well past this point in understanding how this works.

Check the call history for the calls and see if the Obi shows the call as being connected or just ringing.
See details below, I tested under several combinations.

If you do not answer the phone at all, does google voicemail take the call?
Yes.

------ Answer to Check the call history...

With: One Forward To Phone (Google Chat only), and
         Do not answer the Obi Phone:
                  Status shows,
                  Direction Inbound
                  07:58:23 Ringing 
                  07:58:46 End Call
                   The Obi log never shows "Call Connected"
         Answer the ringing Obi Phone, and press "1":
                  Direction Inbound
                  08:01:58 Ringing 
                  08:02:05  Call Connected
                  08:02:21 End Call
         Answer the ringing Obi Phone, do not press "1", or any other phone pad button:
                  Direction Inbound
                  08:04:44 Ringing 
                  08:04:50  Call Connected
                  08:05:05 End Call

With: Two Forward To Phones (Google Chat and a cell phone):
         Do not answer the Obi Phone, do answer the ringing Cell phone:
                  -Hear expected  spoken GV prompts "Call From ..., to accept press 1, to send ... etc., etc"
                  -Press 1 and call is connected.
                  -etc.
                  Obi Log :
                           As expected for an unanswered call:
                           Direction Inbound
                           08:10:34 Ringing 
                           08:10:52 End Call
                           Never shows connected.

         *Do* answer the Obi Phone, do not answer the Cell phone:
                  Do not press any keys on Obi phone after answering:
                           Call will go to GV Voicemail
                           Obi Log shows:
                                    Direction Inbound
                                    08:16:13 Ringing 
                                    08:16:24 Call Connected
                                    08:16:39 End Call
                  Press 1 after answering on Obi phone.
                           Obi Log Shows
                                    Direction Inbound
                                    08:19:01 Ringing 
                                    08:19:12  Call Connected
                                    08:19:26  End Call

                  Do not  answer the Obi Phone, do not answer the Cell phone:
                           As expected, call goes to GV VM.

[CoalMinerRetired]

If anhone can help out with an answer or insight here it will be greatly appreciated.

[jimates]

The call screening for Google Chat is different than that for other forwarding phones. You cannot turn off call screening for Google Chat. so the Obi will press one for you by configuration. You can turn off call screening for the other forwarding phones in your google voice settings.

With the Obi pressing one for chat, you will still get the screening on the other phones unless you turn it off.

Answering the call on the Obi and not pressing one is the same as not answering as far as goolge voice goes. The Obi will show that IT connected to the call, but without pressing one the call is not actually answered and will go to google voice mail after the 25 seconds.

[CoalMinerRetired]

The call screening for Google Chat is different than that for other forwarding phones. You cannot turn off call screening for Google Chat. so the Obi will press one for you by configuration. You can turn off call screening for the other forwarding phones in your google voice settings.

With the Obi pressing one for chat, you will still get the screening on the other phones unless you turn it off.


Answering the call on the Obi and not pressing one is the same as not answering as far as goolge voice goes. The Obi will show that IT connected to the call, but without pressing one the call is not actually answered and will go to google voice mail after the 25 seconds.

I understand the first two paragraphs in blue.   However, the third paragraph is confusing. Because I've read on here people are getting/hearing the call screening prompts, and successfully responding to them (with 1, 2, 2, 2 + stay on line, or 4), and I thought you replied somewhere as one of the people who saying you hear the prompts?

In any case, the behavior I am experiencing is as you describe in the third section of the reply.

[ccclapp]

as you say, it's not clear if anyone is successfully been able to set up OBIHAI with Google voice such that they hear the caller's name announced and can then press one or two.  I would very much like to have mine set up this way.

Can anyone confirm whether or not OBIHAI can be configured so we hear the caller's name announced and then press one or two?  If so could they please specify the required settings.  Twenty posts into this thread that simple basic question is still not clearly answered.

Thanks very much

[CoalMinerRetired]

I do agree it's been hard and frustrating to get a clear and definitive answer to that question.

However, I just had a thought on what might be going on here: If jimates statement is true (Answering the call on the Obi and not pressing one is the same as not answering as far as Google Voice goes. ...), as much as I don't want it to be true, I'm tending to believe it is, then possibly the people who are reporting they do have the GV voice prompts working on Obi are in reality forwarding their GV calls to CallCentric (or Simon or whatever) and then picking up the CallCentric call on the Obi, and not the true/real GV line or call. EDIT: This thread, and links in posts 2 and 3: http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=3609.0

Technically, this setup would not be an Obi answering a GV call, to GV the call would appear to be forwarded to another forwarding telephone, which as jimates explains (and which is not in question here), GV call screening works as expected for all forwarding phones, whether they be mobile phones, landlines or VoIP phone numbers.    

If someone could do a brief experiment and confirm this idea, we can assume this is why some people are reporting 'it works' and some, (count me as one), are frustrated they cannot make it work with GV straight to an Obi.


The jimates statement I'm referring to:

Answering the call on the Obi and not pressing one is the same as not answering as far as Google Voice goes. The Obi will show that IT connected to the call, but without pressing one the call is not actually answered and will go to Google Voice mail after the 25 seconds.

[jimates]

Sorry for the absence, been working.

At first I didn't realize the problem was the misunderstanding that there are in fact two separate call screenings when using google voice.

All forwarding phones, except google chat/gmail/Obi, use the main "Call Screening" which is controllable from your google voice page. It was originally called "Call Announce".

Google chat/gmail/Obi have a mandatory call screening that is different from the other one. It does not give the caller name. It only has the "....press 1 to accept .....". The Obi by default presses the 1 for us. If you answer the call in gmail you will always get the prompt, and have to press the 1 yourself.

Anyone that is hearing the main call screening when answering on the Obi must be answering on a service other than google voice.

[CoalMinerRetired]

Not sure you're mistaken or misunderstanding, or if I (we) have a setup issue.  I suspect you're not understanding the issue entirely.

The issue is: When a GV call on the Obi is answered, and with GV Call Screening turned on and Obi X_SkipCallScreening unchecked, we have no GV 'audio' Caller ID/Call Announce and no  "....press 1 to accept .....". We hear nothing whatsoever when we answer the call, total silence on the line, and if we do nothing whatsoever (do not press 1 or 2) after picking up the handset then after 20 seconds +/- the GV call goes to GV Voicemail, even though we answered it.  And, so this point is also clear, since the call rolls to GV VM, that means the caller does not hear any prompts to 'say your name' or any other prompts, he hears ringing until the call rolls to GV VM.

In my experience, this behavior was a big surprise (not documented anywhere, that I can see) and I only accidentally discovered, by accidentally pressing 1 or 2, that even though the Audio Caller ID and the GV Prompts to press 1 or 2 were not there, the call is expecting you to press either 1 or 2 (or else the caller rolls to GV VM).

What I (now others, so we) want to be able to do is have the call screening work on the GV Obi call same as on any other forwarding phone. And we (currently) cannot get that working.  I'm reluctantly leaning toward believing, in spite of what you said above, it will never work.  Although reading what you said above (and reading this in the Obi documentation) at least raises a possibility that some people had (past tense) or have (present tense) it working.  Either that or there's a misunderstanding somewhere.

[jimates]

What I (now others, so we) want to be able to do is have the call screening work on the GV Obi call same as on any other forwarding phone.

This you will not get. As I pointed out in my previous post, there are 2 separate call screenings. One for Google Chat (aka Obi) and one for all other forwarding phones. This is the way google has it.

.....and if we do nothing whatsoever (do not press 1 or 2) after picking up the handset then after 20 seconds +/- the GV call goes to GV Voicemail, even though we answered it.

even though we answered it.
If you don't press 1 or 2, the call was not "answered" (as far as google is concerned) and will/should go to VM.

.....the caller does not hear any prompts to 'say your name' or any other prompts, he hears ringing until the call rolls to GV VM

In order for the caller to hear a prompt to say their name, call screening will have to be turned on under the "calls" setting on your google voice page. Nothing in the Obi settings has anything to do with that.


If the call screening setting is enabled at google voice:
1 - The caller will get a prompt to say their name (or not depending on whether they are a known caller etc).
2 - If you answer the call on one of your forwarding phones, you will get call screening announcement A.
3 - If you answer the call using gmail, you will get call screening announcement B.
4 - If you answer on the Obi, you will get call screening announcement B (or not, depending on the x_skipcallscreening setting of the Obi).

If the call screening setting is not enabled at google voice:
1 - The caller will not get a prompt and will hear ringing.
2 - When you answer one of your forwarding phones you will be directly connected to the caller (no screening).
3 - If you answer the call using gmail, you will get the call screening announcement B.
4 - If you answer on the Obi, you will get call screening announcement B (or not, depending on the x_skipcallscreening setting of the Obi).

As far as hearing silence when you pick up the phone on the Obi, this is definitely an Obi issue. Since you can press 1 while hearing silence, this shows the screening is working as far as google is concerned.

[opuletn]

I was able to get the call screening to work when picking up the call on the Obi110. The drawback is that there is 20 seconds delay from the time I pick up the phone until I hear the announcement to press 1 or 2 to accept or send to voicemail.
If I don't pick up the phone right on the first ring it takes too long and GV will end up sending the caller to voice mail.
My settings in GV Call Screening are "On" and "Ask unkonwn Callers to say their name" unchecked.
My setting on Obi is X_SkipCallScreening unchecked.

The 20 sec delay makes it unusable, so I rather not use the call screening.

[ccclapp]

if I've understood this thread correctly and done my own tests properly,I reach the following conclusion and solution:

Conclusion: because OBi connects to Google voice via a "Google talk" configuration, the default configuration for OBi will not yield proper call announce/call screening.

Solution: to overcome this the workaround is for OBi NOT to receive calls directly from Google Voice, and instead 1) within Google voice add an additional forwarding phone (a phone Google voice forwards too) 2) have that phone be a sip or Skype number which can be can directly accessed by your OBi. 3) on your OBi set up that sip/Skype line to ring while keeping Google voice as your primary outgoing line. [ 4)OPTIONALLY: uncheck the forward to Google talk box within Google voice as it won't be needed since you're not directly accessing incoming calls from your OB].

By doing the above OB does not directly receive Google voice calls, but instead receives them via the new sip, etc. line.  Because this sip line is not accessed through the Google talk method (as a OB does), it properly receives call announce/call screening from Google voice.  Because this sip line is directly accessed by your OBi, the call is instantaneously forwarded from Google voice to OBi with full call announce/call screening capability.

I have tried this and do not find any delay nor quality reduction versus direct access through OB to Google voice.

as stated above, Google voice can remain your primary outgoing trunk.

Good luck

[QBZappy]

ccclapp,

I think that you may have lost CID. That alone could be the deal breaker. All inbound call routes in the OBi rely on obtaining proper CID in order to manipulate the call route.

[ccclapp]

ccclapp,

I think that you may have lost CID. That alone could be the deal breaker. All inbound call routes in the OBi rely on obtaining proper CID in order to manipulate the call route.

QBZappy:  could you be more specific?  I am not having a CID problem that I am aware of.  Under the configuration I described, the CID flow would be:

Incoming call CID-> to Google voice [Google voice set to transmit original call CID]->  Sip line [receiving original call CID passed through Google voice]->  Answered on OBi via direct sip connection to the sip line [receiving original CID and call announce/call screening]

Is there something mistaken in my thinking, or do you mean something other than this?

Thanks

[QBZappy]

By doing the above OB does not directly receive Google voice calls, but instead receives them via the new sip, etc. line. 

I believe that this is what you have described as the call flow:

Leg    1     2      3
Call->GV->sip->OBi

The only way that CID can pass from the second leg to the third leg (OBi) is if the sip provider allows spoofing the CID number. Most voip services providers don't allow this. Once the call reached the OBi, I would expect to see the DID number of the SP and not the original CID. You may be using a SP that does allows spoofing. Who is your voip SP? Call Centric is one provider which allows spoofing.

pc44 has described such a call strategy here:
Callcentric and Google Voice Setup Guide (with CNAM)
http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=3640.msg24230#msg24230