OBI110 setup with Comcast Service

[sharad]

I currently have Comcast Internet/Voice. I am renting their Arris Tg862G/ct telephony modem/gateway.  Can I replace this setup by using a cable modem (without telephony), a router and OBI110?  Any help will be appreciated.

[drgeoff]

Do you still want Comcast's voice service or ditch that and use an alternative VoiP service?

An OBi110 may not be the most appropriate choice. It has the ability to connect to a POTS line (or an emulated one). If you don't need that, another OBi model may be cheaper or have more useful  features.

[sharad]

Thx, Drgeoff.
Here is the sequence of events-
1. I ditched Comcast Voice and am using GV on OBI110
2. My wife is upset because there is no caller Name feature any more.
3. I may have to go back to Comcast for that reason, but was trying to avoid renting their EMTA modem.
4. I still have Comcast cable with Internet and TV
5. So, can an OBI device work for voice with comcast cable feeding into my non-telephony modem/router? If yes, then how and which one?
6. Any other suggestions for trying to get a reliable caller name feature (for both outgoing and incoming calls) will be appreciated as well.
Thank you for your help.

[SteveInWA]

In your case, Comcast has nothing to do with your telephone service.  It's just an internet service provider, and the OBi box supplies the similar VoIP telephony function as would be built into an ARRIS combo modem/telephone gateway adapter.

Solution to the caller ID name issue:

• Sign up for an account with Callcentric: www.callcentric.com
• Obtain one of their free NY state inbound telephone numbers (known as a "DID")
• Log onto your OBiTALK portal account, click on your OBi device, and add a service provider (e.g. SP2).  Scroll down to the bottom of the page and select "OBiTALK Compatible Service Providers", and then select "Callcentric".  Enter your Callcentric account number and SIP password, as you set it up on Callcentric's web site.  Complete the OBi setup.
• Make a test phone call from some other phone number, to your new Callcentric DID number, to confirm that it rings on your OBi-attached phone.
• Log into your Google Voice account, on the Settings page:  https://www.google.com/voice#phones
• Add and verify your new Callcentric DID number as a forwarding phone and place a check mark to the left of it
• Remove the check mark next to Google Chat

Now, Google Voice will forward your inbound calls through your Callcentric number, which will ring on your OBi-attached phone, as it did before, but now, you'll get caller ID name.  Outbound calls will still go out via Google Voice on SP1.

[sharad]

Steve, Thx.
1. Is there a similar solution for caller name for outgoing calls?
2. I am still curious if one can tell me the hook up configuration for comcast cable using my non-telephony modem (SB6141), route (Archer C7)r and an OBI device - just in case I choose to go back to Comcast for phone service.
Thank you.

[SteveInWA]

RE:  outbound calls:  caller ID name (CNAM) is not sent by the calling telephone service provider.  It is a service provided by the telephone company of the called party (the person who answers your call on the other end).  That provider queries a CNAM database, which contains pairs of telephone numbers and names.  The problem is, the calling party's telco needs to feed its customers names to the CNAM databases, which costs money to maintain.  Being a (mostly) free service, Google neither feeds its users' names, nor subscribes to the DBs to look up names on inbound calls.  So, no, there is no way to add your name to GV outbound calls.  You'd need to use a different service provider, not GV.

RE:  Comcast.  I don't know why you keep coming back to that question.  There is no special setup needed.  You already have your OBi device plugged into your Comcast internet service via your router, right?  The router doesn't use, nor care at all, about whether or not the Comcast cable modem has a built-in telephony feature or not.  If you someday want to use Comcast's telephone service, you would simply sign up for it with them, and get a telephony-equipped cable modem, and plug your telephone into it, instead of into the OBi.  You could also use both the Comcast telephone service, and the OBi; again, one has no interaction at all with the other.

[drgeoff]

I think sharad is asking whether (if he wanted Comcast Voice again) he could obtain the necessary Comcast Voice credentials and enter them into his Obi and thus obtain Comcast Voice without using a Comcast cable modem with integrated VoIP.

As I know zero about Comcast I'm not going to attempt any answer to that.

[SteveInWA]

I think sharad is asking whether (if he wanted Comcast Voice again) he could obtain the necessary Comcast Voice credentials and enter them into his Obi and thus obtain Comcast Voice without using a Comcast cable modem with integrated VoIP.

As I know zero about Comcast I'm not going to attempt any answer to that.

I assumed you weren't familiar with Comcast, given that you're in the UK (correct?)  So, that's why I stepped in to help.  Forgive me if you already know some or all of this, but here goes:

Comcast, like other US Cable service providers, tries to make their service harder to leave, by offering "triple play" bundles of television, internet broadband and telephone service, at a better price than the individual offerings if purchased separately. 

Their telephone service is SIP VoIP-based, but it is not a typical, open-credential service delivered via generic ATAs over the public internet.  Instead, they remotely provision the service in the cable modem box, which has an optional built-in ATA function.  In the US, all cable service providers use the same type of modems, which are certified by their industry standards group, DOCSIS.  Consumers can either rent the modem from the provider or buy their own.  ARRIS (a spin-off of Motorola) is the industry leader.  Consumers can either get a modem with, or without, the built-in telephony circuitry.  So:  coax cable goes in, and Ethernet and, optionally, analog telephone go out.

This VoIP function is not configurable by the end user customer, and the credentials (SIP user ID and password) are not given out under any circumstances.  The customer simply plugs a telephone cord (RJ-11) into the jack in the back of the modem.  The service is higher-quality than typical VoIP, because the IP traffic flows over Comcast's own, managed private IP network, to their own telephone switches (Comcast, unlike most commodity SIP VoIP ITSPs, is a Competitive Local Exchange Carrier with their own switches on the PSTN).  Other cable companies like Time Warner offer similar services, and are also US CLECs.

So, bottom line:  Sharad can either get telephone service from Comcast, or from an OBi plugged into the home network, or both.  If Sharad wanted to move the telephone number from Comcast to some ITSP or back again, it would just be a standard number port.

[sharad]

Thx all for your help.  I guess it's clear that if I do go back to Comcast for voice, I do need to get a telephony modem.

[SteveInWA]

Thx all for your help.  I guess it's clear that if I do go back to Comcast for voice, I do need to get a telephony modem.

Yes, that is correct.  Comcast cannot use your OBi to provide service.

[drgeoff]

SteveInWA's explanation is what I expected. It is very similar to the 'Broadband Talk' service that my UK ISP introduced about 10 years ago.  The ADSL modem/router/Wi-Fi boxes that they supplied had a built in SIP ATA which fed a standard phone instrument jack on the back and an internal DECT base station. Customers could either use an ordinary corded phone or purchase the custom, matched styling DECT handset with charging stand which could be free-standing elsewhere in the house or clipped to the front of the modem after removing a cover strip.

Being an ADSL modem the existing PSTN (POTS) line was available to the box's innards. Thus it could be user-configured that the handset could make and receive calls on both the POTS and the VoIP number. Calls went out via VoIP unless preceded by dialling '5'.

Although SIP based the credentials were not given to end-users, the configuration being semi-automatic. Customers were given a unique code which they entered on a web-page hosted by the ISP. That triggered the atomatic configuration. However, some clever people eventually found that it was very simple to capture the long configuration string and find the SIP username and password within it. I did that and was able to configure the VoIP service on a Linksys SPA3000.

The ISP retained the facility on 3 generations of their modem but then, citing insufficient customer use, stopped offering it to new customers and the ATA/DECT hardware was not incorporated into subsequent modem versions. When I upgraded to fibre-to-the-cabinet plus VDSL, the VoIP line was cancelled by the ISP.