• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Free VoIP Calling Using Google Voice + Sipdroid

ebucemag said:
Hello Everybody.
I plan to run the phones off my home wifi and have my google voice number be my home phone... Here is the potential issue. I would like both phones to ring when someone is calling me (both phones to be setup with the same google voice number)... is that possible?
Click to expand...

I know that you can have your Google voice number ring several different phone numbers. That's not a problem. What I read, though, was that if you wanted it to ring a Google Chat device, like your computer or an app on your android device, you pretty much had to make it NOT ring phone numbers, too. The phone numbers would interfere with it ringing the Google Chat device. I haven't experimented to see if that's correct, though.

How will each of the ZTE phones get their phone numbers?
 
you should be able to logon to sipgate on multiple devices, so that's not a problem.

the problem is that sipgate is not currently taking new users. pbxes.org through sipdroid for free trunking is no longer an option either i believe.

that said, having google voice ring gchat and phone numbers is not an issue. the only sticky situation is if you have it ring one phone both with the DID and SIP, it'll be a hassle to hang up the right one and pick the other one up. It locked up my old android phone whenever that happened, and I'd have to call the other person back.

You could just simply use talkatone or grooveip on both phones to the same google chat/voice account and it should work concurrently.
 
engrmp said:
BTW, you had a good point about possible GV-Germany which would give me a "local" phone number (at least German folks could dial a local number to get to me).

I see that there is a GV-Germany... if I have time I'll look into that.

I don't quite understand the role of PBXes in this chain... I wonder if I can get a local-German number via PBXes
Click to expand...

You can see from my past posts that I successfully setup GV+SIPdroid+PBXes. Things were looking good for a while. A few days ago I get an email from PBXes that if I don't enter my personal data into my PBXes account they will cancel the account. OK, fine, no problem... SIPdroid had set up the account and wouldn't know enough about me to fill in these apparently required fields. So, I logged into my PBXes account and filled in the additional "Personal Data" (I don't remember all of the fields, but nothing unusual... no problem... and, I seem to remember a "save" button).

I get an email from PBXes today that they have cancelled my account because I failed to fill in the personal data. They're not kidding, my account is gone!

I was counting on this to be able to get phone service while I traveled to Germany next week. I thought about creating a new account and going thru all of the hassle of trying to guess at how to link GV+SIPdroid+PBXes (I documented the setup with screen grabs... but this would be different from the initial setup). And, then maybe I'd pay for a premium service with PBXes, thinking that that is maybe really why they dropped me. But, I didn't like the way PBXes just hung me out to dry. Their emails indicate that responses to their emails are not read... so, they're making it hard to contact them. And, they didn't give me any info to work on (was there some other personal data that I failed to enter???). I'm worried that I can't count on them being there when I need them.

I had bought Groove IP (GIP) at the same time anticipating that there could be problems with SIPdroid/PBXes. I have just set that up (amazingly simple, once you've gone through the GV setup for SIPdroid+PBXes). I think I'll start testing this setup (GIP+GV) to see if I can: dial Germany, dial home, text to cell phone, still get emails without GIP interference, still make cell calls without GIP interference.

Anyone else run into this problem with PBXes? Did I just miss something in my PBXes setup? Am I being too paranoid about them? Anyone go thru the process of setting up GV+SIPdroid+PBXes AFTER you lost the PBXes account?
 
engrmp said:
You can see from my past posts that I successfully setup GV+SIPdroid+PBXes. Things were looking good for a while. A few days ago I get an email from PBXes that if I don't enter my personal data into my PBXes account they will cancel the account. OK, fine, no problem... SIPdroid had set up the account and wouldn't know enough about me to fill in these apparently required fields. So, I logged into my PBXes account and filled in the additional "Personal Data" (I don't remember all of the fields, but nothing unusual... no problem... and, I seem to remember a "save" button).

I get an email from PBXes today that they have cancelled my account because I failed to fill in the personal data. They're not kidding, my account is gone!

I was counting on this to be able to get phone service while I traveled to Germany next week. I thought about creating a new account and going thru all of the hassle of trying to guess at how to link GV+SIPdroid+PBXes (I documented the setup with screen grabs... but this would be different from the initial setup). And, then maybe I'd pay for a premium service with PBXes, thinking that that is maybe really why they dropped me. But, I didn't like the way PBXes just hung me out to dry. Their emails indicate that responses to their emails are not read... so, they're making it hard to contact them. And, they didn't give me any info to work on (was there some other personal data that I failed to enter???). I'm worried that I can't count on them being there when I need them.

I had bought Groove IP (GIP) at the same time anticipating that there could be problems with SIPdroid/PBXes. I have just set that up (amazingly simple, once you've gone through the GV setup for SIPdroid+PBXes). I think I'll start testing this setup (GIP+GV) to see if I can: dial Germany, dial home, text to cell phone, still get emails without GIP interference, still make cell calls without GIP interference.

Anyone else run into this problem with PBXes? Did I just miss something in my PBXes setup? Am I being too paranoid about them? Anyone go thru the process of setting up GV+SIPdroid+PBXes AFTER you lost the PBXes account?
Click to expand...

I've been following the different setups for GV + VOIP for a while without actually having done any yet. It sounds like the PBXes route is starting to not work for one reason or another. And that people are turning to either Groove IP or Talkatone for a much easier setup.
 
I just got back from Germany and decided to give you all a summary:
- remember that I abandoned PBXes because they cancelled my acct even though I thought I had done what they wanted... so, I deemed them unreliable.
- I had phone set up with GV+GrooveIP and $30 in the GV acct
- I found very few places with free wifi in Munich. Heidelberg has a reasonable amount of free wifi places. Hotels (in the $100-$200 range) tend to charge for wifi and it's expensive.
- the free wifi places had working wifi 70% of the time that I tried. Once, when I rebooted my phone it fixed the wifi connection (so problem is sometimes not the local wifi, but the phone getting confused and locking up).
- I never had free wifi when I really needed it and ended up borrowing someone's cell phone (they were extremely nice to allow us to borrow their phone... I know it's cheap... but they have to babysit you while you talk... so they're being really nice)
- a few times I tried wifi calling, the voice connection was really bad. I think the wifi connection was not fast enough but I didn't have time to try "tuning" GrooveIP.
- so, all in all, it was a real disappointment. We ended up getting our son a vodaphone for his Summer in Heidelberg.
- if I had had more time and was not in sightseeing mode I'm sure I could find the primary wifi spots and the secondary backup spots that would allow wifi calling to work properly. But, for business or sightseeing travel in Germany this is a poor solution at the moment.
 
i also have GrooveIP and I find it a hit-and-miss, as well. It works sometimes and other times, no one can hear me. I stopped using it for that reason, even after changing the settings.
 
I haven't done enough testing to see if the problem is GrooveIP, Google Voice, Epic4 phone, wifi connection, etc. So, I'm not really ready to condemn GrooveIP. But, the entire solution does not seem to be viable for visits to Heidelberg or Munich, Germany.

If I lived there, I'd have time to experiment and see what the issue is. But, of course, that's not what I want to do, when sightseeing (I lose my entire scientific method once I start drinking German beers).

I think I'll spend my research time looking into the rent/buy-a-phone-for-europe-trip options.
 
There have been reports of other people having their pbxes account deleted. Just sign up for a new one.

If you're dealing with a poor internet connection, you really need a solution that used ilbc or speex codecs. The traditional ones will not tolerate packet loss. Talkatone may fit the bill here, and they have a free version, if you want to do some more testing on home soil.

I've never had luck with grooveip. Bought it back in the day when there was no lite version.

I use pbxes almost exclusively currently. Logged over 600 minutes this month, with only 60 minutes or so of actual airtime.

But again, if you need something that works, try Talkatone.
 
Hi ziddey, are you thinking that if I sign up for a new pbxes acct that they might not delete it? What REALLY bothered me was that they cancelled it with really very little notice. Had I been in Germany when the cancellation notice showed up it might have been really tough to respond. And, even when I did respond as requested (fill in more personal info) they still cancelled the report. This level of availability seemed way too unusable to me.

Thanks for the info on the codecs/Talkatone.
 
It seems there is no support for their free services. I'm not sure about signing up again, but I've come across posts of people doing it (maybe with a different email?) and having everything work out right. I don't know anyone personally that's had his pbxes account deleted though.
 
engrmp said:
I just got back from Germany and decided to give you all a summary:
---
- I found very few places with free wifi in Munich. Heidelberg has a reasonable amount of free wifi places. Hotels (in the $100-$200 range) tend to charge for wifi and it's expensive.
Click to expand...

I was in Germany last Fall and needed Internet while I was there. I found what turned out to be a great solution. I took an unlocked MIFI 2372 hot spot device with me. When I landed in the Munich Airport, I found a Cell Phone shop (company: Blau) where I could purchase a prepaid data card. It was $30 for 3GB. I turned out to be a great deal for my husband and I. The connection was very good in populated areas. (Not as dependable in rural areas.) In Munich, it was super. The hotel we had there charged $35 per day for Internet access, so it ended up saving us quite a bit of money. This wasn't a free solution for WIFI, but was reasonable and the 3GB was plenty for the two of us.
 
Hey artbytes, that sounds like a really smart solution. I really need to catch up on technology (it's pathetic: I'm an EE with masters in CS... and I can't keep up with the coolest toys). So, let me see if I understand this:
- MiFi will use voice radio (GSM in europe) for the data link (as opposed to wifi)
- on the other end it provides wifi ("hotspot") for your laptop and cell phone wifi
- this is an extra device that you have to carry around but you just throw it in your backpack... you don't need to interact much with it.
- you do have to charge this battery operated device, so you'd have to make sure you have enough power adaptors (cell phone, GPS, Mifi, electric toothbrush). Since my son was going to be in Germany for the summer, I modified a few US power strips (bypass 115V circuit breaker, switch and light)... adaptors were about $5/each (the cheap ones apparently fall apart).

I like this solution because Germany seemed to have excellent phone radio (GSM) service. We were hiking above Neuschwannstein (30-40 minutes outside of Munich) and people were talking on cell phones... it's everywhere. And, as you and I both found out: wifi is not free, nor cheap in Germany.

So, I have some questions:
- phone radios (GSM) use much more power than wifi. Did you find that you ran into battery time issues with the Mifi? BTW, my epic4 in AirplaneMode+wifi easily lasted all day (although it got very little actual use)
- voice-over-wifi uses about 1MB/sec. If you used this solution for voice, 3GB would give you 3000 secs or 50 minutes. Did you use this for voice? Did it seem to provide enough data and voice for a sightseeing trip (3-7 days)? If you need more data, do you $recharge the card or buy another card (how does this work)?
 
Yes, all of your assumptions are correct. The MiFi is quite small - about the size of a smallish cell phone. It fits easily in a pocket, so carrying it along with you isn't a problem.

When I was using the MiFi, I was usually in the hotel room with my laptop, or in the car. Therefore, keeping it charged wasn't a problem. If you are carrying it around, you can just turn it on when you want to use it, and then turn it off, to save on battery power. I believe that in use, it would probably last about 2-3 hours, but since I didn't really test that, I'm not sure. Read reviews on Amazon and they will tell you.

We didn't use the data connection for VOIP, so I can't comment on that. Without using it for that, the 3GB was much more than we needed for 7 days in Germany. (I had another SIM card for Austria that I used on a riverboat for a week on the Danube River.)

Since we had ample data, I didn't look into refilling our allotment. However, I would just ask when you purchase the SIM card. I'm sure that they will tell you all of the details. I don't know if you refill or just get a new card. However, the card included voice minutes, as well as data. It would seem to me that, in that case, people would want to keep their phone numbers, and therefore, keep the same SIM card.

You can get the MiFi 2372 on Amazon. Also on eBay - which is where I got mine. If you read the reviews on Amazon, you'll see that people who got a unit that was branded for a US company, like ATT, had a devil of a time getting it unlocked and usable for Europe. Be sure to get on that does not say, "ATT" on it. Mine just says, "MiFi" on it. It says that mine is the North American version, but I compared frequencies with European frequencies, and they jived, so I got the 2372 model.

When you buy your SIM card, be sure that they help you activate it in the store. Also, find out the name of the APN that you are to use, the username and password. You'll need this information. You'll connect to the MiFi and bring up it's control panel in your browser. Then, you use the above info to set up a new profile for the network you'll be using in Germany. That will let your MiFi unit connect to the Internet.
 
I've been looking for this Free VoIP using Google Voice and thanks I came to your thread. I already hit thank you button. Great info!
 
Just came across this thread looking for a solution to my problems with tablet integration.

After setting up Sipdroid on my Nexus I thought, "Hey, why not set up VOIP calling on my tablet too?" So I set up a second extension in PBXes, got Sipdroid connected and was quickly able to make calls out on my tablet. Awesome! The only thing is, I can only make these calls by manually typing in phone numbers into the Sipdroid client. Being a tablet it has no dialer app; so I downloaded Dialer One from the Play store. Long-pressing the dial button does indeed give me the option to dial out using Sipdroid. But when I select it, Sipdroid flashes on the screen for an instant, vanishes, and I'm back to Play One with no call.

I cannot seem to get calls dialed with Play One to connect via Sipdroid. Is there some further setup that I'm missing to make these two apps play nicely together?
 
1) Download Google Voice (The real Google Voice App).
2) Make sure your google account has google voice enabled.
3) Download SIPDroid.
4) On first run, tell it to set up PBXes for Google Voice.
Click to expand...
I have done the same, according to your mentioned procedure but still not working. Can you tell any other way to sort out this problem.
 
So I tried this and it worked great... use it all the time... then I flashed a new ROM, then tried to reinstall SIPDroid... typed in my username/password I wrote down from the previous setup (also tested it on pbxes.org site)... but SIPDRoid keeps failing Registering... with an error saying invalid username/password...
I have another SIPDroid account and that one worked fine... this is my wife account which I couldn't get it to work again.
Anyone got any idea what else I could try?
Thanks.
 
ziddey said:
you are using your full extension to login right? default would be username-200
Click to expand...

Yes.. that's what I've been trying. I know that because my own account has the username with the extension as well... but I just did a test too... I went and delete her account from the website ...then I unintalled the SIpDroid app and then reinstalled it... then relinked her google voice to it when registering via SIPDroid... it works in second and I could make calls and stuffs... I wrote down login info and went to the website and successfully login without any problem. Then I uninstall SIPDroid again, reinstalled it one more time, then instead of click linking to google voice, I hit Configure menu from within the app, then type in all the login info I wrote down... and damn.. SIPDroid keeps saying username/password is unknown... so frustrated!!!!

while on my own account, not sure what I did, but it always work... no matter how many times I reinstall SIPDroid... just any new one I created would never work...
 
Thanks, this worked for me too!

wilberfan1 said:
I managed to get it working! For those that may be experiencing the same problem, here's what I tried:

A week ago, I put the new "2-Step Verification" process into effect on my Google Account. There is an option within that to generate "Application-Specific Passwords". When I generated one for "Sipdroid", and plugged it into the PBXes.org-> Setup -> Extensions -. Sipdroid <200> -> Device Options -> Password AND PBXes.org-> Setup -> Trunk -> GTALK/bingo@gmail.com -> password I got the red dot back.

I went back in and reverted the "Extension" password to the 'main' password for the account (the one I would use, for example, when logging into GMail)--but left the TRUNK password stay as the new 'application-specific password' (the one I generated as part of the new "2-step verification".

So: Extension = Main Password GTALK TRUNK = new 'app-specific password' generated by Google as part of their new '2-step verification process.

When I tried to make an outgoing call--it went through! :D

I don't understand yet WHY this fixed the problem I was having--but the couple of calls I made sounded great.

Given that the pbx subscription I signed up for is costing me $5.45 per month, I'll have to decide if it's worth the money for 2,000 minutes worth of talk time. (That's pretty cheap per minute!) I get 300 talk minutes as part of my Virgin Mobile plan--but I think you can only buy add'l minutes in $10 chunks?

So far, this was mostly a "proof-of-concept" for me: Could I get it to work at all--and if I did, how well would it work...

Hmmm... Now I'll have to see if I can RECEIVE calls via Sipdroid/GTALK... ;)
Click to expand...
 
I like the Talkatone as well. Their support is great and I ended up just purchasing their $19.99 yearly plan. I have not tried using it on 3G/4G, but WiFi - it works great.
 
Are there any benefits to using SIP instead of just using Google Voice with an app like Talkatone or GrooveIP?...Whats the point of creating another account when you can accomplish the same thing just using Google Voice?
 
digit27 said:
Are there any benefits to using SIP instead of just using Google Voice with an app like Talkatone or GrooveIP?...Whats the point of creating another account when you can accomplish the same thing just using Google Voice?
Click to expand...
SIP clients allow more flexibility but they're typically more of a pain to set up since they have to go through an intermediary PBX/server. As a practical matter for most people, I think there is no advantage to SIP. I tried SIPDroid & CSIP Simple before settling on GrooveIP Lite. SIPDroid & CSIP Simple were very difficult to set up and unreliable (apparently because my free PBXes.org account would sometimes stop working). GrooveIP apparently is just a Google Talk client and talks directly with the Google Talk servers. GrooveIP is very easy to set up and has never stopped working over the last year. For me, GrooveIP worked just as well in terms of voice quality, delay, etc. Some people claim that it Google Talk's codecs are inefficient and therefore use more data, but I have unlimited data (because I'm on Sprint) and I only use GrooveIP on WiFi anyway, so I could care less about the data efficiency. I only care about it working and being easy to use. GrooveIP shines in that regard.
 
NO, GrooveIP is NOT a SIP application. Sounds like you're thinking of sipdroid.

The disadvantage of using GrooveIP is that it interfaces directly with google, which only supports g711 ulaw/alaw. These codecs do not have provisions to account for packet loss and jitter, and so using it in a wireless environment (both wifi and cellular data..) is far from optimal.

By trunking google voice with say pbxes.com or your own server, you can then opt for more aptly suited codecs.

Talkatone on the other hand connects to your google account through their servers, which you connect to with the app. This allows usage of a better codec, with transcoding to g711 done on talkatone's servers. This is similar to what trunking with a sip provider provides, except more turnkey. It's been a while since I used Talkatone, but if you don't need SIP services otherwise, it may be a good solution. I've had good luck with it in the past, but people have said it's gotten too bloated. Try for yourself. I've always recommended it to people looking for something simple to use.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom