How Get a Phone Number for OBI 110?

[getmeek]

How do I get a phone number for it?  Devices such as Nettalk, Ooma, MagicJack each come with a phone number.

The reason I want a phone number is because apparently GV call screening does not work, if GV forwards to the call to the OBI via "Google Chat," as the OBI instructions demand.  If GV forwards the call to a phone number, then GV call screening works.

[Rick]

You get a number from your GV account...

[CoalMinerRetired]

See the " How to Get Google Voice" tutorial here: http://www.obihai.com/tutorials-tips.html

[RFord]

How do I get a phone number for it?  Devices such as Nettalk, Ooma, MagicJack each come with a phone number.

The reason I want a phone number is because apparently GV call screening does not work, if GV forwards to the call to the OBI via "Google Chat," as the OBI instructions demand.  If GV forwards the call to a phone number, then GV call screening works.

I think you are missing something very critical here.  Nettalk, Ooma, MagicJack are self-contain service providers, while the OBi Devices are just a ATA without any type of PAID service.  Yes, you can configure a free Google Voice Service (which can be set up with a DID), but that is not the "true" nature of the OBi ATA, which can be configured with many paid VOIP service.  The three devices that you mention requires some form of yearly service fee, in addition to the cost of the device.  Of course you could call the OBi number to reach your device, but that requires that the person placing the call to you have an OBi ATA (and I think, an OBi Soft phone).  To sum up, the OBi ATA does not come with any service/DID.  BTW, does Nettalk, Ooma, MagicJack have call screening capabilities?

[hwittenb]

How do I get a phone number for it? 

If you want a separate number you can try this 3-step process:

1.  Go to callcentric.com and get a (free) "IP Freedom" account.  Setup your CallCentric account on SP2 of your OBi.  Verify that the account is "registered" on your OBi System Status Tab.

2.  Go to IPKall and get a free (U.S. Washington State) phone number that you setup to forward by sip uri to your CallCentric account (callcentric_userid@in.callcentric.com).

3.  Setup your GV account to ring your IPKall number when someone calls your GV number.  You will need to go thru Google Voice's verification process where Google Voice rings the number and you enter a code that they give you.  Someone may have previously used the number with Google Voice that IPKall gives you and you may need to reclaim the number.  You need to periodically use the IPKall number or they take it away from you.

[Koby]

The reason I want a phone number is because apparently GV call screening does not work, if GV forwards to the call to the OBI via "Google Chat," as the OBI instructions demand.  If GV forwards the call to a phone number, then GV call screening works.

Actually I do not think that is quite true.  In fact, when a call is sent to Google Chat, there is no way to DISable Call Screening - that is a longstanding known bug in Google Voice.  But since most people don't want that feature, the Obi by default hides it from you by sending a touch tone "1" immediately when you answer the call.  This is controlled by the X_SkipCallScreening setting which can be changed using the Expert Configuration mode of the OBiTalk web portal.

Click the "OBi Expert Configuration" button, "Enter OBi Expert", then click "SPx Service" where SPx is the service provider slot associated with your Google Voice account.  Scroll down to the "Calling Features" section and find the line with "X_SkipCallScreening" on it.  Uncheck all boxes on that line - you might need to first uncheck the "OBiTALK Settings" and "Device Default" boxes on that line, then Submit the page, then go back and uncheck the box next to "X_SkipCallScreening" and Submit the page again.  After you do that, Call Screening should work for you, without the need to use an external phone number.

[getmeek]

Thanks much to Koby.  Your solution is an improvement but does not fully restore GV's call screening feature.  Yes, your solution stops the OBI 110 from automatically punching 1 and thus accepting the call from GV.  Instead, I hear only silence and have the choice of punching 1 to accept the call (from unknown caller) or 2 to send to GV voicemail (while listening in to the person leaving the message).  What is still missing is the GV announcement to me of the identity of the caller.  Is there a way to restore that as well.

[Koby]

Thanks much to Koby.  Your solution is an improvement but does not fully restore GV's call screening feature.  Yes, your solution stops the OBI 110 from automatically punching 1 and thus accepting the call from GV.  Instead, I hear only silence and have the choice of punching 1 to accept the call (from unknown caller) or 2 to send to GV voicemail (while listening in to the person leaving the message).  What is still missing is the GV announcement to me of the identity of the caller.  Is there a way to restore that as well.

I am sorry to hear that it didn't work, and I have no idea why you are not hearing the announcement.  I don't use that feature so I just assumed that if you stopped the Obi from sending the "1" it would work as expected.

So now you are back to needing a DID.  In another thread (http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=5954.0) the subject came up and giqcass said, "Actually Callcentric doesn't have to cost any money.  I'm using it now and paying nothing.  When you sign up for Callcentric use your real address but say you don't plan to use Callcentric in the US.  Then you won't be forced to buy E911 and you won't be charged anything."  So that might be one thing to investigate, depending on how you feel about what he said.  Or you might find something useful under the USA section at http://www.voip-info.org/wiki/view/DID+Service+Providers but be aware that it's likely some or all of the information on that page is quite outdated (and not all are free so read the descriptions carefully).

I notice that it mentions http://phone.ipkall.com/ which is one of the providers some have been using for years to get a free DID, but just keep in mind that if no one calls your number in a 30 day period you will lose it.  My bet is that there is a way those calls could come directly to your Obi (after all if the sip scanners can make your phone ring then there ought to be a way to receive forwarded calls you really want) but you might  need to get a dynamic DNS from a service such as http://freedns.afraid.org/ or http://www.noip.com/personal/ (scroll down to the bottom of the page) and then use that when you sign up for ipkall, and you'd likely need to map port 5060 to your Obi device, and there may be a couple other "gotchas" in that process I am not aware of.  Or you could use a free SIP  service as an intermediary; you'd then have your Obihai register with that and also have ipkall send your calls to that service.  Some people use https://pbxes.com/ for that (I think) and there are more at http://voip.about.com/od/sipandh323/tp/Free-Sip-Providers.htm although again that last list may be outdated. The page at http://forum.voxilla.com/threads/ipkall-to-pbxes.21586/ may help or confuse you. 

Sorry I don't have better answers but I hope you find a solution.  Also you could e-mail support@obihai.com and ask if they know why when you disable the X_SkipCallScreening setting you don't hear the prompts.  They may not know either (might be a Google Voice issue) but it's worth asking, I would think.

[CoalMinerRetired]

I am sorry to hear that it didn't work, and I have no idea why you are not hearing the announcement.  I don't use that feature .
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Also you could e-mail support@obihai.com and ask if they know why when you disable the X_SkipCallScreening setting you don't hear the prompts.  They may not know either (might be a Google Voice issue) but it's worth asking, I would think.

That behavior is by design, and explained here, and here and here for future reference to those reading this thread.  I will also add it's not well documented in the Obi introductory tutorials, and even lightly documented on here, hence almost totally misunderstood by new users.

When I was one of those new users it tripped me up, I kept searching for an answer (how do you enable it?) that does not exist.  The answer is use a forwarding phone.

[Koby]

My thought that it should be possible to get IPKall to come directly to your Obihai device may not be such a great one - see http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=5987.0  and http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=942.0 where others have tried to do that and could not get audio to pass.  So from that it looks like you would need to use an intermediate SIP service so that your Obihai could register with that, then direct your IPKall number to that.

BUT according to http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=1292.0 (see second half of Reply #1) and http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=2266.0 (Reply #1) it should work.  So I don't know.  I guess it depends on how much effort you're willing to put into it.

In one of the above threads you will see a mention of DynDNS.  DynDNS is no longer a good choice for Dynamic DNS, since they are making it harder and harder to keep a free account.  See Reply #9 in the thread at http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=4797.0 for a possibly better alternative. Or if you have an Asus router, see ASUS DDNS Service.