Friday, April 17, 2009

Google Voice to Gizmo with X-Lite

There’s a lot of talk about Google Voice’s voicemail translation and it is pretty cool, but my favorite feature is, hands down, the ability for Google Voice to have a SIP softphone (via Gizmo) among your list of phone to ring and send calls to. Given that I spend 8 to 12 hours a day working and playing on my computer and have a headset on most of that time, if I can answer calls via headset instead of my mobile phone, I can literally save several hundred cell minutes each month. The headset is also much more convenient as well.

Google Voice does a pretty good job of hiding the complexities of such interconnections but the whole process is still far from something I would call easy. In this article, I’ll give step-by-step instructions on how to set it up and more importantly, how to get it to work with DTMF touch-tones.

X-Lite I initially tried the Gizmo5 softphone, but ran into problems with DTMF touch-tones that stopped me from even being able to verify my Gizmo number. My solution was to use the free X-Lite client. The X-Lite softphone has a dialpad centric design that fits very well with how I want to use it with Google Voice. Many SIP softphones want to be a universal communication tool that manages contacts, instant messages and more. But these features would be largely ignored when paired with Google Voice where I primarily only want to answer calls via a headset.

You can use X-Lite because Gizmo5 is more than just a softphone. When you sign up for an account at www.gizmo5.com you get a full SIP compatible phone service and as such you can use any SIP compatible software or hardware with it.

There’s one more note to mention before I get to the step-by-step instructions. The default configuration for X-Lite will send DTMF touch-tones that work with the Google Voice verification and voicemail system, but they don’t work well with other phone systems or in my case conference call systems that you call via Google Voice. The instructions below include some advanced configuration settings for X-Lite that fixed those problems for me.

Now for the good stuff…

Step 1 – Create your Gizmo account

Visit www.gizmo5.com and click the My tab at the top. The registration for is on the lower half of the page.

Step 2 – Gizmo Account Overview Changes

Gizmo Account Overview

Make a note of your new SIP Number as you’ll need that soon.

While on this page, be sure to turn off voicemail. It’s on by default but you’ll want Google Voice to handle voicemail, so click the button that says “Turn Off Voicemail”.

While talking about the Gizmo5 service, I’ll mention one more page from their knowledge base. The SIP Device Configuration Settings page. These will be used to configure X-Lite and if you use other SIP software or hardware you’ll need them as well.

Gizmo SIP Config Settings

Step 3 – Download and install X-Lite

I’m using the latest build (X-Lite Version 3.0 build 47546) downloaded from here: http://www.counterpath.net/X-Lite-Download.html.

Step 4 – Configuring X-Lite with your Gizmo SIP account

X-Lite Menu

Open the SIP Account Settings for X-Lite.


X-Lite Account 1

Add a new account and fill in your Display Name, User name, Password and Authorization user name. Both user names should be the same and can be either your SIP number or your Gizmo account username.

For domain enter:
proxy01.sipphone.com
and then check the option for “Register with domain and receive incoming calls” and set “Set outbound via” to “domain”.

X-Lite Account 2

On the Voicemail tab uncheck the “Check for voice mail”.

Close the window by clicking OK and then Close the SIP Accounts. At this point, X-Lite will register with Gizmo and will be able to receive and send SIP calls.

Step 5 – Advanced X-Lite Options for DTMF touch-tones

At this point, if you just installed X-Lite, you should be ready to add your Gizmo number to Google Voice. But just so you understand, when you are taking a call from Google Voice and need to press numbers to get through menus or to enter your verification code you’ll need your DTMF touch-tone settings to be set one way and then later when you want to respond to automated menus on phone systems that you call you’ll need different settings. The default settings will allow you to send the tones to Google Voice’s phone system and that’s why we can proceed from here.

If you want to double check your settings, here are the steps. Otherwise, you can skip to step 6.

X-Lite has a hidden advanced configuration option window. To open it you need to enter “***7469” and press the “talk” button. When you do this the Advanced Options window shown below will open.

X-Lite Advanced Options dtmf 1

To find the first setting that needs to be changed, type “dtmf” in the filter text box and click “Apply Filter”. The first entry will be “system:dtmf:force_send_in_band”. Make sure this is set to “1” by double clicking the entry.

X-Lite Advanced Options 2833 1

To find the second setting, type “2833” in the filter text box and click “Apply Filter”. The first entry will be “rtp:2833:enabled”. Make sure this is set to “1”.

You can then click the close button in the upper right corner of the window.

Step 6 – Adding your Gizmo number to Google Voice

At this point, navigate to settings->phones in your Google Voice account and click “Add Another Phone”.

GV Settings Add a new phone

Enter a name for this phone. It can be anything you want. Next enter your Gizmo SIP number with just the 10 digits as shown above (with or with spaces). The key thing to remember is to not put in the preceding 1 and you don’t need anything after the number itself. Last, be sure to select Gizmo as the phone type.

When you click save you’ll be prompted to verify your new phone.

GV Settings Verify your phone

When you click Connect, your X-Lite phone should ring and you can click the “talk” button or “answer” to accept the call. You’ll then be asked to enter your verification code. Click the buttons on the dialpad or type them on your keyboard. If everything is configured correctly, you’ll hear a message indicating success and the call will hang up.

The phone list on your browser should update and show your new phone entry.

Step 7 – Turn off Call Screening and Call Presentation

Due to the fact that the Google Voice automated phone system requires one set of settings (DTMF In-band with RFC 2833) and other automated phone systems you call require different settings (DTMF In-band without RFC 2833) this causes problems with Call Screening and Call Presentation.

So, for now, you’ll need to turn off Call Screening and Call Presentation.

GV screening and presentation

Find these on the Settings->General page and make sure they’re turned off.

Step 8 – Change settings for DTMF touch-tones and RFC 2833

As mentioned before, the DTMF touch-tone and RFC 2833 settings need to be set a specific way at this point for you to be able to respond to automated phone systems that you call with X-Lite via Google Voice. This final step will show you how to make sure they are set as required.

X-Lite has a hidden advanced configuration option window. To open it you need to enter “***7469” and press the “talk” button. When you do this the Advanced Options window shown below will open.

X-Lite Advanced Options dtmf 1

To find the first setting that needs to be changed, type “dtmf” in the filter text box and click “Apply Filter”. The first entry will be “system:dtmf:force_send_in_band”. Make sure this is set to “1” by double clicking the entry.

X-Lite Advanced Options 2

To find the second setting, type “2833” in the filter text box and click “Apply Filter”. The first entry will be “rtp:2833:enabled”. Make sure this is set to “0”.

You can then click the close button in the upper right corner of the window.

Done

At this point you should be able to receive calls to your Google Voice number via Gizmo/X-Lite and place calls from the Google Voice web interface that connect to your Gizmo/X-Lite softphone and then connect to the number you are calling.

There are some options for dialing out from the X-Lite softphone through Google Voice, but there are some complications that exist with this scenario, so I’ll cover the additional configuration and settings in another blog post soon.

54 comments:

  1. Could you actually bypass Gizmo if you got a PAP2 box to use with a landline phones?

    http://www.voipsupply.com/linksys-pap2t-na

    if google voice has a SIP number could I use a box like this to make my house phone ring, and then to make calls? Or would I have to use Gimzo as a free middle man?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Bernal, I read both your blogs with great interest--good job!

    I have been a VoIP enthusiast for a number of years now and have configured my systems to essentially make free inbound and outbound calls from US numbers with the use of Google Voice (GV), Gizmo, InPhonex, IPKall, Linksys PAP 2T, Sipura 3000 (for Hop-on Hop-off), T-Mobile MDA and good old PSTN lines. The (almost) last piece I'm trying to configure is what you've written in your blog here, but unfortunately it is not working for me. Here is the problem:
    I have a Sipura 3000 overseas configured with an InPhonex number that gets calls from a Gizmo5 receiving number forwarded from GV. I have a Linksys PAP 2T in the US connected to a 4 line phone. When I call the overseas Sipura using the phone (whether over GV or InPhonex), everything works as it should and I'm able to make the Hop-on calls just fine. But if I try to do the same thing from my computer I can only get the overseas Sipura to ring and give me the PIN tone, but it does not accept my tones all the way. If I use Gizmo5 softphone client (and keep the "In-band" setting") the Sipura accepts my PIN code, but the overseas dial tone does not accept my tones for the overseas local number being input. With Gizmo5 softphone the other two settings don't accept ANY tones from me. I tried your solution using X-lite with all four 1 and 0 combinations for DTMF and 2833, but no luck. The remote system just ignores everything. Are there any other settings in X-lite I may need to change in this case?

    After this the last piece I want to work on is getting untethered by using a 3G/GPRS/EDGE based softphone for GSM that works on Microsoft Mobile platform. Is there such a thing?

    All the best!

    ReplyDelete
  3. This has stopped working since May 8, as Google Voice has changed something on their servers.

    Can we find out an alternate way, as this lasted too short.

    Jaydeep

    ReplyDelete
  4. This is a very detailed tutorial and got it working for the most part. But I am having trouble getting incoming calls through to Gizmo. Could this be a port problem? Either they go straight to voicemail or when I turn off voicemail the only record of the call is the "Call History". Do you have any idea what I should do next?

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  5. "The first part is your Google Voice phone number followed by the @ symbol then a Google Voice server IP address and then a colon and port number. This number is the from address that is passed to Gizmo/X-Lite when a call comes in from Google Voice. The “.11” portion of the IP address changes from time to time and is sometime “.14” or “.15” among others. I suggest trying “.11” for now and if that fails you can try “.14” or “.15”.

    GV no longer accepts connections to these ip address' (since 05/08)

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  6. Thanks, it worked for me.

    ReplyDelete
  7. thank you this is a really great blog and i subscribed to it

    keep it up

    and BTW i got a GV invite in my email today

    ReplyDelete
  8. has there been any hack to allow X-Lite or whatever to call out thru GV? I read that the above mentioned hack is not working anymore, just in time for me to start using GV. I read that there is a GV Dialer app for moble phones that does significantly do this, so whatever they are doing can't we do it with out dialer. And for that matter, why can't some smart programmer just make a FF addon that does this. I mean the whole shabang. The addon is a SIP dialer and does the google stuff and has "macros" or similar to enable the GV Dialer functionality. And please make sure all calls can be recorded locally into small mp3 files better then X-Lite. Thanks.

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  9. Instead of changing advanced settings with gizmo, can't you just change the dialplan string? Open xlite and open SIP account advanced and see "DialPlan"

    ReplyDelete
  10. Probably too much of a newbie to understand the answer to this question, but I'll ask anyhow -- If I'm overseas...can I get my GV number to ring my local phone? I have rebtel, which I used to generate a local phone number to confirm for my GV account. If people call my GV number, they can get to my VM there...but I would like to somehow get it to go to my mobile here, which is linked up to rebtel, too. Wow, that probably doesn't make much sense...but you guys are all smart...and probably know more about my situation than I do! Any guidance you can offer is appreciated.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Follow up question!

    Now that you can dial out directly using your google voice #...I get asked for Gizmo credits instead of dialing out like I do with the Gizmo Client. Any ideas?

    ReplyDelete
  12. To Bernal Schooley:

    Are you by chance Bernal and Betsy Schooley's son? Please reply to farmcap@yahoo.com Thank you

    ReplyDelete
  13. I have exactly the same setup (Gizmo 775 call-in number, X-lite client) and followed your guide, but couldn't get past step 6. The Google Voice verification system just doesn't recognize my number presses.

    "Please enter your two-digit activation code ... [pause] ... I'm sorry, I didn't recognize your entry ... [repeat the whole thing 3 times] ... I'm sorry you're having trouble, try later. [hang up]"

    When I press the numbers, she doesn't even stop talking which indicates that no tone goes through, otherwise she would probably stop and listen for the second number. Both "rtp:2833:enabled" and "system:dtmf:force_send_in_band" are set to 1.

    Very frustrating. Any ideas anyone?

    ReplyDelete
  14. Steven, Temporarily set up gizmo (from their website) to automatically forward calls to a different phone. I used my cell number. Then, when you try to verify google earth, it will forward the number to your cell phone, and just enter the code to verify.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Step 5 was unnecessary for me as I have already verified with the Gizmo5 client for Google Voice. I did try to get into those settings anyway, but the method of dialing the special number and hitting talk does not work on the 4 beta client that I opted for. Everything else worked fine, though; much better than Gizmo5 crashing or freezing on Vista all the time. :D Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  16. Still stick on step 4, gizmo5 does not register...

    ReplyDelete
  17. My x-lite phone rings, but when It says "press 1 to except", I press one on x-lite and it doesn't do anything.

    ReplyDelete
  18. I'm lost I thought this whole setup was to work with the iPhone and GV and by having Siphon on iphone.

    Somebody clue me in

    ReplyDelete
  19. I have everything working with google voice, gizmo5 and x-lite. However, the person called cannot hear my voice. Help? Thanks. Marleen

    ReplyDelete
  20. All is well! I opened skype and duplicated the settings of devices for Gizmo and now everything works well. Ended up buying a headset - leave the auio unplugged so I can hear the ring of an incoming call. I like this set up. Now, I need a local number to two places, so my friends do not pay a long distance call.

    ReplyDelete
  21. For some reason I was not able instal X-Lite, yet was able instal Google Voice and Gizmo5 with no problem. Has anyone encountered similair issues? I am using Windows Vista Basic 32bit. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

    ReplyDelete
  22. So I read that you have to pay for any calls over 3 minutes, thats a bit of a downer I was under the impression that you could make unlimited calls via google voice via gizmo5..

    ReplyDelete
  23. Thx soooo much for this blog help me greatly for the first time now I can revieve calls from switzerland and russia and of course dial anyone in US for free:D

    ReplyDelete
  24. hope everyone reads this that has had the same problems as me. I got it to work!!! I turned the 2283 setting to 0, turned off call screening on GV and also turned off presentation mode. Then had GV verify my IPKALL number and it worked through xlite. Hope it works for you too.

    ReplyDelete
  25. hi dear, i am in uae, itry to install x-lite. but not possible to connect (error message 403-time out) here net provider block this! how to set up!

    ReplyDelete
  26. I followed the steps to use my gizmo5 account with Xlite, everything connects, there is no error messages but both incoming and outgoing calls are not working. Does anybody know why? Thanks a lot.

    ReplyDelete
  27. You know I could not get this to work and did not want to invest a whole lot of time in this. I believe when skype came out originally there was no fee involved, and this is the type of service I was looking for. Why should I pay for a phone service over the internet when I am already paying for the internet. I ended up getting the MagicJack and have been pretty happy with it. $20 for the year for the service, the quality is not perfect and breaks up at times yet is has worked good enough for now. If there was no break up it would be perfect. Since I have a cell phone it allows me to make all the day time calls I need and good back up if I am running low on minutes..

    ReplyDelete
  28. Gizmo has been acquired by Google. New user signup is suspended.

    ReplyDelete
  29. i had gizmo for a while, so i am already registered.. but the verifying phone fails..

    ReplyDelete
  30. Worked great, I did not need to enter the ip address, just let it find network with username and password. I have gizmo5 account, google voice account and run xlite 3.0 now. This works great when traveling out of country. Forward phones to GV nunber, which forwards to Gizmo5, and voila no one knows where in the world I am.

    ReplyDelete
  31. can anybody help me to get outoging calls?, incoming calls works fine, but when i try outgoing calls there is no sound, if i try the G5 softphone it asks me to buy credits, and with Xlite get no sound :(

    ReplyDelete
  32. here's another way, download x-lite, sign up for voxalot.com, input your voxalot sip account details into x-lite and dial *500 to see it working, shoot over to ipkall.com sign up for a landline phone number to point it at your voxalot internet phone, set that up with the right details then go over to google voice and sign up for a new number in your area code and point it at your ipkall number. I confirm that this works and is completely free and unlimited calling to and from. The only drawback being that just like the guy in the article I haven't been able to dial out without using Google Voice but still no big deal I don't mind using two programs to field calls especially since the voicemail and sms text messages work really well through GV using this method too. If anyone knows how to Dial out without having to type into GV that would be sa-weeeet.

    ReplyDelete
  33. me again, I can now confirm that the voxalot, ipkall, google voice, x-lite method dials out and is unlimited and free. I found this http://www.mediafire.com/?tnooonom3td It's called gvout, you run this alongside x-lite in the system tray and you can dial out. Be sure to switch proxy under x-lite account setup to 127.0.0.1:5060 and you're golden. Now instead of going into google to dial you can dial from x-lite then u get a busy signal, hang up and GV calls you with the number you just dialed, takes a step out. now if there was a way to integrate the SMS and or access voicemail from x-lite that would be awesome but still not found a way to do that yet.

    ReplyDelete
  34. me again, again, I switched from x-lite to 3cxphone, it makes the GVout more seamless in action. Also you can configure more than one sip account so that when you need to you can log out of the sip to landline setup to a sip to sip login and fetch voicemail. just have to set voxalot.com voicemail to less than 25 seconds or else GV will catch all the voicemail. I'm currently using the GV voicemail because the transcribing is neat and the forwards to my email look snazzier even though voxalot sends the voicemail as a wav directly to your email i still thin GV voicemail looks more professional.

    ReplyDelete
  35. I have a GV and Gizmo5 account. After entering my info in to X-Lite (as above) it gives an error message saying "Registration Error: 408". Can someone help me in figuring out why X-Lite cannot register on the Gizmo5 servers?

    ReplyDelete
  36. I am using SIPGATE, X-Lite and GV. I am unable to get GVOUT to issue a busy signal though I have the settings configured similarly to Gizmo5.

    GVOUT:

    Port: 5060
    SIP Server: sipgate.com
    Phone: <2223334444> my sipgate number
    GV Username:
    GV Password:
    Delay: 0
    Use Busy Signals checked

    X-Lite Settings

    All settings for inbound work and inbound calls come in fine.
    Outbound:

    Send outbound via:

    proxy: Address: localhost:5060 (I have tried the local IP address as well as 127.0.0.1 and nothing seems to work)

    When I place an outbound call via X-Lite, I get dialtone, I dial the number and nothing happens.

    Inbound continues to work just fine.

    Any and all ideas are greatly appreciated.

    ReplyDelete
  37. You can use nokia n95 or iphone or android phones with voip technology + WiFi.

    Ref: https://docs.google.com/document/pub?id=1zrgZaK0lYzsEKQp6AvF2P4fyoIyGnCCeMWy8lSwRMqI

    ReplyDelete
  38. Has anyone noticed toll-free no longer working as of this morning? Here is the post that I attempted to send to Gizmo:

    An early morning 800, 866, etc., call worked properly; as of about 08:00EDT, US, all attempted US-Toll-Free calls have not completed: There is no recorded error message, just the single "gizmo" ring, followed by silence. Several different T/F numbers have been attempted with the same result. Gizmo-gizmo calls completed properly, both inbound and outbound. This, both on the soft-client, and an ATA.

    ReplyDelete
  39. Thanks for your blog, i found it very interesting. Keep posting like this.

    ReplyDelete
  40. This post was a HUGE help. Thanks so much.

    ReplyDelete
  41. If you are familiar with VoIP concepts (not for beginners) then setup SIP calls likehttp://goo.gl/WasF

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  42. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  43. am very new in google voice.. can u please tell me and give me full details how to connect google voice with x-lite.. i hav gt google voice number. but i cant connect with x-lite.. please tell me how to do that...in full details...

    ReplyDelete
  44. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gizmo5

    Gizmo5 was shut down by google on 4-3-2011.

    ReplyDelete
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