How To: Use Google Voice and OBi

[Danielle]

Hi QBZappy,

Thanks for your help, but I just tried again tonight, and it's still not working.  Google Talk is supposedly up and running as of right now according to their site...

The thing is that my Obi device is still showing up as "BACKING OFF" on my dashboard... Can you help me?

I'm also very new at this, so please pardon my questions if they are basic... But what lights on my Obi need to be on/flashing in order to be sure that everything is connected properly?  All that's lit up on mine is the green power light (it's steadily on).  I tried the Echo-test with Obi and that worked, but anytime I try making a call via my phone, I get an error message stating, "There is no service available to complete your call."

Can you help me?  I'm desperately trying to make this work at this point.   

Thanks so much,
Danielle

[QBZappy]

Danielle,

Hi there. Try using the OBitalk portal to set up GV. It should be the simplest way to do it. If you don't succeed, we'll take from there.

[jimates]

Backing off usually indicates a login conflict. wrong username or password.

Go to the portal and delete your google voice, click the trash can to the right of your google account. Then set it up again.

[Danielle]

Hi all,

Thanks for the support.  I definitely had no issues with my login credentials.  I had a couple of confusing issues, and with the help of the Obi support staff and personal troubleshooting, I got them resolved.  One of the problems was due to a setting the Obi staff member within the ObiExpert portion of my Dashboard, so that problem we fixed only after he realized he made a mistake with my settings.  The other issue though is as follows:


(For the sake of helping people who have difficulty in the future, please check this out:)

While my email account was set up just 2 years ago, it was assigned to an "@googlemail.com" account address.  At this time now, all gmail accounts are assigned "@gmail.com".  While any emails sent to my username@gmail.com STILL deliver to me at the "@googlemail.com" address, if I sign into my account and look at my email address within my gmail account settings, it shows the "@googlemail.com" listed as the account name.  Therefore, in setting this GV account up in my Obi, I realized after trying around that I had to input my email address within my Obi Device page as the @googlemail.com address and not the @gmail.com one. While this seems obvious now, I didn't even think to check to see what the suffix of my gmail account was.  Because I always hand out my email address as the standard @gmail.com address name and always receive emails with that, I didn't even think twice about this.

I then had to go into my GV account settings and make sure that the forwarding to my googlechat was selected for the @googlemail.com address name, as BOTH the @gmail.com and the @googlemail.com addresses were displayed there.  Obviously only selecting the @gmail.com address would mean my Obi/phone would NOT ring with incoming calls because the email account I finally established in my Obi device was done using the @googlemail.com name (just wanted to add the additional explanation to other newer users who might be struggling with the concepts).

Hope this helps others in the future that may not have even thought about this when attempting to set up their accounts in Obi.

Thanks to those of you who even posted with a reply    I'm relatively new to the world of forums but find it fascinating that strangers always seem to come together to help one another.

D 

[jimates]

That is exactly what is meant by login credential conflicts.

[Miichael]

Can someone please HELP me figure out how to even get my Google Voice Telephone Number to start with...........in the Setup, when I get to "CHOOSE A NUMBER" I type in in the first box my Area Code, then in the second box I have tried both, "IAM MIKE" and the Numbers corresponding to that....everytime it says something like it can't find that number...I am not trying to find it I am trying to establish/request it?  Then it also cam back andd asked me to type in my Area Code or city in the prefix box?
    I am 73 years old and am trying to save 30-40 dollars a month by purchasing one of these.....but have been told, rightly so, I hate to admit, on this Help FOrum this is about OBI and not Google and also you are probably best sending back your OBI 100 because apparently much to difficult technically for you.
    Can someone here PLEASE muster up some CHRISTmas Spirit and possibly walk me thru this process after I get my Obi100 - it is supposed to arrive here tomorrow - I'd sure more than appreciate it!!!

Thanks,  michael     

Possibly a pm and I could phone some Good Samaritan Techophile after I get the Money Saver delivered here in Beavertoin, Oregon.

[QBZappy]

Miichael,

If you submit a proof of age, you will qualify for the good Samaritan Christmas special. When you are ready let us know.

[Rick]

The number you asked for is taken.  Just take a number off their list.
I strongly recommend you return the OBi.  It is going to be beyond your ability to manage.  I would not have my 75 year old mother get an OBi, as the setup is beyond her, as is the need to reboot every so often. 

[Ostracus]

I wouldn't worry overly about it. Usually once you set it up, you don't have to mess with it, much.

In fact I think Obihai had people like you in mind when they conceived of selling their devices to third-part providers who then remotely deal with all the niggling details usually involved with telephony.

[Rick]

I wouldn't worry overly about it. Usually once you set it up, you don't have to mess with it, much.

In fact I think Obihai had people like you in mind when they conceived of selling their devices to third-part providers who then remotely deal with all the niggling details usually involved with telephony.

I agree.  Without that third party support, it isn't the right solution for some.  My mother calls weekly - PC needs to be rebooted and she forgot how, when she logs into Comcast for her email they moved things, ...

[QBZappy]

Michael,

Merry Christmas.

I hope you are enjoying your early Christmas gift.

BEST--
QBZappy

[WillyT812]

A little help possibly. I bought an Obi100 back in Nov while still residing in Kaysville Utah. I got both a gmail account and Google Voice account. I read through the tutorials and linked the Obi to my Google Voice account with the newly acquired Google Voice number. I have a Tmobile cell phone which I used as my phone to establish the Google voice number. My problem is this, I can call out fine but for the life of me can't get the Google number to ring. Anytime someone calls the Google number my cell phone rings. I've read through the troubleshooting guide on Obi's that don't ring using Google Voice...still...no joy. On Google voice I have it configured to forward calls to Google Chat. My mobile number is listed as well, I've tried forwarding to that number and not with no difference in service...Obi won't ring. Ideas?

[Rick]

A little help possibly. I bought an Obi100 back in Nov while still residing in Kaysville Utah. I got both a gmail account and Google Voice account. I read through the tutorials and linked the Obi to my Google Voice account with the newly acquired Google Voice number. I have a Tmobile cell phone which I used as my phone to establish the Google voice number. My problem is this, I can call out fine but for the life of me can't get the Google number to ring. Anytime someone calls the Google number my cell phone rings. I've read through the troubleshooting guide on Obi's that don't ring using Google Voice...still...no joy. On Google voice I have it configured to forward calls to Google Chat. My mobile number is listed as well, I've tried forwarding to that number and not with no difference in service...Obi won't ring. Ideas?

I assume you followed the instructions and made 1 call using the Gmail Call function?

[WillyT812]

I did follow the instructions and can make calls from my gmail browser page without any problems. No problems calling from the phones I've got hooked up to the Obitalk. Last week I moved to Germany and the phones and gmail calling are dailing back to the states just fine. I'm going to be here for three to five years. I'd love for this thing to work.

My problem is getting the darn things to ring here. They wouldn't ring in the short time I had them stateside either so I don't think that's the problem. I hate to go Vonage with their charges but my wife is getting fed up with me trying to get the Obitalk solution to work. Any ideas? I still have a stateside cell phone but pretty soon I'm going to cut that off, does Obi have to have a working stateside phone to work? What good is an obi if I have to have a working POTS or cell?

[Felix]

WillyT812,
Welcome to the forum. Do you mind creating a new post; possible in New to Using the OBi / VoIP. Let's not pollute a sticky
Thanks

[jbinkc]

Quoting from this post:
"Because the Obi110 uses the Google Chat feature of G-mail, it is recommended that you not open your G-mail page in your browser while receiving calls to the Obi110. Incoming calls may not be routed to the ATA if the G-mail page is open."

Can this be correct?  I have my Gmail open almost all the time.  What am I missing here?

[deloop]

I have google voice as my sp on Obi 100 working.  the question I have is, can u use the same google voice account to make calls from the computer when you are away from the phone?

[jwcmb]

Quoting from this post:
"Because the Obi110 uses the Google Chat feature of G-mail, it is recommended that you not open your G-mail page in your browser while receiving calls to the Obi110. Incoming calls may not be routed to the ATA if the G-mail page is open."

Can this be correct?  I have my Gmail open almost all the time.  What am I missing here?

I was skeptical too, so I tried it today. While logged into GMail, I called my GV number and the phone connected to my Obi110 rang.  

As expected (since the Obi takes over GTalk), I got no notification of an incoming call in GTalk.  So that, I think, is the real cautionary note.  Let's say you are using your laptop away from where your Obi device is, and you don't use the ObiON PC  App or setup some equivalent functionality, you can't expect to receive an incoming GTalk call.  

[jwcmb]

I have google voice as my sp on Obi 100 working.  the question I have is, can u use the same google voice account to make calls from the computer when you are away from the phone?

Yes, I just tried it.  While logged into GMail, I used GTalk to make a call out.  Please note my previous message in this thread with the caution about not being notified of incoming calls in GTalk if you've set up that account on your Obi device (unless you setup the ObiON PC App or some equivalent functionality on your computer, ).

[SteveInWA]

Quoting from this post:
"Because the Obi110 uses the Google Chat feature of G-mail, it is recommended that you not open your G-mail page in your browser while receiving calls to the Obi110. Incoming calls may not be routed to the ATA if the G-mail page is open."

Can this be correct?  I have my Gmail open almost all the time.  What am I missing here?

I was skeptical too, so I tried it today. While logged into GMail, I called my GV number and the phone connected to my Obi110 rang.  

As expected (since the Obi takes over GTalk), I got no notification of an incoming call in GTalk.  So that, I think, is the real cautionary note.  Let's say you are using your laptop away from where your Obi device is, and you don't use the ObiON PC  App or setup some equivalent functionality, you can't expect to receive an incoming GTalk call.  

Just to be clear/complete/OCD about this:

I'm one of the contributors over on the Google Voice forum (aka Bluescat), and we get a lot of confusion over this:

To work with Google Voice, OBi devices emulate a computer (PC or Mac) running the Google Voice & Video Chat web browser plugin (which is the XMPP client that you are using when you make a call from Gmail).  Whichever client is the last to communicate with the host will be the client that gets the inbound calls (Note, I am not considering the additional magic the OBi 202s can now do to ring multiple OBis on a GV call).

Why does this matter?  Because, if your OBi logs into Google as the chat client, it will receive calls.  If you then log into Gmail, and you have the chat client installed on your browser and it's enabled in its settings, IT will receive the calls for a while, at least until the OBi registers again, and so on.

And, gawd help you, if you are using one of the third-party Google Chat emulators on iOS or Android (Talkatone, GrooVe IP, or Mo+), THEY can hog the inbound calls for that Google ID.  Again, last one to register/re-register wins.

If you ever want/need to troubleshoot this, do the following:

• Unplug your OBi
• Log into your Gmail account from a web browser
• Look in the lower right side of the screen for "Last Account Activity:".  Click "Details" underneath it.
• Click the button to sign out of all other sessions, even if it says there are none
• Log out of Gmail
• Plug your OBi back in.  Now, it will be the most recent client to log in to GV Chat

That's why many of use us a separate, dedicated Google account for our OBi devices.