The route an Obie/Google Voice call takes
Lateralg:
Is losing both land line & internet at same time really rare?
If we lose power, aren't our cordless land line phones dead? I wonder how many people thought to have an old fashioned plug-it-in-the-wall phone ready for this. And know where they hid it.
Rick:
Quote from: Lateralg on February 13, 2012, 01:20:20 pm
Is losing both land line & internet at same time really rare?
If we lose power, aren't our cordless land line phones dead? I wonder how many people thought to have an old fashioned plug-it-in-the-wall phone ready for this. And know where they hid it.
To your point, anyone with a POTS line should have a cord phone plugged into at least one of the phone jacks in the home.
Lateralg:
Stewart, are you still there? If not, anyone care to sub for him?
If a person doesn't want to use Google Voice:
1) How does he/she find SIP provider?
2) On a 0-10 scale of difficulty, where 10 is in Steven Hawking's territory, how difficult to make Obie user-friendly? The Obie advanced setup seems to have as much, or more, features than GV, but it looks a bit intimidating.
Lateralg:
Rick,
SHOULD have. Excellent point that I'll emphasize in my presentation to the elder folk.
Rick:
Quote from: Lateralg on February 13, 2012, 01:32:25 pm
Stewart, are you still there? If not, anyone care to sub for him?
If a person doesn't want to use Google Voice:
1) How does he/she find SIP provider?
2) On a 0-10 scale of difficulty, where 10 is in Steven Hawking's territory, how difficult to make Obie user-friendly? The Obie advanced setup seems to have as much, or more, features than GV, but it looks a bit intimidating.
FYI, the device is an OBi 100 or OBi 110, not an Obie... ;)
Given your audience, if they don't want to use GV, and they don't have a need to have two OBi devices communicating to each other, they should stick with their landlines. With a parent in her mid 70s and more elderly in-laws, even basic technology is past their capabilities. IMHO, the OBi devices are beyond their capabilities even with GV. The idea of porting your landline to a prepaid cell, and then to GV is beyond their capabilities, as is the concept of getting rid of their landline... Very few will understand it enough to get it running successfully, and OBi does not have the technical support staff to help them. GV has no technical support staff.
I'm several decades away from that age and very technically proficient with computers and I found the OBi setup not straightforward. The GV piece was no problem, but Callcentric setup had issues and it took several days and lots of questions on these forums for me to figure out the problem. Without RonR's help I would have sent the device back.
Also, remember that any of them that have home security alarms likely cannot get rid of their POTS line unless they get replacement coverage from a cellular service or an valid internet monitoring service, both of which cost more money... So the only benefit of the OBi to them would be free calls (to US and Canada via GV), they still have to keep their landline.
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