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Problems with Nimbizz and Google Voice for free calls

Greetings, I am a newbie who recently got the X10 mini which I love, but I have had days of troubles trying to get Nimbizz and Google Voice configured to make free calls. An awesome developer named "fishsticksfromguam" made this program called "Advanced GV Caller" which I purchased, and could not get to work. I followed all of his helpful instructions, but it still will not work properly. Is anyone else having these problems or can anyone give advice?
The errors I get are:
With A.GV Dialer: it says GV is calling my phone and either the phone call just doesn't go through, or it says that my GV number is not set for callbacks. Since GV does not have a callback number, I don't get it.
Nimbizz: either goes black and freezes and I have to restart my phone, or it says, Nimbizz is not responding, force quit?
Then when I sign back in, it shows that my Skype account under Nimbizz is offline, whereas just a minute before it was online and I was able to make calls.
Or it says, Activity Phone (in process.com.android.phone) is not responding, force close.
My Gizmo5 account is set up properly and my Google Voice phone number has been verified by the developer himself. I sincerely recommend fishsticksfromguam's programs as he goes out of his way to help.
Below are the instructions that I have followed:
1. Login in Gizmo5 and under the "FORWARDING" tab, select the option
"Forward All Calls", and enter your gtalk email address, hit save and log out.
2. On my Desktop computer, I start the official Google Talk client.
3. Login to Google Voice and under Settings menu, I added a new Phone
with my Gizmo5 telephone number and I selected "GIZMO" as the phone
type.
4. Google will now attempt to call your Gizmo5 number to verify it.
Since you've forwarded ALL Gizmo5 calls to your gTalk, it will come in
on your Google Talk Client where you can now answer the call and verify it!
*** YOU HAVE NOW VERIFIED YOUR GIZMO5 NUMBER ***
5. Install Nimbuzz (or Fring) on your Android phone, and ensure your
Google Talk is set up properly to receive voice calls.
6. Install Google Voice Call Advanced, enter your Google Voice
Username & Password, and for the Callback number, enter your full
Gizmo5 callback number (ie. 17475551212), and select "GIZMO5" as the
phone type. Select "Use GV for all calls". Hit Apply.
*** You should now be able to make FREE phone calls using your Android Phone ***
Any advice please?

I don't have any experience with nimbuzz but I can give you my two cents on Google voice. Some apps worked some of the time but in the end for making gv calls the only stable option is through the browser. Now I just have a bookmark saved on my homescreen and it opens to my contact list in gv. Incoming calls obviously need nothing special. Hope this helps
Sent from my X10a using XDA App

Google Voice and Sip Droid Easy as 1 2 3.

This has been posted before but I thought I would do a quick and easy how to, for those that don't have this working yet.
You can use GoogleVoice and sipdroid to make free calls from your tab as long as you have either a good wifi or 3G connection.
First Download GooglVoice and set it up, if you haven't already.
Second Download SipDroid from the android market (free).
Open sipdroid, there will be an option to set up a new pbxes account linked to your google voice account. (free) Click this button. Set your google voice to forward to your gtalk in google voice settings.
3rd - Make and receive free phone calls on any Galaxy tab with a data connection!

I tried this and had no problems making outbound calls, but could not receive inbound calls. I messed around with sipdroid a bit and saw that I had to go into the account and toggle the "use 3g" and "use edge" buttons. I don't know if it's mine tab only but it worked. Also, I had the skype workaround before and this seems much cleaner.
Does this eat up a lot of data while not in a call, stand-by I guess?
Thanks for posting this by the way, I finally got tired of the skype alternative and basically gave up hope of having voice on my tab.

One more thing, sorry. Is this solution reliable enough to replace a cell phone? Or have you heard of anyone who has ditched their cell and used their tab as the replacement?

Hmm, it won't let me sign up for a pbx account. It keeps saying that i have an invalid character in my username. I am guessing that you can't have a period in your name
Any way around this so i can keep my gv #?

Looks like this method has died now as Google -> Gtalk -> SIP is not supported. Tried for almost 2 hours last night before I found this out.

Doesn't look like you're from the US as GV only works for US users.

[GUIDE]: Google Voice + Sipdroid + GV Dialer = Free Calls!

Hey everyone, I've had an OG Droid since Jan 1. 2010, and just upgraded to the Thunderbolt, I love it! Anyways, my name's Wes, and I need to build up a few posts before I can write in the development threads. So here's my tidbit of advice, if you happen to be on a family plan or have limited available minutes, you can combine GV+Sipdroid+GVDialer to make free calls over wifi AND 3g/4g. This is covered on the internet all over the place, but I had to research a ton before getting it to work on my droid because I found that many guides out there were from back in the day when google hadn't made things so easy to set up. Now that a lot of us have 4g, call quality and connection will be very consistent. How it works (confusing i know!): free VoIP #'s are available but only allow free incoming calls, so google makes them all in coming. GV dialer uses the internet instead of minutes to tell google voice to dial your desired call out #, then google voice sends the call to you as an incoming call. Google then lets you reroute that incoming call to your random DID # from ipcomms.net, and BOOM, a free "outgoing" incoming call. So in a quick nutshell, here's what you do.
Get a google voice #, download google voice app to your phone
Download GV Dialer from the market (paid app, maybe 2 bucks or something i forget)
Download Sipdroid from the market (not sipdroid + Showmee)
Then visit ipcomms.net and get the "free DID" by registering. Once you get the email with your free did, open the document with your info and jot down your username and password. (i think they're both 10 digits, you can't change this password either)
Open sipdroid, and hit Menu>Settings,SIPAccount#1, then for username and password enter what you found in the step above. For "Server or Proxy" enter "sipconnect.ipcomms.net"
Scroll down and you can adjust whether you want it to connect over 3g(4g works also) and/or WIFI, Edge
if it's working, you'll see a green light in your notifications bar, meaning your DID # is ready to receive free calls, but no one knows that #, so...
IMPORTANT: navigate to google.com/voice on your computer, login with your credentials, then go to to settings (top right corner) > Phones tab, then click "add another phone" Enter you're 10 digit ipcomms #, then click call to verify(make sure green light is on). You will get a call on the sipdroid app, slide to answer, then enter the code google gave you in your web browser on your computer to activate (if no keypad is showing, hit menu button and you can get to it during the call)
Once this is done and your phone is added, make sure calls to your voice account are set to forward calls to you ipcomms number.
Finally, open Gv dialer, login, go to its settings, and click "default phone to ring," after a moment you'll be given the option to select your ipcomms #, click that. YOU'RE DONE!
To make a call with VoIP, open gizmo(make sure you've got green light), then on your phone open GV dialer, dial the number you want, click "connect with google voice", wait for the internet to tell google to call the number and call your ipcomms # back, and voila, you get an incoming call, answer it, and you'll hear the call connecting and starting to ring.
I wrote this in about 10 minutes so if you have any questions of if anything sounds wrong or I made typos lemme know, now i'm going back to this VCU Kansas game for a bit. Hopefully someone out there finds this useful.

You can do something like this with Fring as well, right ?

solidunit said:
You can do something like this with Fring as well, right ?
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Yes.
Under Sipdroid's description in market: "Being open source, Sipdroid has often been cloned appearing under names such as Guava, aDIP, Fritz!App,..."
You can actually do it without Sipdroid on phones with Gingerbread (its built into the settings you just enter your ipcomms info) but we don't have it yet, and the gingerbread version has very few adjustable settings.
there are also alternatives to GV dialer as well as sites that offer free DID numbers for inbound calls, but this setup has worked fine for me.

I'll give it a try, thanks!
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA Premium App

Yup been using it to also send and receive free text. I use ipkall tho
Free us calls, not worldwide of course
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App

Any other sip providers working? Using Ekiga and ipkall for Gv calling,doesn't work so well on CSipSimple...... Would like to transition to another service easily as possible,and ipcomms is a bit confusing.

An easier method is to just download GV and GVoice callback. http://www.appbrain.com/app/google-voice-callback-free/com.xinlu.gvdial
I don't have sipdroid on my phone, and I can "dialout" using this with my google voice number. It shows up on the other phone as my GV # and I checked my bill for the calls (I used it for a whole day one time to see what would happen and didn't have calls on my bill for that day) and they weren't there. I tried to do the sip droid method one time, and I had a hard time getting it setup. So I just gave up. But this solution seems to work like a charm for me.

1454 said:
An easier method is to just download GV and GVoice callback. http://www.appbrain.com/app/google-voice-callback-free/com.xinlu.gvdial
I don't have sipdroid on my phone, and I can "dialout" using this with my google voice number. It shows up on the other phone as my GV # and I checked my bill for the calls (I used it for a whole day one time to see what would happen and didn't have calls on my bill for that day) and they weren't there. I tried to do the sip droid method one time, and I had a hard time getting it setup. So I just gave up. But this solution seems to work like a charm for me.
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+1 but this only works if you have F&F and have a number to burn to put in there. Don't use it much but when calling my bud in canada or maybe a conference call i use it and it works just swell....on an incredible though, I"m still a wannabe

I got a free number from goog. Sorry, I'm bad with acronyms, what does F&F stand for?

Sipdroid thing was annoying when I tried it. I really prefer gv callback. I have it set up to ask me every time. Its pretty sweet.

so how exactly do you do this without sipdroid? I've got gv callback and its like the same as gv dialer asks which number i want to forward to, you're saying you can forward to google voice somehow? gv callback has option to start sipdroid before callback, so i would assume i still need something to handle the call received? Do I use google talk as callback number?

Do you have a google voice number? If not, go get one. It's free. Use you're regular gmail account to set it up. Then download goog voice also. There will be an option to use GV as the call back number. (also under the online GV settings you have to link you're mobile to the GV #). last, then you just set it to ask you every time to call you back, then when you go to call someone it will give you the option to use GV or not. If still need help I'll pm you my phone.

i have a google voice number, and the google voice app already. what do you mean forward to your GV number? Under google voice app there are no forwarding settings.

you mean you forward to your mobile number on google voice online settings, as in your verizon number? And it doesn't charge you any minutes? I'm pretty sure it still counts as using your minutes, you checked exactly when you called and compared it to the dates and times on your bill?

Gv callback requires friends and family to be of any benefit. Sipdroid allows you to make calls over your data connection, uses no minutes. It lags heavily though, not recommended if you have friends and family at your disposal.

edit, see my post to shaddix

I'm sorry, I've been mistaken. Somehow the actual GV app gives me the option to make voice calls. That is what i have been using. GV I downloaded but never set up. Not sure how I ended up with such a confusion. It used to just give the option to make international calls, but now you can set it up to ask everytime. I'm not yet rooted or I would take some screen shots.

I'm sorry but if you use f&f to begin with then y going thru all the hassle since f&f doesn't bill used minutes?
Sipdroid is better when you're on lte. If you are on conference calls a lot, sipdroid does help saving those minutes
Sent from my ADR6400L using XDA App

quattr0 said:
I'm sorry but if you use f&f to begin with then y going thru all the hassle since f&f doesn't bill used minutes?
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Click to collapse
You can just use 1 f&f slot for all your calls

shaddix2 said:
You can just use 1 f&f slot for all your calls
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Click to collapse
Ah, thank you.
Do you get free texting using only GV? I know $10/month is not a whole lot but for those that have only voice (no text plan), it will come in handy.

SIP Trunk anyone?

Anyone else seen this yet... simonics.com/gvgw
You need a Google voice number... (free)
NO im not spamming this.. i found it ON MY OWN and found it to be really useful since it works. Don't be haters... try it or not... its free and up to you.
I use this with my phone. There are places at my work where the only connection i have is WiFi... this solves the problem and i don't need stupid software to use it... just go to the site, set it up, and put the settings into your phone settings for internet calling.
Ive been using this for a few months now... and no, my Google account has not been hijacked and is a secure encrypted connection through a asterisk server and secure ports.
Read the FAQ on the site... its really simple and works.

our certyles
I've been testing it out a bit, it seems to work pretty well. I plan to drop my phone plan soon actually and just use a Verizon LTE hotspot.
I want to make sure I've got a method fairly reliable in place to make calls/texts with GV, and so far I've had success with the callback method, grooveIP (though the audio still sounds a bit funky), and using simonics and csip simple.
simonics + csip seemed to be the most reliable, though I've hit a snag: It's not allowing me to register my simonics account when I'm connected to my LTE hotspot. Works fine on any other wifi though.

silverwater25 said:
I've been testing it out a bit, it seems to work pretty well. I plan to drop my phone plan soon actually and just use a Verizon LTE hotspot.
I want to make sure I've got a method fairly reliable in place to make calls/texts with GV, and so far I've had success with the callback method, grooveIP (though the audio still sounds a bit funky), and using simonics and csip simple.
simonics + csip seemed to be the most reliable, though I've hit a snag: It's not allowing me to register my simonics account when I'm connected to my LTE hotspot. Works fine on any other wifi though.
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How does this work? Doesn't a Google Voice number have to forward to a real number and be attached to one? Do you have another number that the GV is attached to?

I don't use a single app for this.
*Setup a Google voice (free)
- set your ringback as Google chat.
*Setup a pbxes.org account (free)
- set a trunk that points to your gchat
If you're on an AOSP ROM, open dialer, go to settings, scroll to bottom, internet call settings, accounts, point to your pbxes account.
Done!
Now you have free incoming + outgoing calls over WiFi or 4G. Even 3G as well.
If you use the sipdroid app (by pbxes.org ppl) instead of the built-in AOSP SIP stack you get more audio encoding options and the ability to pass your calls thru a VPN. Pretty sweet

kennyglass123 said:
How does this work? Doesn't a Google Voice number have to forward to a real number and be attached to one? Do you have another number that the GV is attached to?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm still learning about all this, it's been pretty confusing as it's all new stuff for me. I'll try to explain what I know (or what I think I know)
Internet calls (VOIP) are typically free when connecting to another internet connection (ex. Skype, Kakao, Seed, etc). PSTN (regular phone numbers) cost money to connnect. Google Talk, which is VOIP,. lets you call a PTSN for free from your desktop. This seems pretty unique and likely will not last forever I'm guessing.
Install a softphone on your device, and you're bypassing your carrier's calling network.
Calls coming in:
Now, it's possible to setup a free VOIP account and attach a "real" number to it as a way to connect to the outside world. This service called IPkall can give you a recycled Wash. state number and let you get calls on iit for free. I attached one of these to a Callcentric VOIP account..When someone rings my google voice number, it will ring my IDKall/Callcentric number, which oh yeah doesn't cost me anything.
Calling out:
Callback method: Using apps like the Google Voice Callback, you can do the same thing as you can from your desktop, which is have Google Voice ring one of your numbers while simultaneously calling the number you want to call. Google Voice is acting like the bridge between your phone and the one you're calling. Like you said you need a "real" number to make calls like this with google voice, but if your VOIP account is attached to a "real" number then it doesn't know the difference.Typically your carrier would charge you money/minutes to call your google voice number, but since you're connecting for free with a softphone/VOIP then you're only be charged for whatever data you use.
GrooveIP/Simonics Google Voice Gateway: I really don't know how these work, but my best guess is they're just simplifying the process for you, setting up the second VOIP account automatically.
So I'm annoyed that Csip Simple/simonics isn't working for me when I connect to my verizon sch-lc11 jetpack I picked up a few days ago (the verizon guys were pretty confused when I turned down a free iphone 4s, heh). Groove IP seems to be working all right now, if that fails then I can go back to the callback method, or maybe try setting up a pbx.

Setting the phone up so that it can receive SIP calls tends to chew through battery a little quicker.
Having said that...if you want to do your own thing and have an old pc (or even Raspberry Pi) laying around, check out PBX in a Flash (sorry I can't post links, just Google it). I've been running this setup for about two years to replace my land line with a google voice number and it works great. I've expanded my setup to have a home office number as well. All free. You can also set up your cell as a SIP or IAX extension and have the satisfaction of doing it yourself.

You can also purchase an obi100, and use the ObiTalk app.

[HOW TO] Use Xperia Tablet Z as Telephone via WiFi (US Only)

You can use an Xperia Tablet Z as a telephone via WiFi after setting up the tablet as described below.
Notes:
1. Doing this will not be free, it will cost $4.99 USD, the price of GrooVe IP app. This is a one-time cost.
2. This will only work in the United States of America, a limitation of Google Voice.
3. This will enable you to make and receive telephone calls and send and receive SMS text messages. Calls and text messages should be free; however, read Google Voice Terms.
4. I have tested this on my XTZ and STS only. It should also work on other tablets.
5. This is based on information found at THIS POST.
Requirements:
1. WiFi access at home, work, wherever.
2. A Gmail account.
3. GrooVe IP app available from Google Play Store for $4.99 USD.
4. Google Voice app available from Google Play Store for free.
5. Google Hangouts (replaced Google Talk) app available from Google Play Store for free, but it should already be installed on your tablet.
Instructions:
1. Install GrooVe IP, Google Voice, and Google Hangouts (should already be installed) onto your tablet.
2. Go on-line to www.google.com/voice and sign in using your Gmail address, then follow the on-line instructions to setup a Google Voice account and get a Google Voice telephone number. Next, go into the on-line Google Voice account settings and set Forward calls to Google Chat to ON (checked).
3. On your tablet, open Google Hangouts and sign in using your Gmail address. Exit Google Hangouts.
4. On your tablet, open GrooVe IP and sign in using your Gmail address. Go into GrooVe IP settings, select Miscellaneous, then select Startup and set Autostart to ON (checked). Exit GrooVe IP.
5. On your tablet, open Google Voice and sign in using your Gmail address. Go into Google Voice settings, select Sync and notifications, then select Select ringtone and pick a ringtone sound. Exit Google Voice.
6. On your tablet, open GrooVe IP and make a telephone call or call your tablet from a real telephone using the Google Voice telephone number.
I recommend you read all information provided on-line for GrooVe IP, Google Voice, and Google Hangouts. I also recommend you go through the settings for GrooVe IP, Google Voice, and Google Hangouts and set them to meet your needs.
Feedback is appreciated. Good luck.

thx for tutorial
Being an avid Twit.tv follower, and hearing Leo extol the virtues of a set up like this with an ooma, or an obi phone, I figured this could be tackled. I recently bought into the Ting network (another twit network advertiser), and got a 3g<wifi access point device to make playing Ingress more palatable on my STS. I'll give this a shot when it arrives next week, and give a little feedback. I don't really plan to use it, but always wondered if I could get it all to work right when I heard him talk about the advantages of it. With Ting being an extreme pay-as-you go option, and the perks that google voice provides, it could become a viable alternative to my tracfone - as long as google voice stays free (no reason it shouldn't, but you never know). Thx again for the stepxstep.

grrrrrrrr.
everything installed well, things went smooth, but cannot get audio out to anyone - whether I initiate the call, or they do. Tried numerous settings in GrooveIP, but nothing helped. May dig further in GVoice settings, after I recharge everything. Audio in, no problem. Calls outgoing, and incoming, no problem. Just no audio out. Strange. Wonder if it has anything to do with my GVoice account being tied to my home phone? Hard to say at the moment. Updates to come. Tips and tricks (possibilities) accepted gratefully

LNRrgB said:
everything installed well, things went smooth, but cannot get audio out to anyone - whether I initiate the call, or they do. Tried numerous settings in GrooveIP, but nothing helped. May dig further in GVoice settings, after I recharge everything. Audio in, no problem. Calls outgoing, and incoming, no problem. Just no audio out. Strange. Wonder if it has anything to do with my GVoice account being tied to my home phone? Hard to say at the moment. Updates to come. Tips and tricks (possibilities) accepted gratefully
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you used or tested the tablet's microphone with any other apps to make sure the microphone is working? Is your tablet in a case that may be covering the microphone? Have you tried adjusting GrooVe IP's Microphone Volume setting? Mine is set to the default value of -2.
The only problem I experienced was with echoing, but that was solved by enabling echo cancellation and adjusting the echo tail time.

Covered the basics
It works with stock camera app. I adjusted the mic volume, and tested a couple options alluded to in their troubleshooting section. It is hard for me to test things out, until I get somewhere with a separate landlines. I bet it is something simple. Just have to hit some forums. Hopefully, I shall prevail!

update
The positive: This actually works, and possibly was working, when I last posted.
The negative: Depending on how I am using it, access to the microphone breaks, but is recoverable with a reboot.
So I made progress, kinda. What I found was that upon a reboot, my microphone functions system wide until I use grooveIP to make an outbound call. Once that call is over, my microphone is no longer useable by any application, until I reboot the system. I can recieve calls all day long, without losing access to my microphone, but once I initiate a call, grooveIP, or some part of the process involved, doesn't release access to the microphone.
Now that I have figured this much out, I may be able to troubleshoot some more, and figure out a better solution than a full reboot. I have not contacted grooveIP either, yet, though maybe they could suggest an easy fix.
Kinda cool getting/making calls with this thing. Bit of a lag issue, but I may be able to attenuate that some.