OBI 100 No service error when dialing phone

By Selwyn Polit, 25 August, 2021

I use a device called an OBI100 with google voice to make and receive phone calls when at home.  This allows me to use the same phone number for voice/cell/texts etc. It only cost me about $30 btw. Recently, I hit a snag. 

When I tried to make a phone call, after I dialed the number, a voice reported: "no service error please login to obitalk and configure your device"

This very misleading message sent me down a few rabbit holes before I upgraded the firmware of my device and it merrily (and uncerimoniously) reconnected and started working again. I downloaded the new firmware from http://www.obihai.com/docs-downloads

Now to try to resolve that curious little problem that mid discussion on my analog phone, suddenly my cell phone rings and the call gets recorded on my verizon voicemail.  Argh!

For rabbit-hole reference:

The status of the device when I logged into it from a browser showed the SP1 Service Status as:


    Backing Off (4s):TCP connection to 64.233.178.125 failed

Isn't that useful and informative? (sarcasm implied.) 

When you go look at obitalk.com site, it says:

    Your device may have outdated, old software which no longer complies with Google Voice security requirements.

    The latest software, available through your OBiTALK account, will ensure that you can continue using Google Voice on your OBi securely. To get the latest software, please make sure your device is within its one-year warranty and support entitlement or that you have paid for extended support. Obihai support entitles you to the latest software for your OBi with automatic software updates as well as expert advice from Obihai's support team.

This was my clue to updating the firmware.  Bear in mind, obitalk wants you to pay them some money to get help.

After I got it working, I went hunting some more and discovered a deeply hidden reference to what I figured out on my own: http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=9.0