Moving to Grand Cayman - What to do?
aandaritter:
Hello all,
I have just gotten a job in Grand Cayman and will be moving at the end of January. My wife will be staying behind to get the house sold, and will then move with me in July. Her mother, my parents, friends, etc. will all be staying in the United States, but are all going to want to be able to call us without having to deal with obscenely expensive international phone bills. In addition, we would also like to be able to call back to the states.
I spoke with an American that already lives on Grand Cayman about how they deal with this dilema, and they said that they use Vonage. However, after researching Vonage, as well as Magic Jack Plus, and many other voip services, I am not real impressed with the level of satisfaction. In fact, it seems that there are a lot of people out there that are unhappy with pretty much all of these services.
However, I came across the OBi110 device on amazon, and the reviews are amazing, to say the least. I have spent all day reading through all of these forum topics and postings until my head hurts, and I haven't been able to determine if it will do what I want it to do or not.
When I read about the Magic Jack Plus, it really seemed to me to be the perfect device. Set it up with a phone number here in the states with an area code that won't be long distance for my mother-in-law, and then plug it into anywhere in the world that has high speed internet and I have instant phone. Perfect, except that most people absolutely hate the thing.
So, I am looking for an alternative that will do the same thing. I would like to have a device (with a dedicated "United States only" analog phone hooked to it) that I can hook up to the high speed internet service that I plan to get once I get to Cayman that will have a phone number registered in the states. I then want to use it to call the states, and have all of my friends and family call me using that number. Period. I'll have a new land line (or not, depending on what I choose) and new cell phones just to use in Cayman (they have international calling plans available, but that doesn't help the people back in the states avoid the long distance fees). The fact that Google Voice doesn't play well with 911, 411, etc. doesn't bother me because of this.
I'm confused about the Google Voice service. I've been reading all about how it works, but I don't need any of the services that they talk about (forwarding calls to another phone, voicemail, etc.). I just want to use it to route the OBi110 through to the states. There doesn't appear to be an option to set it up with a new phone number that isn't linked to another phone. I think I have figured out how to set it up, but I just need someone to confirm that I'm thinking correctly. I think that I could buy the OBi110 now before I leave, then sign up for Google Voice, pick a phone number with an area code that I want, and link it to my current cell phone that I have here in the states. Once I have it working properly, unhook everything, put it in my suitcase, and fly to Grand Cayman. When I get my internet service working in Cayman, hook everything back up, and I should be able to call back home to my parents for free to let them know that I made it okay. Is that right? Some people made mention that Google Voice doesn't work from other countries because of the IP addresses. I'm so confused that I don't know what to think. I guess if Google Voice won't work, I could sign up for another voip service and still use the OBi110.
Help?
Thanks in advance,
Andy
Veronica:
Hello aandaritter GOOGLE VOICE is definitely the way to go in this case and
" I think that I could buy the OBi110 now before I leave, then sign up for Google Voice, pick a phone number with an area code that I want, and link it to my current cell phone that I have here in the states" is exactly what you have to do and dont worry about google voice not working in other countries, cause in fact IT DOES work perfectly with the Obi as well as softphones that offer the same direct calling with google voice, just make sure you create and setup you GV account in the states.
I am from Equador and have been using google voice for so long almost a year to be in touch with my boyfriend in Canada, at that time i had to use a proxy to simulate having an ip address from USA in order to set up an account with an american number in GV. BTW it has never let me down i even bought an android smartphone to set it up there too abd be able to text my bf, so far so good. About all the other services that google voice offers if you dont need them then dont use them anyways the service is FREE at list until 2012 for making calls but i really doubt about that. In any case it stop being free in 2012 its going to cost $0.01 per minute which is nothing, but as i said i really doubt they do that starting for the fact that the service was created for americans but it had become global. So go ahead use that set up, happy holidays and happy flight!
Veronica
hwittenb:
You have the right idea. Google Voice is a good choice, because it is a free service (thru 2012 anyway). It's not perfect but good enough. The OBi implementation of the GV proprietary protocol is very good. You should recognize the risks, though and have a backup setup. From your ip address GV will know that you are located in an international location. They can without notice stop your calls. You won't know how well it works until you try it. To initially setup the account you need another phone to receive the validation call and it would be best to do that while you are in the U.S.
For backup for sure you should sign up for one or more pay-as-you-go accounts with a standard voip provider(s). Providers I would consider would include CallCentric, voip.ms, Anveo, Future-Nine. CallCentric is very reliable and only requires a $5 account deposit.
The OBi100/110 allows you to setup 2 full providers with a single attached phone. You could have GoogleVoice plus one additional sip voip provider with a U.S. phone number for both incoming and outgoing calls. You can have a number of additional voip providers setup on the unit for making outgoing only calls. I would get the OBi110 instead of the OBi100 in case you ever wish to attach the unit to a landline.
How well the calls work will depend to a large extent on the quality of the internet service available.
Stewart:
There are two types of VoIP providers, commonly called BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and DISCO (Device is Supplied by Company). BYOD is generally less expensive and more flexible, while the DISCO companies ship you a pre-configured device and can provide end-to-end support.
Among DISCOs, magicJack is IMO a rock-bottom piece of junk. OTOH, Vonage is top-of-the-line, with excellent quality, reliability and support, but it's overpriced. There are dozens of choices in between! For example, take a look at VOIPo and Phonepower. I'm a satisfied PP customer, though I use other services as well.
In the BYOD arena, GV has generally excellent quality and reliability, and will be free through at least 2012, but there is essentially no support. Should you have a problem, e.g. with your IP address being blocked, there will be no help from them. Next step up are outfits like Localphone. A US number is $3 setup + $0.99/mo., free incoming, outgoing to most US numbers is $0.005/min. At the high end, look at Callcentric and Anveo.
You may want to investigate IP phones or multi-line phones. We have a winter home in Bangkok, equipped with a Gigaset A580 IP system with three handsets. It connects to both our Phonepower service and a local landline. Incoming calls on either service ring all the phones, and we can call out on either service from any. If one phone is in use, we can make or receive a call on any other. This can be two VoIP calls, or one VoIP and one landline (with only one landline, it is not possible to have two independent landline calls).
Although it wouldn't permit concurrent calls, you can connect a multi-handset cordless phone behind the OBi, which would allow both VoIP and landline calls from any set. Or, with a two-line conventional cordless system, you could have one landline and one VoIP call, from any combination of handsets.
Many VoIP providers can port your existing US landline number, so you would not have to give your contacts a new number. It's also possible with GV, but you would need to port to a (cheap prepaid) mobile first.
With most providers, or through the OBi, you could forward important US calls to your Cayman mobile. Depending on provider and cell carrier, cost would range from $0.06 to $0.20/min.
What does it cost you to call the US from your Cayman mobile? To call a local mobile or landline? Using either the call-thru/callback features of the OBi, or features from your VoIP provider, substantial savings may be possible on calls from your mobiles.
It would be useful to know your approximate anticipated monthly minutes usage, to/from US on home phone, and to/from US on mobiles. If you often call other countries, please summarize that, too. It should then be possible to make more specific recommendations.
aandaritter:
Quote from: Veronica on December 21, 2011, 09:12:16 pm
GOOGLE VOICE is definitely the way to go in this case...So go ahead use that set up, happy holidays and happy flight!
Veronica
Thanks for the quick reply, Veronica! I'm definitely glad to hear from someone that is using this set up in another country. I feel a whole lot better about giving it a try now. I'll go ahead and order one of the OBi110s and see how it goes.
Happy holidays to you as well!
Thanks again,
Andy
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