Google Voice via SIP! (w/o Gizmo5)

If you were one of those people lucky enough to get a Gizmo5 account set up before Google bought it, you can ignore this post. If, however, you are like me and you want to be able to use your Google Voice number on a SIP softphone, read on.

First, a quick "so what" about the whole thing. At the end of this how-to, you should be able to place and receive free phone calls using a normal Plain Old Telephone System (POTS) number. Yep, place and receive. For free.

Second, a hat-tip to Bernal Schooley for the X-Lite registration tip!

Here's what you'll need in order to put this all together:

• A Google Voice account (invite, free)
  
• A VOIP/SIP capable device (computer, iPod, Droid, etc.)
  
• An always-on broadband connection

Ok, so you have to pay for those last two things, but the phone service is free.

Once you have these three things, everything else is just a matter of filling out the proper online forms and such. Here is the list of other services that you'll need to sign up for in order to make the POTS to SIP transfer:

• An IPKall.com account (free)
• A PBXes.org account (free)
• X-Lite SIP Softphone (free)

And now the caveats:

• This may not be the best or most elegant method, but it works.
• When/If GV finally releases their own SIP method (via the acquisition of Gizmo5), this method should be abandoned & you should use the native GV method.
  
• Quality may be dodgy and there are a number of settings tweaks that can improve or harm your sound quality. Most of these settings changes can be tweaked in your SIP softphone.
  
• If you find a better way, please share it with us here. It's about doing things better, not doing things my way.
• I made a lot of configuration settings changes in my quest to get this working so if you encounter a road block, let me know as I may have simply neglected to include a certain setting in my documentation.
• This is not a supported solution. It's very much held together with chewing gum & duct tape.
• Each of the services that link together to give you your free phone service is a free service and may decide to stop being free at any time.

And now, the fun =)

Step 1 - PBXes.org
1a - Create account
1b - Create an Extension
1b1 - SIP (click)
1b2 - Extension Number: 100
1b3 - Display Name: (anything)
1b4 - Password: (pick a password)
1b5 - Voicemail: disabled
1b6 - After creating your extension, open it up and make these changes:
 1b6a - dtmfmode: rfc2833
 1b6b - audio bypass: no
1c - Add a Ring Group
1c1 - Group: 1
1c2 - ring strategy: ringall
1c3 - extension list: 100
1c4 - ring time: 60
1c5 - Destination if no answer: Extension [(anything) <100>]
1d - Add an Inbound Route
1d1 - Trunk: yourPBXes.orgUsername-100
1d2 - Destination: Extension: [(anything) <100>]

Congratulations, you now have your very own SIP extension. You should now be able to call other SIP phones, but let's not stop there, let's hook into the POTS network so you can call any phone!

Step 2 - phone.ipkall.com
2a - type: SIP
2b - area code: pick your prefix
2c - SIP Phone number: yourPBXes.orgUsername-100
2d - SIP Proxy: pbxes.org
2e - Email: youremail
2f - Password: yourPBXes.orgPassword
2g - Check your email for your SIP phone number

This phone number is able to receive calls from POTS phones. If you've done it right, you should be able to call this number and have your SIP softphone ring. Oh, but you'll need to set up a SIP softphone first, here's how:

Step 3 - Install X-Lite
3a - Download and install X-Lite: http://www.counterpath.com/x-lite-download.html
3b - Set up your PBXes.org account:
3b1 - Display Name: PBXes.org
3b2 - User name: yourPBXes.orgUsername-100
3b3 - Password: yourPBXes.orgPassword
3b4 - Domain: pbxes.org
3b5 - Check for voice mail: unchecked
3b6 - You should be connected, if you call your IPKall number it should ring the X-Lite client
3b - After install, launch X-Lite and dial "***7469" to open the config
3b1 - Enter "dtmf" for the filter and make sure "system:dtmf:force_send_in_band" is set to "1"
3b2 - Enter "2833" for the filter and set "rtp:2833:enabled" to "0"

The last three steps are necessary for registering your number with Google Voice. The process of registering a SIP phone with Google Voice is a bit tricky at the moment. There are some differences in how GV interprets the touch tones of the registration code and how SIP softphones encode tones. Steps 3b, 3b1, & 3b2 should help bridge the gap.

Step 4 - Add Number to Google Voice
4a - Log in to Google Voice
4b - Settings > Phones > "Add another phone"
4b1 - Name: "SIP"
4b2 - Number: yourIPKallNumber
4b3 - Phone Type: Home (You can change this later)
4b4 - Save
4c - Verify the number
4c1 - Google will call your X-Lite client & ask you for the 2-digit code
4c2 - Click the buttons on the X-Lite pad & your number should be registered
4c3 - You can now make any changes to your GVoice "SIP" profile

If step 4c doesn't work for you, please let me know! It took me a LOT of configuration changes to get a combination of settings that finally worked and I grew very accustomed to the Google Voice lady telling me, "Sorry, I didn't understand that. Please enter the two-digit code from the website." The settings that you see on this page are the settings that I had when I finally heard her say, "This phone is now registered with Google Voice. Thank you."

Step 5 - Enjoy!
You should now be able to place a call to your Google Voice number and have the X-Lite (or other SIP softphone) ring.

When you're done, you should be able to use Google Voice to place a phone call that will first call your SIP phone and then call the number that you were dialing. For free.

The connection is as follows:

Inbound calls:
Caller > GV > IPKall > PBXes > Your SIP softphone

Outbound calls:
1)                          GV > IPKall > PBXes > Your SIP softphone
2) Phone # you're calling < GV