VoIP

[Pheran]

Whoa $4 a month for ooma is not bad at all. I could never find pricing on basic. Nice. I actually never ended up switching. Still thinking about it. Google voice (obi) seems like the best deal.

Entering your zip code at this link will tell you how much basic Ooma service will cost you. It's all government taxes, Ooma isn't actually charging you anything. For me it's also about $4 a month. After switching from a Verizon landline that was costing me ~$30/month, it didn't take long to break even!

 

[wirednuts]

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.

but they pay termination fees for calls, they have to. if its a google talk call, of course they don't have a charge, but if its a call that gets routed through the cellular or pots system, there are termination fees for every call placed charged by the phone companies to whomever is placing the call, which is google when you use a google voice number.

I don't know how much though. might only be a penny per call or something...

 

[Crow550]

If you have a Google Voice number you want to keep ($20) while porting your landline number over too (also $20). The cost ends up being $40.

In which the Obi box is about $40 so $80 plus $12 a year for 911 service. With two phone numbers and all the fancy Google Voice features of spam filtering and forwarding calls and such. Which frees your old landline number to ring to any phone or voip service you choose too. Also $3 if you wanna move it to another service away from G-Voice.

Which is still cheaper than $115(on sale price) for the Ooma for one line and $4 a Month for 911 service. Plus $40 (Unknown on the price to port the number away from Ooma) to port your current landline number over vs $40 for having two numbers on Google Voice or just $20 for one.

G-Voice US & Canada calling. Ooma US only.

Unless you pay $9 a Month for there Premier service which gives you all the features Google Voice currently gives you.

Ooma and Google Voice Talk service both run the same risks of not being free forever but at least with Google Voice you can easily move to another service.

 

[esquared]

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.

In the spirit of cheapness, I tried the magic jack three years ago.

39.99 for the device which includes the 1st year of service. Sometimes Fry's has this for 29.99.

After the first year ran out, I renewed for the 19.99/yr for the second year. When that 2nd year expired I was able to renew for 5 years for 69.99. That's a 1.17 a month.
I haven't seen that special again.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, quality isn't that terrific but it works, I get 911 for free along with voicemail too.

If they went out of business tomorrow, I still got my money's worth.

 

[lupi]

still using the tmobile one that cost me about $9 a month. no problems with call quality and only issue I've run across is having to stock up on some of the routers since they no longer sell new accounts and the main manufactures aren't making them anymore.

 

[Crow550]

The Desktop version of Google Plus Hangouts offers free calling and has a feature that allows 3 way call conferencing and I believe will also link to your Google Voice number too. You can also make calls in Gmail and or use the Chat For Google extension for Chrome as well. I think only G+ Hangouts offers conferencing calling.

If you have call waiting on any phone Google Voice also allows 3 way conferencing if someone calls and you want to add them to the current call you are having.

Going to be trying an Obi and Ooma box out this weekend to see which is the best bang. So far I am leaning towards Google Voice and Obi but well see once I can do some real call testing.

 

[Crow550]

Obi100 won. Which in sale for $30 with coupon but currently sold out at NewEgg.

(The 110 is only if you want to run a landline too.

The Obi202 is suppose to have some advanced features you may or may not need like "Google Voice Multi-Ring: Use the same Google account on multiple OBi202 devices. Incoming calls to the associated Google Voice number will ring all OBi202 endpoints and the and the stand-alone Google Talk app (Gmail browser-based phone calling excluded)"

& "Show the first few words of an incoming text / SMS message sent to the Google Voice number on the caller ID name display of the phone(s) attached to the OBi202 phone port(s). The phone will ring once as an audible alert the text message was received. Enable this function in the OBiTALK portal Device Configuration - Google Voice Service settings.")

The quality has been fine. Did some download & upload tests no real issues on a 10mb down/1mb up. This week I will be porting the landline to a pre-paid mobile service then have Google port it over to G-Voice and the person I am helping already has a Google Voice number and wants to keep both. You set which number you want as the default to call out in G-Voice. Both will ring your line of course.

The features are awesome too. One small thing is Google Voice only sends the number to the caller ID not the name. So you have to add the names in the landline phone book. Not that big of a deal. Unless there is a setting I missed?

Then once all is done will setup the E911 service for $12 a year.

Still looking at the OBI settings. So far it's been pretty neat.

An alternative is an active or deactivated Android or i-Phone on Wifi with GrooVe IP or Talkatone app.

However if you want to use phones around the House the Obi is a good choice.

Also you can pay $3 to port your G-Voice number to other service and the Obi does support quite a few. So it's pretty solid.

 

[RossMAN]

Crow, with the Obi are you able to disable (or mute) incoming calls during certain hours?

 

[Crow550]

Yes with Google Voice you can set the Ring Schedule for the times you like and for what phone on Weekdays & Weekends or just turn on Do Not Disturb when you want some off time and set for how long.

The Obi box may have some settings for this as well? I am still checking out the site & forums and looking through all the settings. You can also check the other VOIP services that work with it if you don't want to use G-Voice.

 

[RossMAN]

Yes with Google Voice you can set as many Ring timers as you like for what phone you have it ring too and on Week days or ends or you can just turn on Do Not Disturb when you want some off time and set for how long.

The Obi box may have some settings. I am still checking out the site & forums and looking through some of the settings. You can also check the other VOIP services that work with it if you do not want to use G-Voice.

So far I'm loving Ooma but I may give Obi/GV a try. I have the original model that was released when it was $49.95 and 99% of the time out of stock.