News:

On Tuesday September 6th the forum will be down for maintenance from 9:30 PM to 11:59 PM PDT

Main Menu

Need VOIP Service??

Started by sunny, March 10, 2011, 03:48:52 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

jimates

#20
Once your GV account is set up you don't really need a physical phone, you only need it at set up. You can remove it and just have Google Chat left as a forwarding phone. Calls will forward to the Google Chat in Gmail which will be the Obi.

You can leave the existing phone number in your GV account and just have the service disconnected. Uncheck the box so that calls don't forward to it anymore or all calls will either get the disconnect message or voicemail. If the cable company reassigns the number no one will ever know any difference, and if the new person wants to add it to a GV account they will be able to recover it at that time.

Your cable provided phone is voip but it is not a SIP provider. If you try to change the number in your GV account to a SIP provided number it will likely tell you that the number is not valid. Cable providers, MajicJack, netTALK Duo, Ooma, Vonage and probably more are valid forwarding numbers for Google Voice because they are not SIP numbers.

You can choose any of the providers you mentioned and set them up on the Obi, but you cannot use them as forwarding numbers with Google Voice. You can use them to make and receive calls, but google is free for the time being.

RonR

Jeff205,

This is deteriorating fast.  :)

The simplest way to get started with the OBi is to use Google Voice as your service provider.  If you can't get the OBi making and receiving calls with a Google Voice account, you won't find it any easier to do so with a VoIP provider.

A Google Voice account provides you with a telephone number to receive calls on and the ability to make outgoing calls.  You don't need anything else.  With Google Voice functioning on your OBi, you can potentially drop all other phone services.

You first need to get Google Voice working from your Gmail account.  From your Gmail account, you should be able to make and receive telephone calls using your PC's speakers and microphone.  Until you can do that, it's a waste of time trying to get it to work on the OBi.

Once you are able to make and receive calls on your PC from your Gmail account, you should be able to go to your Google Voice account and see Google Chat listed as a phone you can have your Google Voice calls forwarded to.  Google Chat must be checked.  If you have other landline numbers, cell phone numbers, or Gizmo5 listed there, you can leave them alone or delete them as you choose, but only Google Chat is required there.

At this point, configuring SP1 on the OBi for Google Voice using your Gmail/Google Voice username and password should allow you to make and receive calls through your Google Voice account using the telephone connected to your OBi.

Jeff205

RonR, you and I are not even on the same page.  I DO have it working as I stated previously.

Jimates, my overriding concern for having a non-GV line for the house is faxing and my house alarm system.  It wouldn't be used very frequently and was considering a pay-per-use option.

jimates

Fax and house alarm, both something to be concerned with as far as voip and SIP. But you can get by pretty cheap on a per min rate for that.

Online faxing can be really cheap on a prepaid fax account for outgoing, and there are free incoming fax options online. The home alarm compatibility is something I have no experience with, but I am sure the providers can provide that info.


MichiganTelephone

#24
Quote from: jimates on March 11, 2011, 06:37:07 AMThe home alarm compatibility is something I have no experience with, but I am sure the providers can provide that info.

I have no personal experience with them, but I've heard that NextAlarm is an alarm service that's used by many VoIP users.  The OP might want to check them out.

Also, FAX often will work over VoIP as long as you use the G.711 (ulaw) codec, although that is somewhat provider-dependent.  It helps if your fax machine has an "international mode" or a way to set the bps (speed) to a slower number - often using that mode or the slower speed will allow faxes to go through on the first attempt.  But there are cases where it won't work, so there may be a bit of luck involved too.
Inactive, no longer posting or responding to messages.  Goodbye and good luck.  Some of my old Obihai-related blog posts have been moved to http://tech.iprock.com - note this in NOT my blog; I have simply given the owner permission to repost some of my old stuff.

Jeff205


RonR


4myphones

#27
if you are looking for Voip service these are some good basic questions i saw


do you allow SIP only (pay as you go) accounts to use the IPKALL DID service
do you support the SIP Broker PSTN Gateway
do you support eNum, iNum and SIP to SIP
how do you bill in Minutes or in Seconds intervals
are USA toll free #'s free of any charge or fee
do you notify users of rate changes
is there a incoming minutes limit
if a call goes unanswered or is busy is there any charge or fee

thank you

SteveInWA

Pardon me for butting in, but:

A whole thread could be devoted to selecting a VoIP service provider, independent of whether you want to use it with your OBi or not.

The questions to ask, posted previously, might make sense for a technically-inclined enthusiast, but the poster was asking about use for an alarm system and for faxes.  I cringe when I see people discussing this without considering the risks.

For your alarm system, do you really want to bet your safety on the cheapest provider you can find?  If you need maximum reliability, I'd argue that you should keep a traditional POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) local telco voice line, or, change to a monitored system that uses a cellular connection.  If you are willing to sacrifice some reliability for cost, then sure, use a VoIP provider, or switch to NextAlarm (which uses your broadband internet connection), but keep in mind that it won't work if your power is out or cut, or your ISP goes down.  This is the main reason I have kept a "legacy POTS" line.

That said, I have used a lot of different VoIP services over the years, and I am currently using Callcentric's pay-per-minute offering for voice calling and faxing.  It would be the next best choice for an alarm monitoring service connection, given the disclaimers above, and you could provision an OBi 110's phone line (FXO) port to use Callcentric (along with, or instead of, Google Voice), or buy a different Analog Telephone Adapter (ATA) to use just for that purpose. 

For extra safety:  if you choose this option, at least hook up all your gear (ISP modem, router, Obi) to a good UPS. 

You may know this, but monitored alarm systems (should) use a specially-wired RJ-31X exclusion phone jack, such that the (telco or VoIP) phone line is connected to THIS jack first, then the alarm panel's telco line plugs into the RJ-31X, and any other phones on the premises are wired downstream from this jack.  This allows the alarm panel to "seize" the line when it needs to call the monitoring center, disconnecting any other phones that might be off-hook, when it's using the line.

MichiganTelephone

SteveInWA, please keep in mind that anyone in this forum has made a choice to use VoIP, so lectures about the supposed safety of POTS lines are probably not going to be well received, and in some areas that's a myth anyway.  Particularly in certain former GTE/Verizon areas, the traditional phone service is LESS reliable than the broadband service.

Remember that if some drunk driver takes out a utility pole, or a careless backhoe operator snags an underground phone cable, your landline phone service can be interrupted.  Also, intruders have been known to cut phone lines before entering a home.  Therefore, if one really needs an alarm system and for whatever reason doesn't trust their broadband service, probably the best option would be one that uses cellular service to communicate and is connected to a good battery backup power supply.  And even that isn't 100% guaranteed, as cell sites require power to operate, and they are vulnerable to tornadoes and even possible hit by aircraft.

In short, you can't have absolutely safety, and for many folks their broadband service may be no less reliable than the (in some areas aging and poorly-maintained) landline infrastructure.
Inactive, no longer posting or responding to messages.  Goodbye and good luck.  Some of my old Obihai-related blog posts have been moved to http://tech.iprock.com - note this in NOT my blog; I have simply given the owner permission to repost some of my old stuff.

GC_convertee

I had the same question, so you need a sip provider to use google voice?  Answer is no

Right now Im using the obi for inbound and outbound for 2 google voice accts (no sip provider configed on the obi) but I do have 2 sip accts configed on my linksys

I'm using sipgate.com for a free sip provider, they provide (ed) a real, dialable by a reg phone, phone number, not sure if they are still have any

GrandCentral in 2004, had Gizmo5 acct
Analog Fax working IB & OB...
efax acct revoked
faxzero.com (<=2 free/$2 for 3+pgs)
Linksys SPA-2102 ATA 2 Sipgate lines/free accts, $20 balance for OB faxes dialing
Obi110 2 GV accts No POTS/FXO
Panasonic kx-tga939t Dect Cordless -  Ans machine OFF

jimates

Quote from: GC_convertee on May 15, 2011, 12:31:10 PM
I had the same question, so you need a sip provider to use google voice?  Answer is no

Right now Im using the obi for inbound and outbound for 2 google voice accts (no sip provider configed on the obi) but I do have 2 sip accts configed on my linksys

I'm using sipgate.com for a free sip provider, they provide (ed) a real, dialable by a reg phone, phone number, not sure if they are still have any


They still have numbers in the 415 area code. I set up 2 on my kids phones. One is an Android 2.2 and one is iPhone 4.1.  they both have the same problem though, you hear everything repeated on both ends of the conversation. I guess you get what you pay for. Might do better on an ATA.