Help me help Bubbe use the Obi110
zumatech:
Hi all,
My Bubbe (grandmother) wants to dump the phone company and I need answers to a few questions before I help her take the plunge.
1. Will she be able to use her own phone number?
2. She currently has a modem for cable TV and phone. If she drops the phone service will the modem need to be returned? If the modem stays, can she hook the Obi to it or does she need to add internet?
Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I look forward to some replies. :)
RonR:
Quote from: zumatech on May 23, 2011, 01:13:49 pm
1. Will she be able to use her own phone number?
Google Voice will only port cell phone numbers. Many VoIP providers will port phone numbers to a SIP service for a nominal fee.
Quote from: zumatech on May 23, 2011, 01:13:49 pm
2. She currently has a modem for cable TV and phone. If she drops the phone service will the modem need to be returned? If the modem stays, can she hook the Obi to it or does she need to add internet?
Internet service is required to use the OBi. This issue is best addressed with the cable company.
jimates:
She will need internet service. The cable company will likely take out the current device if she drops the phone. She probably currently pays a monthly fee for the phone equipment. They will rent you a modem ($6 to $10 a month) or you can supply one yourlself. You can get a used one for less than $25.
As RonR said, google only ports from some cellular providers. Many people have ported to a cell phone then ported to google. Not worth the expense to me. You can get a SIP provider that ports, will likely cost as much as google ($20 to $25).
fuzzyeddie:
I am such a fan of the obi100 that I wanted to get one for my grandmother as well.
I investigated how much Time Warner's "Road Runner Lite" internet is, and it was $19.95/month.
Their phone service is about the same price.
Plus, the cable company takes care of my concerns about phone service if she needs help when the power goes out (a backup battery), and it comes with E911 service.
Google Voice is great, but it sometimes has a few minutes of downtime. jimates on this forum was kind enough to help me set up 911 with Google Voice, but in an emergency my elderly grandmother would have to give her address. (It cannot be traced.)
So I'll keep buying and recommending obi100s for my younger cellphone-using family, but it is not appropriate for my grandma.
Dav3yDark0:
You could use an inexpensive SIP service provider to handle 911 for yourself or your grandma. Is the Google Voice service provider that has an issue with 911, not the OBi devices themselves. So yes you can't get real 911 service with only Google Voice configured on the device, but you can use another service with the devices to provide a true 911 service, and for very little money. I have had a magicJack for 3 yrs and I now have it plugged into the line port of my 110 and have my 110 setup to route 911 calls to my magicJack. I agree that with GV as the only service provider, your 911 work around would not be safe for your grandma, but with another provider for 911 configured properly in the OBi I think it would work just fine for your grandma.
Oh, and btw, I am in no way recommending magicJack as the 911 provider, I just have time left on my mJ and will use it for that. There are many other standard SIP providers that would work without the need to use an OBi110 with the line port. I think you can get inexpensive 911 service from Sipgate, Callcentric, Voip.ms, etc, etc.
Dave
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