FreePBX, Google Voice, cisco IP Phone

General Help
1

I hope I don’t butcher this from the start.

My current working setup is as follows:

Obi110 with google voice (GV) connected to a basic telephone. Calls come in and leave through GV using the basic phone I have connected to the Obi110. I know this isn’t the Obi forum, but I assume everyone knows what the Obi device is…if not, then ignore.

I’d like to setup FreePBX and use it with GV, that is step 1. Step 2 would be to connect the cisco phone (7970g) to the freePBX server and give it an extension and use it to dial in/out with GV.

However, since this isn’t very common, I can’t seem to find any solid documentation on how to do this.

I started a topic on the asterik forum, but I was directed here since I was using the FreePBX distro (still learning this stuff and I was a bit thrown off with the diff options).

There are some threads that discuss how to connect the Cisco 7970g to FreePBX, but they were dated and not very helpful. Some of the documents that were helpful/well documented didn’t really explain the process from start to finish, they seemed to start from the middle of the setup (due to the issue they were having they didn’t need to discuss the initial steps).

Is anyone willing to help get me going on this project? That is all this is, a project, nothing is live so if something breaks/doesn’t work, it doesnt really matter. I’d be willing to do a proper write up with pics/details if I can get this working. I am sure it would be beneficial to anyone else searching.

My overall goal is to have a FreePBX server with 1 cisco 7970g IP phone using my GV account/number.

I have to do the following:

-configure FreePBX to use my Google Voice account (this has been another issue, I have been looking at forums/topics and there doesn’t seem to be a standard that is common, it seems as if each instance is implemented its own way or only for a specific version of FreePBX.

-configure the Cisco 7970g IP phone to communicate with FreePBX to get an extension.

The FreePBX server and Cisco IP phone are on the same subnet, no issue there.

FreePBX info-

Firmware- 1.1010.210.62-3
Service Pk- 1.0.0.0

2

Well that link certainly has copyrighted Cisco software. Use at your own risk.

Here is the link to the thread on turning on the tftp server:

http://www.freepbx.org/forum/freepbx-distro/distro-discussion-help/tftp-issues#comment-55611

If PFsense is your DHCP server then as you said it must hand out option 66 to tell the IP address of the tftp server to the devices on the network.

3

Well configuring google voice is very easy and automated. I am running freepbx 2.11beta1.4 and there is module that will configure google voice for you. You can have number of google voice accounts configured with freepbx. With module it took me 10 seconds to configure.
Well I belie that another module PBX End Point Manager will help you configure your phone. You need to be running tftp server to upload provisional files to your phone with extension password and number.
I have my freepbx installed on arch linux with asterisk 11.1

4

Thanks for the reply.

Where do I find the module for google voice?

I don’t have a problem setting up a tftp server, but that is the info I am lacking…I don’t know how to create a profile for the phone or what the user/pass information would be for the phone.

Thanks for any feedback.

5

Did you try add modules to your freepbx ? There is template editor I see Cisco SIP 79x1G Models [7940G,7941G,7961G] Please take look at www.pbxinaflash.com/community/index.php?threads/cisco-7970-7960-configuration-working-4-2012.12865/

6

It’s a different distribution however it is still FreePBX and Asterisk.

Are you using the Endpoint Manager?

Do you have the SIP software for the 7970? If so what version?

7

All I have is the cisco IP phone (am able to power it up and connect it to my network) and FreePBX.

I still need to work on the google voice part, but if you guys are willing to help with the cisco phone, I have no problem starting with that.

Is PBX in a flash a better distribution/easier to work with? That is where I get confused, especially when Googling/researching.

Where do I obtain the endpoint manager? The cisco has some software/firmware on it, but not sure if it is the right stuff.

Thanks for the help. I am pretty green when it comes to voice stuff, I am more involved/hands on with networking/networking hardware, but willing to listen and lean.

8

Thank you for that. That is part of the confusion (for me). I am running FreePBX, if I ever saw that, I would ignore it since that is for PBX in a Flash. Isn’t that a different distro?

9

Well the link is for files you need to upload to your phone from tftp server. So your phone will gets it proper configuration. All you have to do is configure your dhcpcd server to point to tftp server and have ttftp server server proper conf files to your phone. Do you know that freepbx have ability of adding modules that expand it functionality. Did you look under Module Administration to see what modules are available ? There should be Google voice module and other one.

10

I am not sure if there was a post edit or if I completely missed it, but I didn’t see the post above with the link (I probably skipped right over it). I am looking at that now…thanks.

Under the Module Administration page I don’t see anything for Google Voice, that is what got me on these forums, I was going to ask if there was a module I could download and then upload into FreePBX.

Thanks.

11

Andrew Nagy is the person who wrote google voice module.
There is link to https://github.com/tm1000 modules.
What is your favorite linux disto? I am running asterisk 11.1 as google voice was rewritten. I also use freepbx 2.11 beta all running on arch linux.

12

try google voice module from http://the159.com/googlevoice/googlevoice-latest.tgz

13

I don’t have a favorite linux distro. Which google voice plugin is the better/more stable package?

14

Please wait while module actions are performed

Database table for Google Voice installed
googlevoice installed successfully

Uploading the module was very simple. I applied the config and did a quick scan through the menus and didn’t see anything labeled as Google Voice. I assume I need to start to add it as a trunk, but I also assumed that the Google Voice module would be its own ‘trunk’ option. Am I missing something?

I used this module:
http://the159.com/googlevoice/googlevoice-latest.tgz

I am going to try the other one from github and see if it is different.

Thanks.

15

Ok, I guess the google modules posted above are the same. One link is the proper format for direct upload to FreePBX and the other link was to the raw files (I think that is the best way to put it). Just realized that now.

16

Ok, I saw an other button, located to the right of settings. Not sure if this was there before, I can probably uninstall the module and see if the button goes away, but now I see the screen to add my Google Voice info.

Thanks

17

Ok, setting up GV seemed to be very simple. Before I try getting the cisco phone loaded/configured in FreePBX, is there a free softphone I can use (on my laptop connected to the same network as the FreePBX server) that I can attempt outbound calls with, to make sure GV works?

Thanks.

18

Well there lots of them 3cx xlite

19

From here, the download page fails to load
http://www.3cx.com/sip-phones/x-lite.html

From here, when I install it and launch the program, I get an error telling me something is expired and the program closes itself
http://www.softwaregeek.com/traditional-phone/p1.html

Any other place to get the software from?

20

@ SkykingOH regarding "Are you using the Endpoint Manager?

Do you have the SIP software for the 7970? If so what version?"

I didn’t see a reply from my question back to you. I’d like to start working on getting the cisco phone added to FreePBX and get the proper files uploaded to the phone via tftp.

This thread (posted in this topic, above) has the files I need to upload, but I am still a little confused as to how that all works.

http://www.pbxinaflash.com/community/index.php?threads/cisco-7970-7960-configuration-working-4-2012.12865/

Once those files are on the phone via tftp, do I have a way to edit them in FreePBX? That topic states that the raw file should not be updated, but it should all be done through the PBX GUI. There are obviously some names/IP addresses that need to be changed (looking at the files from that site).

Thanks