PSA: Google shutting off XMPP based calls (no more GV with Obihai and other things)

[SunnyD]

What kind of cool shit can you do? Can you give specific examples?

All this nerd talk has me hot and bothered :awe:

Oh RossMAN, you know I'd do anything for you! :twisted:

Ever want an IVR on your home phone? "If you know your party's extension, dial it now..."

Or an extension of that, I can automatically call screen automated callers. Ask the caller to dial a digit or sequence of digits to prove they're human within a certain amount of time, if that doesn't happen the call gets dumped.

Or an extension of that, once a call gets dumped it automatically gets blacklisted and will get answered with an "Out of service" message henceforth.

Whitelisting and integration with contact lists, etc.

Enough of that...

Did I mention I can receive faxes on my VOIP line? Right to my inbox? Did I mention I can also send faxes right from my VOIP portal? (If I were to pay a little more I could even send faxes right from email).

Feeling lazy?

I have a PBX. I have 4 extensions in my house. I sit at my desk downstairs. I hate yelling. My kids play upstairs. I dial the upstairs extension, the one of the kids pick up, and my ass never leaves my chair, no yelling involved.

Ring groups? Back lines?

My "main" number calls in to a ring group. It rings ALL the extensions at once. Whichever picks up gets the call. My second number (my old number I ported in) I set up specifically to detect my cell phone's caller ID (whitelist) and run it through a custom inbound route. If I call in on the second line on my cell, my system automatically plays a prompt to dial an extension, and will let me ring any individual extension in the house rather than ALL of them. Useful for when my wife and I go out at night and the little ones are in bed and we need to call to check in with the sitter, but don't want the upstairs phone to ring.

Out and about? I can still get my calls...

Assuming I have a sufficiently fast internet connection, I can VPN into my home network and connect to my VOIP server using a softphone on my cell phone (I use CSipSimple). Basically, it's just like being at home. If someone calls my home number, it would ring on my cell too. I could dial extensions in my house as is I were at home. Etc.

Lines, lines everywhere are lines...

I mentioned I pay a total of $4.80/month as my "flat" fee for 2 DIDs and E911 service, plus $0.01/min outbound calling. That $4.80/month gets me 2 channels per DID. So basically, I have FOUR lines serving the house. That's FOUR simultaneous calls. Inbound and/or outbound. That doesn't include any internal calls (ie: extension to extension). So imagine, if you will, the fact that I have two pre-teen girls in the house. It means I don't have to worry about getting a busy signal. For $4.80/month. (YMMV will depend on which VOIP provider you go with of course, but Anveo rocks)

Speaking of VOIP providers, routes...

This should appeal to the Ferengi in you RossMAN. I could, hypothetically, if I wanted to subscribe to MULTIPLE VOIP providers for my trunks. I could set it up so that if particular calls were cheaper with one provider than another to preferentially use the cheaper provider for those specific calls.

The sky is the limit as to how extensive you want to get with this. Hell, you could even become a reseller and resell VOIP services if you so desire.

You ready to tear off my waffles yet RossMAN?

 

[twinrider1]

...(my old number I ported in)...

What was the porting process? Just curious if the number was with a LEC and if there was a fee to port it.

E911 service...

Do you trust E911?


(And thanks for the posts on your PBX. Very interesting. I'm considering dumping my land line).

 

[SunnyD]

What was the porting process? Just curious if the number was with a LEC and if there was a fee to port it.

With Anveo - fill out a form, email it to their port department. They often run a special where there is no port fee if you prepay the DID for 12 months (minimum on Personal Unlimited though - that's the $2/month DID). Number was ported in about a week.

Do you trust E911?

(And thanks for the posts on your PBX. Very interesting. I'm considering dumping my land line).

Nope. I don't trust POTS 911 or cell 911 either, since I've had experience with both. They're all the same, at least for where I live. You're better off knowing your local emergency numbers directly no matter what.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

SunnyD, most of what you just described can be done with just an Obihai (or any other SIP adapter) and a quality Voip provider, no home server required. You're making it sound too complicated, which may steer some away from Anveo or Voip altogether.

I use Voip.ms, and do ring groups (business calls ring home + work + mobile), voicemail to email, Caller ID filtering, time conditions (business calls go straight to voicemail after 7pm), and phone book (speed dial, give callerID to numbers without, change my callerID per number, etc). Other options are available that I don't use, such as Digital Receptionist (IVR), calling queues, SMS messaging, SIP URI's, and DISA (similar to a calling card service). I use softphones strictly for callerID popups on my PCs, but could use them for calls if I wanted to.

All of these options can be overwhelming to some people, but you don't have to use them if you don't want to, and customer service can help with those options you do want to use. Callcentric's website is easier to navigate/use, plus they do bulk plans for those who need it, so I would recommend them as well.

Total for two lines is $4.48 ($1.49 per line + $1.50 for e911 for home) plus $0.0125/min (ported numbers are $0.015/min). My average monthly cost is ~$13.50 total, and yes, Anveo may be cheaper but I'm satisfied for now. Porting is $25 but they sometimes run specials for $10.

 

[Ns1]

Feeling lazy?

yes. how about I give you a 6 pack and you set that up for me.


lol

 

[ponyo]

It was only matter of time before the free ride ended. I'm still riding the free Ooma gravy train. Who knows when Ooma Ponzi scheme will end. I think I hade mine for like 5-6 years so it has long paid for itself. Zero taxes and junk fees. Grandfathered Ooma FTW.

 

[SunnyD]

SunnyD, most of what you just described can be done with just an Obihai (or any other SIP adapter) and a quality Voip provider, no home server required. You're making it sound too complicated, which may steer some away from Anveo or Voip altogether.

I use Voip.ms, and do ring groups (business calls ring home + work + mobile), voicemail to email, Caller ID filtering, time conditions (business calls go straight to voicemail after 7pm), and phone book (speed dial, give callerID to numbers without, change my callerID per number, etc). Other options are available that I don't use, such as Digital Receptionist (IVR), calling queues, SMS messaging, SIP URI's, and DISA (similar to a calling card service). I use softphones strictly for callerID popups on my PCs, but could use them for calls if I wanted to.

All of these options can be overwhelming to some people, but you don't have to use them if you don't want to, and customer service can help with those options you do want to use. Callcentric's website is easier to navigate/use, plus they do bulk plans for those who need it, so I would recommend them as well.

Total for two lines is $4.48 ($1.49 per line + $1.50 for e911 for home) plus $0.0125/min (ported numbers are $0.015/min). My average monthly cost is ~$13.50 total, and yes, Anveo may be cheaper but I'm satisfied for now. Porting is $25 but they sometimes run specials for $10.

I never said you couldn't. With Anveo's UI, they make things ridiculously easy for people in general. I haven't played with voip.ms in forever, and sipgate is shut down. You still have to know something about how all of that works anyway... it's not as simple as plugging your ATA in and thinking all that shit magically happens.

The difference is in my house, it's MY pbx server which does all of that. I can do ANYTHING I want to do as long as I can figure out how to do it. I'm just paying for the trunks.

yes. how about I give you a 6 pack and you set that up for me.


lol

If I could find a beer that was actually palatable, sure. Of course, I could hypothetically "host" your VOIP for you right of my own server if I really wanted to. There's no reason to, but it's something that I *could* do. Why? Because I can.

 

[spittledip]

Like I said, if you already have an Obi, you're good to go. No server needed.

I run a server because I wanted REAL voip phones - and I wanted several of them, not POTS handsets. Plus I wanted the experience of being able to run an actual VOIP setup. I also run a server because I can... I put a ESXi server up because I wanted to replace the plastic box consumer routers with something more powerful (pfSense), be able to mirror my colocated VPSes, have a file server and media server for the house, have a central PVR for the house, have a VPN server for the house... and it just so happen that I could also run a VOIP server on it too! Behold: The power of VMs.

Is it overkill? Fuck yes. But it's what I do and it drives my wife nuts.

Running Anveo + an ATA like an Obi will be basically like using Vonage.

I've thought about running a freepbx/asterisk server, but phones like Snoms are a bit expensive. I suppose it pays for itself in the long run, i.e. 2 dollars for one DID instead of 30-40$ for landline service.

Also, I don't know the ins and outs of hardware needed etc. I think the hardware can be software emulated (like not needing one of those phone cards like a Digium or Sangoma and using software emulation instead), but I am not sure about stuff like that. Of course there needs to be some type of signal translation so not sure if hardware emulation can do this...? Anyway, The idea is a bit appealing though.. And I am about to set up a Bacula server in the shed, so maybe a phone server on top of it would be cool too...

 

[twinrider1]

I'm really interested in this pbx topic, but I'm starting to think it should be it's own thread.

SunnyD, would you be up for that?

 

[SunnyD]

I've thought about running a freepbx/asterisk server, but phones like Snoms are a bit expensive. I suppose it pays for itself in the long run, i.e. 2 dollars for one DID instead of 30-40$ for landline service.

Also, I don't know the ins and outs of hardware needed etc. I think the hardware can be software emulated (like not needing one of those phone cards like a Digium or Sangoma and using software emulation instead), but I am not sure about stuff like that. Of course there needs to be some type of signal translation so not sure if hardware emulation can do this...? Anyway, The idea is a bit appealing though.. And I am about to set up a Bacula server in the shed, so maybe a phone server on top of it would be cool too...

You can pick up second hand higher end Cisco, Grandstream, Avaya, etc., phones for cheap if you take the time to look. My Snom m3 cost me $50 for example.

I'm really interested in this pbx topic, but I'm starting to think it should be it's own thread.

SunnyD, would you be up for that?

I'm by no means an expert at the subject. I'm just a hobby home user.

 

[Crow550]

Groove IP and Talkatone on there FB pages have said there farewells too.

I hope Google releases there own ATA box or does release a development kit for 3rd parties like Obi? Or partner or purchase Obihai.

Just have to wait and see what Google says about all this.... I'm sure Google knows of people who use this as a Landline replacement and will figure out something.... Hope they add an option for 911 calling too....

 

[DesiPower]

Why is your old laptop still unused? chutiye

 

[manly]

Groove IP and Talkatone on there FB pages have said there farewells too.

I hope Google releases there own ATA box or does release a development kit for 3rd parties like Obi? Or partner or purchase Obihai.

Just have to wait and see what Google says about all this.... I'm sure Google knows of people who use this as a Landline replacement and will figure out something.... Hope they add an option for 911 calling too....

Google doesn't care, how many popular products have they shut down in recent years?

 

[Narse]

Man I have always wanted to set up my own PBX. I know about networks etc but the phone stuff I am clueless on. I may have to load up frepbx in a vm on my server and see if I can figure it out. PM me a referral for Anveo also. I will need it if I can get the PBX working.

 

[SunnyD]

Why is your old laptop still unused? chutiye

Way to go quoting the spammer's link.

Man I have always wanted to set up my own PBX. I know about networks etc but the phone stuff I am clueless on. I may have to load up frepbx in a vm on my server and see if I can figure it out. PM me a referral for Anveo also. I will need it if I can get the PBX working.

That's pretty much exactly what I ended up doing. Though I used a phone directly with Anveo for a while first to get an idea of what was going on, since I could do that. If you need just one phone, that's the easiest thing to do. If you want multiple phones... actual voip phones that is, or the flexibility of your own PBX, then yes, your own PBX is where it's at. It can be worth the headaches.

So far the only "major" issues I've encountered are one failed SIP registration which was really due to my own fault (I was tinkering), and then most recently inbound calls to one of my DIDs were going straight to my provider voicemail box (not my PBX voicemail box) because the line always appeared to be "BUSY" which was odd. I'm not entirely certain why that happened, but my best guess was one of the recent module updates for FreePBX hosed up the inbound route. The fix was simply to re-save and re-apply the route (no changes made), and it was working again. Two mouse clicks. About an hour and change of head-scratching and diagnosing though. Oddly enough, it didn't affect my second DID at all.

PM coming atcha Narse...

 

[notposting]

Looking at the various developer posts, it really becomes clear that it has nothing to do with security, or TOS violations. It is simply Google dumping xmpp and not wanting to announce "As part of our move to closed, proprietary solutions, encouraging ecosystem lockin, we are dumping xmpp and breaking previously published API's and access."

I wonder if gtalk through other clients via xmpp (ie, Pidgin) will be breaking soon as well.

 

[amdskip]

I'm keeping my obi until she shuts down. I'll have to figure out something before the end though as we really do use it.

 

[Crow550]

Looking at the various developer posts, it really becomes clear that it has nothing to do with security, or TOS violations. It is simply Google dumping xmpp and not wanting to announce "As part of our move to closed, proprietary solutions, encouraging ecosystem lockin, we are dumping xmpp and breaking previously published API's and access."

I wonder if gtalk through other clients via xmpp (ie, Pidgin) will be breaking soon as well.

Yes as Google Talk is merged with Hangouts. They are shutting down G-Talk which is the source of XMPP.

So Google is pretty much doing what Skype is.... So they may come out with there own hardware too.

Hopefully Google will announce something soon for users of Obi and such. Be it hardware by them or a development kit.... Right now it's too soon to know.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Groove IP and Talkatone on there FB pages have said there farewells too.

I hope Google releases there own ATA box or does release a development kit for 3rd parties like Obi? Or partner or purchase Obihai.

Just have to wait and see what Google says about all this.... I'm sure Google knows of people who use this as a Landline replacement and will figure out something.... Hope they add an option for 911 calling too....

Talkatone was awesome. Allowed me to call home when I was studying abroad.

 

[Anonemous]

As of today GV still working on my Obi...

 

[swanysto]

Yes as Google Talk is merged with Hangouts. They are shutting down G-Talk which is the source of XMPP.

So Google is pretty much doing what Skype is.... So they may come out with there own hardware too.

Hopefully Google will announce something soon for users of Obi and such. Be it hardware by them or a development kit.... Right now it's too soon to know.

That is what I was going to say, except I was going to add that google's version will turn into youtube, where there will be 5-30 seconds ads when making phone calls. But fear not, if you receive X amount of calls a month, you can be put on their partnership program and make some money.

 

[momeNt]

You can feed a carrier pigeon for somewhere around $15 for a years supply of food. And you get a companion out of it.

 

[dbk]

So what are my options..i have the tmobile $30 plan and would consider using one of these service should my need for minutes increase...

 

[Mojoed]

GV/Obihai is still working for me as well.

 

[Crow550]

So what are my options..i have the tmobile $30 plan and would consider using one of these service should my need for minutes increase...

If you own an Android phone. Your options now is to wait. If you own an iPhone just use the Hangouts app.

Just wait till Hangouts on Android gets voip calling.

Or if 3rd parties like GrooveIP or Talkatone use the new official calling API that Google released: https://developers.google.com/+/hangouts/telephone-oauth and keep in mind the old way was always a hack that Google did not approve. I don't know if 3rd parties are even aware of this official API yet too.