Asterisk + Google Voice + SMS

[DocGreen]

I posted the question in another thread but didn't get a response...

I have an Asterisk-based PBX (PBX In A Flash Purple) with Google Voice setup as my trunks. I'm wanting to port my main business line (Verizon Cell) over to the PBX, but I'm concerned about losing SMS capability. I know GV does SMS, but I'm a bit leery about logging into GV to send/receive SMS's because the P.I.A.F. guides suggest when using GV trunks to create new accounts and use them ONLY for the PBX. I'm worried that I'll screw something up, lol.

Does anyone have any insight on this, or maybe know of a better solution to get SMS on a GV trunk'ed PBX?


Thanks in advance!

 

[DocGreen]

Wow... nobody......?

 

[acesdeals]

you could just send sms from the google voice portal, no need to mess with the pbx area for that part

 

[DocGreen]

My concern is that by logging into the GV website with those accounts it'll somehow screw up the PBX... was kind of hoping I'd find someone who'd tried it before.

 

[DocGreen]

Whelp, ported the main number yesterday evening... still waiting for the port to finish.

Still trying to determine if GV's SMS can be used without screwing anything up. I know I can do it without a problem from the GV website, but I'm usually not tied to the computer all day... would be nice if I could sync it to my phone.

 

[SAG]

The whole "GV Trunk" thing is a hack, unsupported by Google, and unsupported by Digium (the developers of Astereisk). Keep that in mind. One day it will just stop working.

OK, as for your SMS issue, you're not going to find yourself with a happy outcome really.
Did you drop your cell service after porting the number? If not, you could just have all the SMS messages forwarded by GV to your new cell number.
If you did drop the cell service all together, can't GV forward SMS messages to an email address?

Other than those 2 options, there is currently no way to "safely" get those SMS messages without temporarily breaking the PBX-Jabber-GV-TrunkRegistration.

 

[SAG]

FYI, you can send SMS from your PBX command line:

/usr/bin/gvoice -e you@gmail.com -p YourPassword send_sms 10_Digit_Number "Message"

Also, someone has been hacking at a modeul to do what you are wanting, I've not tested it, but have you seen this?
http://pbxinaflash.com/community/index.php?threads/sms-messaging-with-google-voice.10251/

 

[DocGreen]

The whole "GV Trunk" thing is a hack, unsupported by Google, and unsupported by Digium (the developers of Astereisk). Keep that in mind. One day it will just stop working.

OK, as for your SMS issue, you're not going to find yourself with a happy outcome really.
Did you drop your cell service after porting the number? If not, you could just have all the SMS messages forwarded by GV to your new cell number.
If you did drop the cell service all together, can't GV forward SMS messages to an email address?

Other than those 2 options, there is currently no way to "safely" get those SMS messages without temporarily breaking the PBX-Jabber-GV-TrunkRegistration.

I do still have my personal cell service, just canceled the line I was using for business. Are you saying to add my cell as a forwarding phone but only check the box for SMS forwarding?

FYI, you can send SMS from your PBX command line:

/usr/bin/gvoice -e you@gmail.com -p YourPassword send_sms 10_Digit_Number "Message"

Also, someone has been hacking at a modeul to do what you are wanting, I've not tested it, but have you seen this?
http://pbxinaflash.com/community/index.php?threads/sms-messaging-with-google-voice.10251/

Yeah, I'd seen that and it's not really what I'm wanting. I did reach out to Ward Mundy last night though, and he told me that SipStation is working on a solution to do exactly what I'm wanting. He said it should be ready in about a month. Until then, I'll try the SMS forwarding you'd suggested.

Thing is... I really don't even care if I'm able to have SMS on the business line. I don't see it as a necessity personally. BUT, I have customers who can't be bothered to make a damn phone call. They'll just text me, and if I don't answer they get all ****** off. Most of them don't even ask if I can accept texts on that number, they just assume.

As for the whole thing being a hack... I am aware of it. The GV trunks are just to get things started. I've found plenty of traditional trunk providers that I can switch to later on.

 

[SAG]

Are you saying to add my cell as a forwarding phone but only check the box for SMS forwarding?

Actually... add your new cell number as a forwarding number for both SMS and phone calls. This will give you a two-fold advantage.
If your PBX is down (internet failure, google issue. etc) then the calls will go straight to your cell. And, you can SMS 'til your heart's content.
It won't interfere with your PBX.

They'll just text me, and if I don't answer they get all ****** off. Most of them don't even ask if I can accept texts on that number, they just assume.

Pizza Hut accepts texts, I don't.

 

[DocGreen]

Actually... add your new cell number as a forwarding number for both SMS and phone calls. This will give you a two-fold advantage.
If your PBX is down (internet failure, google issue. etc) then the calls will go straight to your cell. And, you can SMS 'til your heart's content.
It won't interfere with your PBX.

That's exactly what I wanted to hear. The GV port just went through, I'll set that up now. Thanks buddy

 

[DocGreen]

Success!! The business is finally free of Verizon!! Now I can do all that fun IVR and Time conditions stuff I've been wanting to do! Good bye 10pm calls! LOL

 

[DocGreen]

So yeah... that last message about "Success!!"... I spoke too soon.

I ran into a problem when I followed your (SAG) suggestion. I added my personal cell and Amanda's personal cell as forwarding numbers for the two business lines. Text messaging to both numbers worked flawlessly. HOWEVER... Calls to either number ended up going to the main number's Google Voicemail. I thought it was odd the both numbers went back to the one GV voicemail.

Turns out it was the Ring Groups causing the problem. I had my inbound route set as a ring group that rang all of the phones here in the office, as well as my cell phone for when I'm out of the office. Apparently because that cell phone is setup as my GV forwarding number the call gets picked up by GV voicemail.

I'm not sure of how to fix this...
I've temporarily removed my cell from the ring group so that calls don't end up in the GV voicemail, but I can't have that as a permanent fix.
I could also remove the cell as a forwarding number in GV, but then I lose the text messaging ability.
I could set my cell to use a softphone and set it up through Traveling Man like you'd suggested before, but I'm not familiar with that procedure just yet... I guess the best way to learn is to dive in, right?

What I'm thinking is that the outbound route might have something to do with the calls going to GV voicemail... I'm going to double check my outbounds and see wtf is going on. Maybe it's trying to forward out on the same trunk that the call is coming in on.

 

[DocGreen]

...What I'm thinking is that the outbound route might have something to do with the calls going to GV voicemail... I'm going to double check my outbounds and see wtf is going on. Maybe it's trying to forward out on the same trunk that the call is coming in on.

Ding ding ding! We have a winner!

Not sure how I screwed that up, but I had the main incoming line as the default outgoing route. Whoops!