Can I use my OBI110 without having to pay a $10 annual support contract?

[hgroth]

I been using my OBI 110 for 3 years without ever having to pay a $10 annual fee. I did a complete
reset and wanted to reactivate it in a new seperate account. Obihai will not let me activate it unless
I pay a $10 annual "support" fee . I never ever had to pay a fee to update the firmware on any device I own. Can someone assist me? All I want to do is setup Google voice

[Taoman]

I been using my OBI 110 for 3 years without ever having to pay a $10 annual fee. I did a complete
reset and wanted to reactivate it in a new seperate account. Obihai will not let me activate it unless
I pay a $10 annual "support" fee . I never ever had to pay a fee to update the firmware on any device I own. Can someone assist me?

Ya know, neither have I. AFAIK, Obihai is breaking (troubling) new ground here.

Upgrade your firmware manually and you should be able to configure your device without paying the $10.

http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=10028.msg66308#msg66308

[hgroth]

if I update the firmware manually, can I still setup Google voice without paying a randsome to
Obihai? This is getting rediculous, I hope someone will stop them from this type of business
practice

[Seattleweather]

Yes

[SteveInWA]

if I update the firmware manually, can I still setup Google voice without paying a randsome to
Obihai? This is getting rediculous, I hope someone will stop them from this type of business
practice

Read through the forum before ranting.

http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=10065.0

[RFC3261]

I never ever had to pay a fee to update the firmware on any device I own.

Equipment designed for businesses regularly require payment of fees for new firmware/bios.  Oracle caused quite the stir when they disabled the ability to download firmware and bios for hardware purchased under the Sun brand when one did not have a service contract.  I would not try to claim that either $0/yr or $10/yr is a fair price, but there is no doubt it does cost Obihai money to develop the updates.  They never promised support (or firmware updates) for life.  It is their right to decide to charge for updates, even thought at this point there are workarounds.  That said, I think most agree that the notification of what appears to be a change of terms for past purchasers has been handled badly.

[BruceFerjulian]

It's one thing to subscribe to updates for new functionality but updates to repair what is not working as documented should not require a subscription. If a fee is required to fix what is broken, then the end user should be compensated for features that do not work that they paid for.

[SteveInWA]

It's one thing to subscribe to updates for new functionality but updates to repair what is not working as documented should not require a subscription. If a fee is required to fix what is broken, then the end user should be compensated for features that do not work that they paid for.

Obihai isn't forcing anyone to pay.

If there is a problem with the firmware, Obihai will fix the problem and release new firmware, and everyone, regardless of warranty status, can manually download the firmware and update it for free.

See:  http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=10088.msg66682#msg66682