VoIP

[AnonymouseUser]

How is call quality for these things? According to reviews, some people say it's great, others say it's horrible. Ooma looks pretty good so far. The obihai seems a bit more complicated.

Edit: obihai seems really complicated, I have no idea how it works lol.

Call quality is great for me, but is dependent on your internet connection.

If setting up an Obihai (or any other brand) VoIP adapter seems complicated to you (it really isn't), then Ooma, MagicJack, Nettalk, or Vonage (pre-configured adapter) may be a better fit for you.

FWIW, configuring the Obihai adapters has been easier than the two other VoIP adapters I've used, and I can even reconfigure my work adapter from home, and vice-versa. Of course you also have to do some extra setup with your VoIP provider, for configuring email and extras, which I assume may be easier with one of the other providers.

 

[manly]

I don't have it, but I'm most interested in MagicJack. It has mixed reports of quality, but if it does work, it doesn't get much cheaper. If it doesn't work, you aren't out much money.

OBi 100 is $40 one-time, so it does get much cheaper. All USA and Canada calls are free over Gmail calling.

Wow, a few bucks a month is not bad at all.

Is one option to port our number to google voice and use it through our cell phone?

Google will not port a land line # directly to GV (they only port in from select USA cellular carriers).

The workaround is to get a cheap T-Mobile prepaid SIM card ($1 usually) and port your land line to T-Mo first. Anonemous explained it.

OBi is mostly plug and pray, and I haven't had a firmware update in the past year. It's not bulletproof, but hard to beat completely free (after the initial setup cost).

 

[Anonemous]

Oh, Google Voice is free for 2013 for US/CA calling but it's up to Google if/when they will start charging for the service. Every year around December you'll hear an announcement if Google will charge or keep Google Voice free to use. I've heard about there being cheap VOIP providers with E911 going for 2-3$/month. If GV starts charging, I can set the Obi box to the cheaper VOIP providers.

 

[MonKENy]

4) ObiHai + Google Voice = Pure Win

Im doing this now

cost me $40 and now I get 2 land lines a month for free

(you can connect 2 GV #s to the device)

 

[ManBearPig]

deleted

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Thanks guys! Obihai it is, then. Is there any difference between the 100 and 110 or 202 that would be important to me?

The 100 should be all you need. The 110 allows for two VoIP and one landline, and the 202 allows up to four VoIP accounts. Just get the cheapest if one is on sale.

Anyone know if I could initially start with one google voice number then decide whether or not I want to port my home number over?

Absolutely. It's best to test the service first to make sure it suits your needs.

Can I have a multi phone set up like I do now? The main phone plugs into the phone line and power, the rest of them are just into the power (all cordless)?

Yes, the adapter doesn't care what phone you use, and the phone will work as it always has.

 

[sourceninja]

I simply point google voice to my cell phone. I it set so if you call me at work you go to voice mail, if you call me after work it rings my cell and my wife's cell, and if you call me after 11:30pm it goes to voice mail.

I give that number out to companies and people who I don't want calling me all the time. I give my friends my cell phone number.

 

[AnonymouseUser]

I simply point google voice to my cell phone. I it set so if you call me at work you go to voice mail, if you call me after work it rings my cell and my wife's cell, and if you call me after 11:30pm it goes to voice mail.

I give that number out to companies and people who I don't want calling me all the time. I give my friends my cell phone number.

I ring my mobile as well, but a little different with Voip.ms. I setup a ring group and multiple subaccounts (very nice feature, btw) so when someone calls the work number it rings my work adapter (line 1), home adapter (line 2), work computer (3CX softphone for CallerID popup) and mobile phone. Obviously I don't want work calls bothering me late, so from 7pm to 9am all calls to the work number go straight to voicemail.

 

[ManBearPig]

deleted

 

[AnonymouseUser]

Dudes. Thanks a ton for the help. Guess obihai is what I'm gonna do then. Seems too easy. What potential problems will I face? Is $40 about as cheap as I can expect?

Yeah, there are some sales from time to time, and the cheapest I've seen is ~$30 (@ Newegg). I think I paid $30 and $35 at different times for mine. Currently the Obi100 is $39.99 @ Newegg and $39.24 @ Amazon.

 

[MonKENy]

the 100 will only allow you to plug 1 physical line in.

if you have a wireless phone with satellites this is all you need.

If you have multiple phones plugged into multiple jacks you need the 110. You plug the 110 into a phone jack and then every phone on the line will work. Just make sure you disconnect the outside line

http://www.amazon.com/OBi100-Telepho.../dp/B004LO098O

then you need a TMobile or Sprint pay as you go phone

you buy this

http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-phone/T-Mobile-Prepaid-SIM-Activation-Kit

activate the phone with the sim

then go to

http://www.t-mobile.com/switch/

switch the land line to the tmobile account, then when its done you will go to google voice and switch the tmobile to GV

not sure if I can link to other forums but this is a great place to go

http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=62.0

thats the thread specific to setting up GV with an Obi device

Its going to take a week or so to get fully switched so be prepared for some downtime

 

[ManBearPig]

deleted

 

[olds]

What are you guys going to do when the civil war starts and obama turns off the internet?

 

[AnonymouseUser]

What are you guys going to do when the civil war starts and obama turns off the internet?

Darknet/Meshnet

 

[Wyndru]

I've had ooma for a few years and love it. The cost has gone up, but only slightly, I think I pay around $4 a month now. Originally it was .99 until taxes and fees started creeping in.

I had vonage before that for a few years, and it was fine, just more expensive.

I've looked at obi too, but combining it with google voice concerns me, if they ever decide to pull the rug out from under me and start charging for the voice numbers, I don't know if it's possible to port the number to another service. With OOMA and Vonage I've been able to keep the same number I've had for years (since my land line days). It's nice not to have to give out a new phone number to all of my friends/family.

 

[Crow550]

They just launched a new service called BasicTalk for $9.99 (around $13 after tax & fees): https://www.basictalk.com powered by Vontage. Free number porting and voip box too.

911 support and all that jazz. Call forwarding if you want calls to be forwarded to your cell phone.

Obi supports 911 service for $12 a year. You could use a cell phone too(including deactivated). However with Landline phones you usually have 3-4 phones charged if one is dead unlike if your Cell dies in an emergency.

I'm helping someone who wants to ditch there landline. So I am looking at either Obi or BasicTalk.

 

[RossMAN]

I'm helping someone who wants to ditch there landline. So I am looking at either Obi or BasicTalk.

Why not Ooma?

 

[Crow550]

Why not Ooma?

Well Obi is about $40-$50 while Ooma is $115-$150.

Obi is $12 a year for 911 vs $3-$4 per Month with Ooma.

All the Ooma Premier features are on Google Voice for free plus more.

Google Voice can port your landline and if you already have a Google Voice number you can use both.

This makes your landline more univeral as you can have it ring your cell and PC too.

The only downside is Google could stop offering free Google Talk calling but haven't in the few years they started offering it. Obi does offer other voip services as well.

 

[sportage]

I had voyage years ago. Was $25 more or less, then went to $29. I dropped vonage finally and just stuck with a cell. Then some six months ago got a vonage promo in the mail vonage for $10 month for life. Just had to do a 1 year contract thing. Contract for 1 year, $10 for life. I went with it and having a home phone for just $10 plus few pennies tax, has been great. I have good Internet so vonage works perfectly.
Plus vonage has a shit load of features, including an option to automaticLly sending calls to a second number like a cell if vonage detects the Internet is down.
I pay just $11.99 a month for their unlimited with voicemail and more.
Can't beat that price to maintain a home phone.

Never tried magic jack but I did try net talk once and that was awful. Voice cutting out every 60 seconds.

 

[Wyndru]

Well Obi is about $40-$50 while Ooma is $115-$150.

Obi is $12 a year for 911 vs $3-$4 per Month with Ooma.

All the Ooma Premier features are on Google Voice for free plus more.

Google Voice can port your landline and if you already have a Google Voice number you can use both.

This makes your landline more univeral as you can have it ring your cell and PC too.

The only downside is Google could stop offering free Google Talk calling but haven't in the few years they started offering it. Obi does offer other voip services as well.

But if you don't need a lot of bells and whistles (just a standard landline set-up), Ooma is cheap and easy to get up and running. I just had them port my number over from Vonage, they sent me the box and I plugged it in and activated it. Done.

Cost-wise I've had my Ooma account (about 3 or 4 years now) and I've never paid more than $4 per month (~$48 per year) for basic. I've never had a need for the premier services though. Caller ID and call waiting caller ID has worked fine.

It's been solid too, only 2 outages since I've had it, and for each outage they sent out twitter updates to let you know what was going on and when it was back up (alternatively the forums on their website also had the info).

In the beginning I thought it was some gimmick, like the box would die shortly after I got to the point where my savings kicked in, but it's been surprisingly reliable. (I probably just jinxed it though :awe

 

[sdifox]

I am on freephonelinecanada. I bought a box and the profile from them, 150 and that is it. No monthly.

 

[ManBearPig]

deleted

 

[wirednuts]

The only downside is Google could stop offering free Google Talk calling but haven't in the few years they started offering it. Obi does offer other voip services as well.

im surprised they haven't started charging. they literally pay for everyone's phone calls right now... they don't pay for the time spent on the phone, just the connection fee, but still... that has to be a boatload of cash every year.

ooma started with no fees.. now theyre close to Skype rates.

 

[manly]

im surprised they haven't started charging. they literally pay for everyone's phone calls right now... they don't pay for the time spent on the phone, just the connection fee, but still... that has to be a boatload of cash every year.

ooma started with no fees.. now theyre close to Skype rates.

Google already has the spare network capacity; free Gmail calling is not material to their bottom line. It's not even a rounding error compared to YouTube's traffic.

I'm not a lawyer, but people have commented that Google won't likely charge for domestic calling because then they'd be treated as a telco and incur significant regulation and possibly compliance costs.

 

[Pheran]

But if you don't need a lot of bells and whistles (just a standard landline set-up), Ooma is cheap and easy to get up and running. I just had them port my number over from Vonage, they sent me the box and I plugged it in and activated it. Done.

Cost-wise I've had my Ooma account (about 3 or 4 years now) and I've never paid more than $4 per month (~$48 per year) for basic. I've never had a need for the premier services though. Caller ID and call waiting caller ID has worked fine.

It's been solid too, only 2 outages since I've had it, and for each outage they sent out twitter updates to let you know what was going on and when it was back up (alternatively the forums on their website also had the info).

In the beginning I thought it was some gimmick, like the box would die shortly after I got to the point where my savings kicked in, but it's been surprisingly reliable. (I probably just jinxed it though :awe

I agree, I've been using Ooma for quite a while and once you sink the upfront cost, it's cheap and reliable. Also, it's very important to me that a VoIP solution properly supports 911 service, and Ooma does. In fact it has the capability to automatically send a text to your cell phone if anyone dials 911 from your home. It's my understanding that some other devices like Obi do not have 911 built in.