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Obi and Google Voice

Started by dbudworth, April 17, 2012, 08:08:19 PM

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dbudworth

OK, I would like to cancel our land line phone and go to voip.  I would also like to go to a prepaid cell phone plan (page plus).  

I don't totally understand how the obi's work so I'm wondering if the obi100 or obi110 would work in the following scenario:

My wife doesn't want to have to get a new phone # for either her cell phone or for our home ( landline).  If I understand it correctly, you can not port a landline phone number into GV. So I would have to port it to a cellular carrier first, then port over to gv.  I would have to create a new gv account for our home phone, and a separate one for our cell phones (mine & wife's).

Our cell phones are currently though us cellular, if/when we switch to page plus, we will port our # over, but what happens to that number if/when we port that over to gv? Is it still active on page plus network?

Is it easier to just get a new Google voice number and not port our phone numbers and just link our phones to separate gv
accounts?

While we are at home I would like to make phone calls on our cell phone over Wi-Fi to save on minutes. How well does the android app OBiON work?

TIA

I'm pretty clueless on the obi, Google voice and voip in general.

Rick

#1
Quote from: dbudworth on April 17, 2012, 08:08:19 PM
OK, I would like to cancel our land line phone and go to voip.  I would also like to go to a prepaid cell phone plan (page plus).  

I don't totally understand how the obi's work so I'm wondering if the obi100 or obi110 would work in the following scenario:

My wife doesn't want to have to get a new phone # for either her cell phone or for our home ( landline).  If I understand it correctly, you can not port a landline phone number into GV. So I would have to port it to a cellular carrier first, then port over to gv.  I would have to create a new gv account for our home phone, and a separate one for our cell phones (mine & wife's).

Our cell phones are currently though us cellular, if/when we switch to page plus, we will port our # over, but what happens to that number if/when we port that over to gv? Is it still active on page plus network?

Is it easier to just get a new Google voice number and not port our phone numbers and just link our phones to separate gv
accounts?

While we are at home I would like to make phone calls on our cell phone over Wi-Fi to save on minutes. How well does the android app OBiON work?

TIA

I'm pretty clueless on the obi, Google voice and voip in general.

Some of your questions seem in conflict with other goals.  Your first goal is "I would like to cancel our landline".  So, to do that, you can port to GV via an intermediate stop on a prepaid cell.  You would create a new GV account as you indicate (if for no other reason that to have it as a separate Google account from your main Google account), then port your number to the prepaid cell then to GV.  Then, via the OBi, all your home calls will ring, through the OBi, to your home phones and you'll have eliminated your landline (and the bill that goes with it).  

You then talk about both porting your cell numbers to GV as well as changing them to PagePlus.  If your goal is to have cheaper cell service, then change them to PagePlus if that's cheaper.  GV only comes into it if you want to make calls over GV instead of the cell to save minutes, and you could do that as you indicated through the OBi app. If Pageplus provides free calling to specific numbers, you could setup your GV number as a "friend" and then have free cell calling anywhere in that manner.

If you port any numbers to GV they are no longer active on any cell network, and the account gets closed.  There is no reason to port your cell number to GV, unless you're dumping your cell provider and no longer wan that number on any cell plan.

With GV, you can forward calls to your home number to your cell if you so desire.

You then say when you're at home you would like to make phone calls on our cell phone over wi-fi.  Why?  Use the home phones and the OBi/GV setup that you got by porting your landline and your calls are free.  You don't need to use the cell at all.

Hope this helps.

Everton

As far as making calls on your mobile device on WiFi to save minutes, I would look at a new start-up call Republic Wireless which offers unlimited for $19.99 per month plus taxes.  It uses a hybrid system of both WiFi and Cellular and require that most* of your calls be placed through WiFi.  You phone rings regardless of whether you are you are on WiFi or Cellular through the same number. Unfortunately, they are going through beta testing and is no longer taking on new users.  It should be opening up soon if you can wait.

http://republicwireless.com/

http://republicwireless.com/forum/news-discussions/general-discussion


Before porting your landline to one of the Cellular provider, you need to make sure Google Voice will be able to port your number in.  A lot of individuals use T-Mobile as the intermediate cellular provider since it offers one of the cheaper options.  You can also port your landline to other VOIP providers such as Anveo or Callcentric or VOIP.ms, etc., although this option is not free as the GV option.  You might also need e911 setup either way.

Felix

Quote from: dbudworth on April 17, 2012, 08:08:19 PM
I'm pretty clueless on the obi, Google voice and voip in general.
Then I would gently suggest that you start with "full-service" provider, rather than Google Voice. With Voipo and Phone Power offering plans at less than $10/mo (with two year commitment), it will allow you to get a better understanding of VoIP in general and providers / equipment specifically. They will also port your current number for free. Both Voipo and Phone Power (and dozens of others) will give you SIP credentials, once you understand what it is and why you want those. So, at some point you will want to buy OBi and set up Google Voice along with your primary provider. They also have Android and iPhone application, so you can call over WiFi (check to be sure).

If your calling pattern is less than few hundred minutes a month, you may want to look at some PAYG (pay as you go) providers - Callcentric is the most popular.

I am confused what changing cell phone provider has to do with the voip (OBi / GV) part of your post; so I didn't address it.

As with most things in life, walk before you run! Good luck!

Ostracus

Quote from: Everton on April 18, 2012, 09:55:01 AM
Before porting your landline to one of the Cellular provider, you need to make sure Google Voice will be able to port your number in.  A lot of individuals use T-Mobile as the intermediate cellular provider since it offers one of the cheaper options.  You can also port your landline to other VOIP providers such as Anveo or Callcentric or VOIP.ms, etc., although this option is not free as the GV option.  You might also need e911 setup either way.

There should be a note here. Voip.ms can't port my land-line, and I'm sure there are others.

dbudworth

#5
Thanks for all the info guys. Very helpful.

Sorry about my 1st post being so confusing. I re-read it and it is very confusing and contradicting.

I guess I talked about our cell phones to essentially save money and I didn't fully understand what porting is/does. I do now, I do not want to port our cell phone #'s, I still want them to be active w/ a cellular serivce. I also read that some people are saving cell minutes by using the Obi, they didn't state how. It's obvious to me now, because they basically have a free landline phone to use now. It was the way I read their statement that sounded like they had their cell phone linked to the Obi to send and receive calls.

I need to do some more reading/researching.

I think I might just buy the Obi110 (we still have like 6 months left on our contract with our SP) and play around with it.

Thanks again everyone.

jimates

Also keep in mind, you cannot forward a google voice number to another google voice number by listing it as a forwarding number in your google voice account.

RevKev

QuoteI also read that some people are saving cell minutes by using the Obi, they didn't state how.

You can use the OBiON app on your cell phone (Android/iPhone) to make/receive calls over wifi through your Obi device.