Obi and Google Voice

[davismills]

Anybody using an Obi to connect a regular landline phone to Google Voice? Our Magic Jack is not so magic anymore. I'm just curious about the voice quality. It's going to be Obi or Ooma for me.

I've seen many discussions here about Ooma, but haven't found any discussions on Obi.

OBiTALK - Google Voice

 

[rbmrtn]

I looked at obi before. At the time there was some issue that GV would no longer work because of some protocol changes. And obi was only the hardware, you had subscribe to your own VOIP provider. But looks like now they officially support GV.

My MJ works ok for me... what issues are you having with it.

 

[clobber]

My Obi is great. I bought the one that has landline and Google. It can make phone calls over the landline and over the Internet with Google. Good stuff.

Voice quality has been really good. The only minor issue I have is there is sometimes a delay when I answer the phone. Often I have to say hello twice before the other person hears me. There is probably a setting I am missing, but it is not that big of deal.

 

[jimbee]

I've been using an OBi100 telephone adapter with Google Voice for about 2.5 years. It works well in general. I plugged the OBi100 directly into my router, don't have any QoS set, and it hasn't caused any problems. I chose a Google Voice number that is local to my mom so she can call me without incurring long distance charges.

There are no charges at all. There is also no E911 service. You have to buy that separately, use a different service than Google Voice, or use a cell phone for 911.

 

[naggz]

Just hooked up an Obi200, and signed up to VOIP.ms.
Pretty straight forward to set up using their guides. OBi 100/110 - VoIP.ms Wiki

Ported my old landline phone over, and it seems to be working perfect so far.
With e911, it should work out to less than $6 a month for us.

/Canadian, so Google Voice was not an option

 

[tfudtuckerpucker]

I've been with Obi/GoogleVoice for maybe 4 years now. When Google announced they would discontinue support last year, I used another VOIP service, then reverted when they decided to support again. I've had no problems, though the call quality is sometimes a bit marginal, though still better than a cell phone (IMO).

I really like the spam filter, which blocks most telemarketers. Also I like to be able to access phone records, contacts, history, etc from my laptop. I also like making/receiving calls directly from my laptop. And since I am Herr Doktor Frugal, I like that it's free.

Last year I helped my elderly parents dump their landline and long distance charges- they were thrilled. They chose basictalk from Walmart ($10/mo). The cost of combined internet + basictalk was cheaper than their landline fees (plus they were still using dialup).

 

[Cobra9777]

Add me to the list of happy Obi+GV users. I bought the Obi100 for $35 on Amazon 3 or 4 years ago. After that initial hardware cost, the service is totally free, although we have no E911. I really like all the features that come with GV, like call screening, voicemail, and integration with your Contacts list. We plugged it into a phone jack near the router and all the landline phones work perfectly. The voice quality is flawless for us, but I think that depends entirely on the bandwidth of your ISP. We have Verizon FiOS 50/50 with dozens of connected devices and never had any issue with voice quality or reliability. It is bewildering to me why people actually pay for home phone service.

 

[davismills]

I looked at obi before. At the time there was some issue that GV would no longer work because of some protocol changes. And obi was only the hardware, you had subscribe to your own VOIP provider. But looks like now they officially support GV.

My MJ works ok for me... what issues are you having with it.

Delays when answering and sometimes echoing.

 

[marko]

I didn't see anything that lets you keep your old phone number.

Do you have to use the GV number (which is not the number I've had for 40 years)?

 

[Cobra9777]

You can port a mobile number to GV, but not a landline number, although there is a well-documented two-step process, in which you first port your landline number to an old cell phone and then port to GV.

In our case, we were happy to ditch the 35 year-old landline number. The vast majority of incoming calls were some type of telemarketing, political poll, police union pension, charity fundraising, etc. That number was in so many telemarketing databases, we were happy to give it to somebody else and start over. We're very careful not to give the new GV number to anyone except family and friends, which has resulted in zero unsolicited incoming calls.

 

[Animorph]

We've had Obi with VOIP provider Phone Power at $35/year, including 9-1-1. Ported our old landline number. Can't tell any difference from the old landline quality. The only problem has been losing the green "Phone" LED on the Obi after Internet connection glitches about once every two weeks. I have to keep an eye on it.

I also have UPS power supplies connected to the Obi, cable modem, router, and phone so that I have about 2 hours of phone service during a power outage. Not quite standard landline, but it has been handy.