VoIP.ms and Google Voice (a combination that works for me)
soundview:
For reasons too long to go into, I chose to go with the voip.ms pay per minute plan and forward Google Voice because my wife and I like sending and receiving SMS to our GV home number.
Here is my voip.ms per per minute cost breakdown for New Haven, CT (YMMV)
$0.50 one time set up fee
$0.99 per month DID fee
$0.01 per minute (incoming and outgoing calls)
$25 minimum initial deposit / $5 minimum balance
$0.08 per caller ID CNAM lookup (optional)
$1.50 per month e911 (optional)
Here are my requirements
Caller ID contact list override since I receive mobile calls that are mostly generic names
To send/receive an occasional fax on my wife's existing machine
Telemarketing blocking
Reliable service
Vestalink does not support manual faxing and I have some doubts regarding their reliability. Phone Power does not allow CNAM over ride for anyone on their Aquarius network (BYOD Obi plan) and I was not impressed with their lack of set up support which gave me numerous problems.
My Obi202 set up
SP1 Google Voice
SP2 voip.ms
Manual web interface enabled, auto provisioning/obitalk service disabled
For now I receive calls on SP2 and call out on SP1. SP1 will be disabled after 5/14 with all outgoing calls going through voip.ms with my spoofed GV caller ID. Caller ID name override works like a charm. I chose to activate $0.08 cent look up on caller ID name which only applies if the caller is not my phone book. I mostly get calls from people in my phone book anyway. Phone call quality is very good and their chat support was excellent. Have not tried faxing yet but supposedly works well with ulaw codec.
I set up IVR to play back a customized recording for anonymous caller IDs and discovered that Google Voice just rings until the built in GV voicemail system takes over. The reason why is because GV does not work with early media and therefore does not ring the destination phone. However, calls directly to the voip.ms DID are intercepted by the IVR. This is not a big deal for me since telemarketers will be sent to GV voicemail and never bother me. If I port my GV number to voip.ms one day, this problem disappears. I like the fact that I can switch to another plan/provider at any time if things do not work out.
TL;DR: voip.ms has all the features and flexibility I need plus more. Hope this helps someone.
EDIT: CNAM lookup is $0.008 per call. There is an additional $1.50 one time setup fee for e911.
Taoman:
Quote from: soundview on May 03, 2014, 09:39:31 am
Phone Power does not allow CNAM over ride for anyone on their Aquarius network (BYOD Obi plan)
Nice post with good info. I've been wanting to try out voip.ms. Glad it's working out for you.
I don't understand why PhonePower will not allow CNAM override. That is definitely a negative for PP.
Hey PhonePower, ARE YOU LISTENING????? You are losing customers because of this.
PS. Did you consider forwarding a free Callcentric DID to your voip.ms account via SIP URI? That way you wouldn't have the monthly DID fee or have to pay for CNAM lookups plus have free incoming minutes. Is it really $0.08 per CNAM lookup? That's pretty expensive for a simple LIDB dip.
Just checked voip.ms wiki and a CNAM lookup is actually $0.008 per dip which is a lot more reasonable.
soundview:
;D Thanks for the correction, I missed a zero on that CNAM charge!
I may go the free Callcentric DID route down the road. Right now I just wanted to see how this setup works for me and did not want another potential point of failure. I actually signed up for a free NY DID but adding CC into the mix right now is not necessary. After a break in period, I'll see how many minutes I'm actually burning and make adjustments if needed.
Regarding Phone Power and lack of CNAM override on Aquarius, don't hold your breath. It was first brought up on dslreports.com in 2010 and here we are 4 years later. When I canceled my account with Phone Power, customer retention mentioned that this would be offered in the future but could not tell me when. More tellingly, their own tech support told me that it would not be possible on the telecom grade switch that Aquarius is on. I told them that this was a deal breaker for me and the tech guy knew there was nothing he could do.
MurrayB:
Glad to hear that you are having success with Voip.ms. I have been using it with three DID and one SIP on two Obi110 since early December. I am surprised that I do not here more people trying the service.
The Caller ID filtering they offer is fantastic blocks all sorts of evil..
Taoman:
Quote from: soundview on May 03, 2014, 11:20:53 am
Regarding Phone Power and lack of CNAM override on Aquarius, don't hold your breath. It was first brought up on dslreports.com in 2010 and here we are 4 years later. When I canceled my account with Phone Power, customer retention mentioned that this would be offered in the future but could not tell me when. More tellingly, their own tech support told me that it would not be possible on the telecom grade switch that Aquarius is on. I told them that this was a deal breaker for me and the tech guy knew there was nothing he could do.
Thanks for the info regarding PP and CNAM override on Aquarius. I didn't know any of this!
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