Hi All -
I just ordered the 202 and I've seen the steps about buying a burner phone and porting my home number through Cox to it and then over to GV.
However, is there a way to test that Obi will work on my home network before beginning the porting process? Obviously don't want to port and keep Obi if I have device issues.
Also, any recommendations on which cell service is faster to port the number from Cox?
One last question, I'll need to fax with the device so do I need two numbers? Apologies, I'll google this but just thought of asking this while typing.
Thank you in advance.
Hi, and welcome to OBi-land.
Yes, it would be helpful to spend some time browsing through some forum posts to get a better understanding of these topics.
Testing real-world use at your home, before porting, is a great idea. You can sign up for a free Google Voice phone number, and add it to your OBi. This will enable you to make and receive calls to test call quality.
Later, you can either port your Cox number into Google Voice (via the intermediate cell phone porting dance), or you could directly port it into a SIP VoIP service provider. Many of us here on the forum have found the sweet-spot of reliability, customer support and reasonable price from one of these three providers: Callcentric, voip.ms, or Phonepower.
If you decide to use Google Voice, then I recommend using either T-Mobile prepaid or AT&T GoPhone for the temporary port. Do not use one of the low-end resellers for this purpose -- they are generally incompetent at porting. You can read Obihai's excellent tutorial on porting into GV here:
http://www.obihai.com/porttutorial (http://www.obihai.com/porttutorial)
You can also read my tutorial on setting up Google Voice with an OBi, here:
http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=8560.msg56460#msg56460 (http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=8560.msg56460#msg56460)
Google Voice works well to send faxes, but not to receive them, since GV's primary purpose is as an inbound call management system for voice calls and texts, but not faxes. There are better solutions for inbound fax, such as a fax mailbox system. You could get a free inbound NY State phone number from Callcentric, and then pay only for the inbound calls to that number. Faxes will be received and stored as image files that can be automatically emailed to you. This solution doesn't use the OBi at all. Alternatively, you could configure that number to ring on your OBi, and connect that port on the OBi to a fax machine. This would allow inbound and outbound fax calls, paid per minute.
You can buy a t-mobile sim card for $.99 on ebay and have it in just a few days. port your number to it, then to google voice. I run 3 full time obi boxes on my system, is it always perfect? No, but normally better than cell phone service. I run a voice phone line and a fax machine on my obi202.
You don't need to go to eBay. Just buy it from T-Mobile for 99 cents.
http://prepaid-phones.t-mobile.com/prepaid-phone/t-mobile-prepaid-3-in-1-sim-starter-kit