Google Voice - still working - and its 16 May 2014

[Lester]

Here it is on Sunday morning the 18th of May, and my OBi110 is still doing just fine with Google Voice.
Calls are functioning both ways as normal. 
I'll stick with FREE GV until the bitter end, and then make my choices regarding current alternatives to continue with my OBi.
I LOVE FREE!
TW

[superdesi]

Here it is on Sunday morning the 18th of May, and my OBi110 is still doing just fine with Google Voice.
Calls are functioning both ways as normal. 
I'll stick with FREE GV until the bitter end, and then make my choices regarding current alternatives to continue with my OBi.
I LOVE FREE!
TW

here's a man with ideals and aspirations that we should all strive for. I'm not being sarcastic, Lester your my hero!

[MarcOBi]

Everything is still working fine with my Obi and GV as of this post! I'm glad I held off.

Maybe they will still disconnect it, but as long as it's working, I'm chillin'!

[lhm.]

Back in the day when GV was in beta and closed to users other than beta testers, the question was always asked, "When will it be open to new signups/users?" The answer from GV was "Soon", soon turned out to be more than a year and a half later. So after May 15 is when?  Soon?  Deja Vu?

Edit: Obihai must have read this post (prior to) based on their recent email to members.  History seems to repeat its self.  

[whoit]

Well here it is 3 days after my first post on this thread, and after being chided by a few other members, there is still no definitive word from Google about the future of GV/XMPP or a response from Obihai.
"No longer supporting" is not definitive, nor is it a date.

Same as with everyone else, my Obi continues to work with GV.
Also same as many others, I'll not be switching to another service until it dies.

I'm still hoping someone is able to find specific details from Google, or for that matter Obihai, as to when this will no longer work so that I and others can plan ahead.

I don't think I'm asking for much here - just the truth.
(OK, maybe that is asking for a lot considering the level of corporate deception in this country....)

[Pepi]

Are you guys saying the 60 bucks I spent that broke me for life was a waste of money     Well one thing.  I'm glad I've got 911 support now.  This always made me uncomfortable not having 911 with GV.  I'm really liking PP.  It has a lot better response than GV has. No Latency at all with PP.  Oh well, I have to put the new Ferrari on the back burner for now 

[justgrant]

Well here it is 3 days after my first post on this thread, and after being chided by a few other members, there is still no definitive word from Google about the future of GV/XMPP or a response from Obihai.
"No longer supporting" is not definitive, nor is it a date.
SNIP SNIP SNIP

It seems reasonable to conclude that whoit is not on OBihai's mailing list.

It is currently 13:40 UTC, which means this email was received at 9:05 PM Eastern Time U.S., approximately 12 hours prior to the distinguished whoit's post (noted above).

Truncated for brevity (removing their promotion of OBiTALK Approved Service Providers), OBihai's email reads . . .

BEGIN OBihai EMAIL

---- Original Message -----
From: Obihai Technology <info@obihai.com>
Date: Mon, 19 May 2014 01:05:20 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: OBiTALK Updates: Google Voice Transition + New Services Available to OBi Device Owners

The Google Voice Service is Still Working on My OBi! How come?
--------------------------------------------------------------------

At the end of last year, Google Inc. announced that the open and documented XMPP communication protocol would be abandoned in favor of a new, proprietary way to do real-time voice, video and instant messaging communications. The time-line for the migration to this new way was not stated.

At about the same time, but separately, Google stated third-party applications should stop supporting XMPP by May 15th 2014. Now that this date has passed, like you, we have observed Google services using XMPP are still connected and working, e.g. you can still place and receive calls using a Gmail account configured on your Obi device. It is important to note, this does not change the previous statements from Obihai that we no longer support direct connections to Google Voice on OBi devices. We strongly recommend all OBi owners using the Google Voice service obtain a new service to ensure continued, uninterrupted calling from the phone connected to the OBi.

Fortunately, there are several OBiTALK Approved Service Provider (ASP) choices available to all OBi device owners for Internet VoIP phone services. These services are easy to sign-up for and configure automatically on an OBi device. They also come at a great price – with all fees and taxes included.

END OBihai EMAIL

As of 9:40 AM Eastern Time, all 4 of my GV lines are working.

justgrant

[whoit]

justgrant - I guess I'm not on Obihai's email list because I have not seen the email you posted.

So thanks for posting it.

Let point out however, that:
1) Still no dates
2) Still no direct Google link describing dates or specific 'shut off', only a push to other paid services.
3) Why do you have to be so freaking snarky? ("distinguished" ?)

[Brandito]

Google is notorious for this kind of thing.

You seem mad that you're getting a few extra days of FREE phone service. Just be happy about it, and when you go to use your phone and it doesn't work, don't be upset you didn't just bite the bullet and switch providers.

[whoit]

No, I'm not angry at having GV still working.

Perhaps you and a few others don't mind jumping as soon as Obihai yells 'fire', but I'd
prefer to smell some smoke or or see a flame first.
Or perhaps you live your life without any kind of planning - maybe you blindly follow others and never question anything - I have no idea who you are or what you do.
But to imply I'm "mad" because the service still works is ridiculous.
I am trying to plan ahead, which is difficult when there is no specific information.

I believe a cursory reading of this and other threads will show you that many others would also
like to know exactly what will happen and when.

I have no intention of switching providers.
I can still use GV to send calls to any other number/device that I can register, so it's not a problem.

Feel free to bite the bullet yourself, however.

[Brandito]

You're reading way too into things. ObiHAI isn't exactly selling VOIP service themselves, they're selling powerful hardware that lets you use a large variety of voice services, many of which are still free. If you're looking for a conspiracy, and it sounds like you are, I'm sure you'll find one.

Many of us are just happy we had free home phone for a while through an unapproved hack of gv. 60 bucks for unlimited home phone for a year, through a provider that will actually offer support, is hardly going to break me.

I'm just super happy obihai sent me those special pills to ease my mind and make me willing to blow an hours worth of wages on home phone for a whole year. Thank you obihair overlords! I accept you with open arms!

[zorlac]

I bought a used obi100 of eBay for my parents awhile back & just configured SP1&2 back to our two GV accounts.
I pulled my original obi100 that was partially setup for CC & CN offline  & stuck it back in the box.
What a Chinese fire drill.  

[lhm.]

whoit says,

"I'm still hoping someone is able to find specific details from Google, or for that matter Obihai, as to when this will no longer work so that I and others can plan ahead."

This is as specific as it gets, soon! 

[gderf]

I am trying to plan ahead, which is difficult when there is no specific information.

Not having an exact end date for Google Voice via XMPP doesn't prevent you from planning ahead. I put multiple solutions in place and verified they work back in October when all this got started.

Why wait till it breaks to fix it?

[Rick]

I am trying to plan ahead, which is difficult when there is no specific information.

Not having an exact end date for Google Voice via XMPP doesn't prevent you from planning ahead. I put multiple solutions in place and verified they work back in October when all this got started.

Why wait till it breaks to fix it?

Any why post every day "it's still working!".   

[Lavarock7]

This reminds me of an old cartoon:

A guy with a gas can is walking across the desert and the sign says: NEXT GAS 20 MILES.

Seems the gas gauge kept saying EMPTY but the car was still drivable...

[drgeoff]

I had one of the estimated circa 35,000 original UK TiVo boxes.  I chose to pay the upfront one-off £200 lifetime subscription rather than the ongoing £10 per month.

TiVo never put their heart and soul into the UK side of their business.  Possibly their appointment of Sky had been a bad decision as Sky soon launched and actively promoted their own twin tuner satellite receiver cum hard disk recorder.  The UK TiVo was nothing more than a rejigged version of the first US TiVos.  However the service worked reliably enough for its ardent band of users who found the TiVo UI much better than the Sky one.

Some years later, TiVo announced a new exclusive deal with the UK's major (by a long way) cable network.  A new box able to receive and record programmes from the cable network and featuring the famed TiVo UI.  But the 'exclusive' part of the deal meant that all existing TiVo boxes would cease receiving the EPG updates from a certain date.  A sweetener in the way of early access to and a discount on the new service was offered to existing owners but a very significant portion of those could not get cable service even if they wanted to.

There were many protests directed to TiVo US but they seemed to fall on deaf ears.  The due date for end of EPG updates came and went but the updates kept coming.  Had TiVo had a change of heart?

No, the updates did stop about two weeks after the publicised cut off date.

However the story does not have a completely sad ending.  A bunch of clever people figured out how to set up their own EPG server.  It was fairly easy to change a field in the TiVo's config pages to point to that server.  Many people including myself are still using it.

[Pepi]

This reminds me of an old cartoon:

A guy with a gas can is walking across the desert and the sign says: NEXT GAS 20 MILES.

Seems the gas gauge kept saying EMPTY but the car was still drivable...

Yep, that was me in my Ferrari 

[vtsnaab]

I am very grateful for the YEARS of free phone usage courtesy of the Big G and Obihai's very affordable little box.

At the very same time, my GV number DID become my main point of contact for most of the folks I stay in contact with.

Though I am not eager to change my 'main' number - this is exactly what I will do because trying to plan ahead is quite impossible with no specific information regarding when the Obi/GV combo will die.

So...I'll keep using it until it does die and have made multiple solutions ready for when that time comes.

I am also very grateful to see folks posting every day that it's still working for them - as this can reveal much about any failure pattern (if/when one should emerge), and after all - this IS all about communication, so it's ALL GOOD !!

[vadr]

I'm glad I've got 911 support now.

Don't you have a cellphone?