OBi110: Tiny affordable PBX supporting multiple SIP trunks and Google Voice!

[Frunple]

Thanks to you both.

Frunple - Interesting thought to be able to have a "dial plan". Would that mean I could hit a star-something to get a GV dialtone - the rest of the time it could be POTS?
For now I intend to just have a GV phone only, no POTS connection. Maybe in the dead of winter when I get some time I can play with it more.

You could hit something, or you can set the dial plan to do it automatically.
**1 then number will use the service provider 1
**2 service provider 2
**8 POTS
**9 obi network

edit:the above assumes you didn't change the default digitmap on the Phone port.

They actually call it a "digitmap" but it's a dial plan in any other sip environment. This can get really complicated but you can set a plan to use the GV for outbound (yes the free GV does outbound, not sure why anyone would think it wouldn't?) for even one number you dial. If you look at a dial plan, an "x" is a wild card. So in my job we provide DID's that would be, say, 516-123-1000 through 1010. A plan for this would include 516-123-10xx which would allow all the DID's. So If you want to dial 203-123-4567 over the GV only, everytime you call that number, you can do it with a dial plan.
Like I said, it can get very complicated though.

 

[apostolakisl]

set a plan to use the GV for outbound (yes the free GV does outbound, not sure why anyone would think it wouldn't?) .

Well, if you check out goolge's features page it gives you three options for making an outbound call. None of which include picking up a regular phone and dialing.

1) Call your own GV number, type in a code and the outgoing number, hang up, it calls you back at your GV number, calls the other person, and connects. Not what I would call a normal outbound connection.

2) Use your pc to enter an outgoing call number, it calls both your GV phone and the other person's phone and connects. Again, not a normal outbound connection technique.

3) Use an application on your android phone. Again, not normal, but closest yet.

It gives no options for picking up a regular analog phone in your house, dialing a number like normal, and having it connect. It would appear that OBI110 is connecting you that way and I was wrong to think that it was placed via Sprint, but it that is why you might think that.

 

[damage]

Well, if you check out goolge's features page it gives you three options for making an outbound call. None of which include picking up a regular phone and dialing.

1) Call your own GV number, type in a code and the outgoing number, hang up, it calls you back at your GV number, calls the other person, and connects. Not what I would call a normal outbound connection.

2) Use your pc to enter an outgoing call number, it calls both your GV phone and the other person's phone and connects. Again, not a normal outbound connection technique.

3) Use an application on your android phone. Again, not normal, but closest yet.

It gives no options for picking up a regular analog phone in your house, dialing a number like normal, and having it connect. It would appear that OBI110 is connecting you that way and I was wrong to think that it was placed via Sprint, but it that is why you might think that.

http://obihai.com/googlevoice.html

 

[electron]

Both my wife and I have probably spent hours on the phone now, making outgoing calls, using only the Google Voice service, so it definitely supports it.

 

[Monk]

Got it setup with an old analog phone. Works great making / receiving calls. I am still a bit confused about the setup - Under the GT forwarding settings, I had to select Google Talk as well as Mobile phone. If I want to setup custom ring schedule, which of these 2 is really doing the work here?

 

[Frunple]

Got it setup with an old analog phone. Works great making / receiving calls. I am still a bit confused about the setup - Under the GT forwarding settings, I had to select Google Talk as well as Mobile phone. If I want to setup custom ring schedule, which of these 2 is really doing the work here?

I'm gonna assume you meant "Under [GV] forwarding settings" and you had to select "Google Chat" as well as mobile.
If so, forwarding to google chat is what allows the obi to receive the calls. Forwarding to the mobile allows the mobile to receive the calls. You do not need both unless you want both to ring when called. IE, when I want to reach the wife, I just call her GV number which will then ring her cell AND the home at the same time. She has to be at one of them, right???
The one caveat here is the answering machine, she still likes to be able to walk in and press a button to get her messages instead of a voicemail type. When the GV number is called, the obi rings first, then a couple of seconds later the mobile rings. So you have to set the answering machines to pick up on 6 or even 8 rings in order for the mobile to ring enough before the answering machine picks up. Once either one is answered the other stops ringing.

 

[Monk]

I'm gonna assume you meant "Under [GV] forwarding settings" and you had to select "Google Chat" as well as mobile.
If so, forwarding to google chat is what allows the obi to receive the calls. Forwarding to the mobile allows the mobile to receive the calls. You do not need both unless you want both to ring when called. IE, when I want to reach the wife, I just call her GV number which will then ring her cell AND the home at the same time. She has to be at one of them, right???
The one caveat here is the answering machine, she still likes to be able to walk in and press a button to get her messages instead of a voicemail type. When the GV number is called, the obi rings first, then a couple of seconds later the mobile rings. So you have to set the answering machines to pick up on 6 or even 8 rings in order for the mobile to ring enough before the answering machine picks up. Once either one is answered the other stops ringing.

Thanks Frunple -
Yes that is what I meant. Our GV number is one we only want to ring during daylight hours and on weekdays. I am experimenting now with the GV ring schedule for the Google Chat fwd and it still rings the analog phone, even when set to not ring on weekends. Setting the Cell Phone GV ring schedule DOES make a difference.

 

[Monk]

OK - Frunple was correct, even though the setup instructions had me to select the GV Cellphone, it does NOT have to be checked. Only the Google Talk device needs selected to fwd to the Obi. Using the custom ring schedule on GV works fine, and as expected.

 

[fwd03]

Three questions,
1) what is international calling rate to Australia and UK?
2) What will happen at 2012, how much will Google charge for GV?
3) Can GV number be transferred to another VOIP provider?

 

[Frunple]

Three questions,
1) what is international calling rate to Australia and UK?

As far as I know it's 1 cent to anywhere, could be wrong but try google.com/voice

2) What will happen at 2012, how much will Google charge for GV?

No one knows how much yet but I will bet it won't be much... $10 - $20 maybe? That could just be wishful thinking.

3) Can GV number be transferred to another VOIP provider?

You can port any number to anyone. There are some tricks needed sometimes though. Like porting a home number to google, you need to port to a mobile provider first, then port to google within the trial period from the mobile provider so you can cancel with no penalties.

 

[fwd03]

I am currently using VOIP.ms and CallCentric, both charge about same as google voice to Australia and UK.
To have an incoming phone number, they charge less than $3 a month.
VOIP.ms allows setting your outgoing number as your cell phone number or home phone number.
CallCentric has iPhone apps allowing to make call to anywhere through wifi on iPhone, so that
I can call my mother in Australia anywhere from iPhone.

If google-voice is not committed to be free forever, I don't see the point to give up my callcentric and VOIP.ms
services.

 

[electron]

Just a quick update. This device has been really great, not a single issue, plus it seems to work with my ELK panel (at least for voice calls), as I found out this morning at 5AM when it called me to let me know there was a power outage (didn't expect it since I got rid of my landline a while ago, so I obviously stopped getting those calls).

Great device, no service problems, paid for itself already, so if Google Voice doesn't stay free (or really cheap), I'll just starting using my VoIP.ms trunk.

 

[etc6849]

I've developed a perl script based on Damage's work so that I can get the caller id information into my HA server.

The code below will create a socket for your HA software to connect to. Once your HA software connects to it, the script will forward a copy of all syslog traffic to your HA software. The code is meant to run on it's own. Install Active Perl (32-bit version) to run (if using windows). You'll have to run the script at start-up. Note the forwarded syslog traffic will only include the plain text ascii characters ($20 to $7E). For simplicity, the code only supports one client connection (e.g. only one Home automation server can connect at a time).

Using the forwarded traffic, Premise (the free HA program I use) will have a custom driver written that will tell you: who called, hook status, VOIP/internet connection status, missed calls etc...

PS: I'm very impressed with the versatility of Perl. Feel free to comment on the code (so I can learn). This is my first perl script and I'm not a programmer...

use IO::Socket::INET;
# create a socket to serve syslog data to home automation server
$socket = new IO::Socket::INET(LocalPort => '5000', Proto => 'tcp', Listen => 1, Reuse => 1);
die "Could not create socket: $!\n" unless $socket;
print "Waiting for client connection on port 5000.\n";
# wait for client to connect before proceeding
wait_for_client_connection();
#start writing syslog data to client
$syslog = IO::Socket::INET->new(Proto => 'udp', LocalPort => '515');
die "Could not create syslog socket: $!\n" unless $syslog;
print "Syslog server is online.\n";
#if $syslog is defined, then continuously monitor the socket for incoming data
while (defined($syslog))
{
recv($syslog,$msg,1500,0);
 
# clean up msg some
print $msg;
$msg =~ s/[^\x{20}-\x{7E}]//g;
#$msg =~ s/[^A-Za-z <>0-9\-\.]//g;
# try to send a line to the client (home automation server),
# next we will check result so we know socket is still connected
$resultsend = $client_socket -> send("$msg\r\n");
 
# if socket is nolonger connected, wait for a new client connection
if (!$resultsend)
{
print "Client connection is lost.\n";
print "Waiting for new client connection...\n";
close $client_socket;
wait_for_client_connection();
}
}
close($syslog);
print $client_socket "Goodbye!\n";
close($socket);
sub wait_for_client_connection()
{
# client connection is lost, so wait for reconnect
$clientnotaccepted = 1;
while($clientnotaccepted)
{
# wait for new client connection.
# continue once client is connected...
$client_socket = $socket->accept();
$clientnotaccepted = 0;
}
print "Accepted new client connection.\n";
}

 

[etc6849]

Could folks who are using the OBi110 with something other than Google Voice, please post or PM syslog caller id and hook data (remember to replace the last four digits of your phone number with xxxx)? I'm developing an OBi110 driver for Premise and I only have a GV to test with

You can gather this data for free by using the perl script above or Kiwi Syslog.

Thanks!

 

[damage]

gv calls for u.s. & canada will be free through '12 http://goo.gl/nkFQQ