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No incoming calls possible on GV

Started by Michael_Reeder, April 02, 2013, 05:15:58 PM

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Michael_Reeder

When any phone not associated with GV tries to call my GV number, a woman comes on with the message "We could not complete your call, please try again".

I can make outbound calls just fine through my OBi100 and Google Voice.

I am aware of an item in the basic instructions that says this is a Google Voice problem and that it means Google Voice may be temporarily not working.  I'm finding this hard to believe as it has been going on for some time.

Is anyone aware of other possibilities?  I do believe this is a GV problem, but then you all are rather experts on GV too.   ;D

Thanks for any and all leads.
-- Michael

Shale

Quote from: Michael_Reeder on April 02, 2013, 05:15:58 PM
When any phone not associated with GV tries to call my GV number, a woman comes on with the message "We could not complete your call, please try again".

To describe your problem you should say that calls to your GV number come in fine, or you should say that you have not tried that.

Michael_Reeder

Quote from: Shale on April 02, 2013, 07:41:47 PMTo describe your problem you should say that calls to your GV number come in fine, or you should say that you have not tried that.

If I understand your comment correctly... the answer is that calls to my GV number do not come in correctly.  Anyone calling my GV number gets the recording I mentioned that the "we can not complete your call..."

The exception being that if I call my GV number from a phone number registered with GV as a number okay to call voicemail from, then it asks for my PIN number and successfully allows me into GV voicemail. 

-- Michael

CoalMinerRetired

See the link for "Troubleshooting with Google Voice™ " on this page: http://www.obihai.com/support.html

In addition, there are two things to test:
- Temporarily connect your Obi directly to your cable modem bypassing your router, see if that changes anything.
- Test is you you make and receive calls correctly from within a browser via the Goggle Chat/Phone icon in the Gmail account associated with your number.

Michael_Reeder

Quote from: CoalMinerRetired on April 03, 2013, 04:20:40 AM
See the link for "Troubleshooting with Google Voice™ "... Temporarily connect your Obi directly to your cable modem bypassing your router, see if that changes anything... Test is you you make and receive calls correctly from within a browser via the Goggle Chat/Phone icon in the Gmail account associated with your number.

Thanks for this help!  No -- the following do not fix it:

-- Removing and re-adding Google Chat by making a phone call from within gmail.
-- Hooking the OBi100 directly to the router
-- Can't receive calls in Google Chat/Phone icon either

**I DO** think I see the problem -- I am simply NOT being offered the option to check a checkbox to have calls forwarded to Google Chat.  I am looking under settings at my phone list.  I can add and delete Google Chat to and from my phone list -- but I am never given a checkbox to forward calls to Google Chat.

What gives with this???

I remember when I first signed-up with Google Voice having that check box (and checking it).

Thanks,
Michael

Diana

Try a different Browser (e.g., Google Chrome or Internet Explorer) to see if it makes a difference.

Michael_Reeder

Quote from: Diana on April 03, 2013, 07:19:24 AM
Try a different Browser (e.g., Google Chrome or Internet Explorer) to see if it makes a difference.

Different browsers -- a great idea... but no luck.  Tried Firefox, Explorer, and Chrome.

There is a HUGE amount of discussion regarding the disappearing checkbox for forwarding to Google Chat on both the Google Voice forums and the OBiTALK forums back in 2012 and 2011. 

This would seem to be a permanent malfunction that Google (perhaps Obi -- but I think its Google) is simply never going to fix.

Lots of people deleted Google Chat, made a call from gmail, and the problem was fixed.  For the minority (including me) that don't get a fix from this it gets confusing -- looks like I'm out of luck.  There are various solutions of uninstalling and reinstalling everything proposed and one or two people might be reporting success from that -- but mostly not.

Time for me to get a new Google account and new Google Voice number and hope the next one is working?

CoalMinerRetired

Keep a few points in mind here, because this may have changed in GV since those 2011 and 2012 issues were described and reported. 

You have one Google account that has a Google Voice number and Gmail (you can obviously have more than one google account, but for this description we're talking about one). The Google Chat checkbox (as a forwarding phone) is in the GV web page, under Settings > Phones. 

You can make an outgoing GV call from either:

a) The GV webpage, which 'calls you' to 'connect the call' in your Gmail web page if your Obi is disconnected, and if you select the "Phone to call with" as "Google Talk". I'm gonna guess you cannot select Google Talk, you only have your other forwarding phones in the list.  For testing you want the Obi disconnected.

b) You can also place a call from directly in your Gmail web page (again, the Gmail webpage and the GV webpage are two different webpages that you can and usually do have both open simultaneously). For this call you do not select the forwarding phone to use (to 'connect the call').

The test I was asking about is a), specifically test an incoming call.   However, based on your predicament, try incoming and outgoing from all the above possible scenarios and see if the checkbox comes back to re-enable itself.  This is just nothing more than an educated guess at this point. I hope it helps.

Michael_Reeder

#8
Coal Miner -- Thanks for your extensive efforts whether or not they prove fruitful.  Appreciated!

For option (A) above I do in fact have the Google Talk choice as well as another phone (my cell phone).  When I pick my cell phone it works perfectly (calls my cell phone and then connects me to the number I'm trying to reach).  When I select Google Talk it acts like it is trying to connect to Google Talk but Google Talk never recognizes an incoming call and the system gives up after a time.

Have tried option (B) from both GV and gmail different webpages.

Still no checkbox.

It's interesting to note that option (A) is the only time I see my GV number pop-up (when my cell phone is being called).  Normally -- for the outbound calls through the OBi100 -- the target called sees my return number as a California 760 area code number (which when called a Google computer answers).

-- Michael

CoalMinerRetired

This is a wild guess, but given "it acts like it is trying to connect to Google Talk but Google Talk never recognizes an incoming call", try to remove and then reinstall the voice and video chat plug-in, see http://support.google.com/chat/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=161993.

Also note that you'd need to have this plugin installed in each browser where you are trying your tests. 

And one final point, it's far fetched, but there is a possible reason why a broken voice and video chat plug-in in a browser is preventing you Obi device from receiving calls.

Michael_Reeder

Okay -- Trying uninstalling and reinstalling Google Talk.  No luck.

Then -- *IN ABOUT 20 MINUTES* -- created a brand new Google Voice account from scratch and configured it and my OBi100.  WORKS GREAT, PROBLEMS SOLVED.

My outbound calls now reflect my local Google Voice number as well instead of reading on caller ID as a California number of Google's.

Google will end up littered with hundreds or thousands of dormant accounts at this rate, but hey, seems to be what's required to get around this ridiculous problem that just cost us hours and hours of time.

Thanks all very much again for your generosity on this puzzler.
-- Michael

CoalMinerRetired

Quote from: Michael_Reeder on April 03, 2013, 02:18:41 PM
Okay -- Trying uninstalling and reinstalling Google Talk.  No luck.

Then -- *IN ABOUT 20 MINUTES* -- created a brand new Google Voice account from scratch and configured it and my OBi100.  WORKS GREAT, PROBLEMS SOLVED.

My outbound calls now reflect my local Google Voice number as well instead of reading on caller ID as a California number of Google's.

Google will end up littered with hundreds or thousands of dormant accounts at this rate, but hey, seems to be what's required to get around this ridiculous problem that just cost us hours and hours of time.

Thanks all very much again for your generosity on this puzzler.
-- Michael
Something is not clear here (parts in red). If you had your own GV number account, why were your calls showing as G's calif number? That suspiciously sounds like a Gmail account with no GV number/GV account associated with it.

Michael_Reeder

I just took another look through both the malfunctioning account and the new working account...  both accounts have gmail and GV associated with them.  Both list the gmail email address along with the associated Google Chat "phone" in the Settings area (the malfunctioning one minus the forwarding checkbox).

It does not make any sense.  That I agree on!

-- Michael

DonJ

Go to Obi Talk where you first set up the system with GV and redo it. That may work. Wait the two minutes as instructed.