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Circle of trust and long distance calls

Started by ToNIX, March 17, 2011, 04:37:53 PM

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ToNIX

I'm currently using a Videotron which provides Telephony, TV and Internet. My parents also use Videotron, which means calls between us is free (it's a long distance).

I'm about to cancel my telephony with them and use voip.ms, along with an Obi device. My dad has been talking about canceling their long distance plan, but keep using Videotron for telephony (my mom talks so much that if would turn out to be more expensive for them to use voip.ms and all her family is a long distance call, but they all use Videotron so it's free).

If I get my parents an Obi110 and I get an Obi100, could I use it to do this?

1) My parents keep their telephony from Videotron (which is already voip by the way), plugged in the Line port of the Obi110. All incoming and outgoing calls go through Videotron by default, so nothing changes for them.

2) If they want to make a long distance call, they connect to my Obi through the circle of Trust, then dial a number using my voip.ms account set up at home. I know that voip.ms supports DISA, but from what I understand it would be useless in this particular situation since it would now be a long distance for them to call me at home without going through the circle of trust.

Am I getting this right? Is this all possible if I only use the Obi100 at home or I'd need an Obi110 too?

From what I understand, this seems like a working solution to keep costs down.

I'm also wondering what's the use of the line port, else than using/keeping a landline?

Thank you very much!

jimates

Obi110 at your parents with Videotron plugged into the LINE port. Leave the line as default for outgoing.
Get a gmail account and enable calling from google chat.
Configure the google chat on sp1 of the Obi110.
if they want to make a long distance call they press **1 xxx xxx xxxx. call goes out for free.
  You can also set call routes so that long distance calls automatically go out on the google line without the **1
If they want to call you they can either call using google chat or call your Obi100, both are free calls.

Obi100 at your house with voip.ms set as sp1
If you want to call your parents you can call their Obi110 for free
If you set up a google chat account on your Obi100 you can make free outgoing calls also.

Calls going out on the google chat lines will not carry a correct caller id and will not be able to receive incoming calls. If you want to receive incoming calls on the google lines you will need to get a google voice number also.

ToNIX

#2
Google doesn't provide numbers for Canada users, only US.

We both have gmail accounts, this would work for free outgoing until the end of 2011.

But, let's say they change their rate in 2012, would they be able to use the method I described above? Would it be easier with a callback or something similar? Voip offers a lot of options that Obihai also offers.


jimates

an upcoming firmware will have the ability for direct dialing through other endpoints like the PC and smarphone apps do now.

You can put both Obi's in the same account and then you don't have to deal with circle of trust. But if not then both units in the same circle will work.

They put your Obi in their speed dial as example - speed dial 4
they just pick up the phone and dial 4*1xxx xxx xxxx (or however you dial) and the call goes out through your voip service.

QBZappy

ToNIX,

Hi, Salut

Pour les utilisateurs actuels ou potentiels OBi situé au Canada, vous pouvez lire le thread suivant sur ​​la façon d'obtenir un numéro de GV au Canada.

(For current or potential OBi users located in Canada, you could read the following thread on how to get a GV number in Canada).

http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=93.0


Quote from: QBZappy on January 31, 2011, 02:25:49 PM
Sounds like I'm promoting them. I can assure everyone I have no association with them nor with the fine people at Obi central. The price is right and I thought other Obi users might want to know about this. Very easy to setup on the Obi.

This is for the people in Canada who want an inexpensive SIP account that works great with the Obi. You get a choice of DIDs from the major cities in Canada. There are more features with their voip service. You guys can read about it yourself on their site if you like.

By the way, if you live in Canada you might not know that you can not get Google voice here. At least not without some effort. All Google voice activations are sent to  USA numbers only. There seems to be a glitch with the Google voice activation process. Somehow they forgot to block area code 403. This is an area code for Calgary, Canada.

The neat thing about Freephoneline, you can call forward unconditionally, on busy, on no answer. To activate you Google voice account in Canada get yourself a free 403 area code number with them. Set it up so that it forwards to a telephone you can answer. Then follow through with the Google voice activation process. They have their own softphone which works with their SIP account. With some tweaking you can also manage to use their accounts an an Asterisk box. That's for another forum.

Of course, it's not that easy. Google also blocks Canadian IPs. To get around this, get yourself a VPN service that offers USA IPs. I've noticed that many people are using Hotsheild. I find that there are too many ads popping up with that product after you install it. I found a VPN service called proXPN (http://proxpn.com/). Both products get you an IP in the USA. Both are free. (As an aside we can also watch Hulu with this VPN service from Canada. This is also blocked)

This opens up a whole new market for the Obi. Now Canadians can enjoy the Google voice service by making free calls within North America. Enjoy it while it lasts. Without this how to a lot of potential Canadian Obi users might not be able to use one of the more interesting features of the unit. Think of the money you could be saving with a practically free DID number which offers 2 channels, and free long distance calls. What's not to like about this combination. This opportunity offered to us with a low cost ATA type device. :D

Owner of the 1st OBi110/100 units in service in Canada & South America. 1st OBi202 on my street. 1st OBi1032 in Montreal.

ToNIX

Merci beaucoup!

It looks like a lot of effort though...

For all the hassle, I might end up only getting an Obi for me and 1 DID from voip, one local (I'll keep my current one) and one from Montreal (not a long distance for my family).

I could get my dad to use 10-10-320 at 0.04$/min instead for the rare times he'll use the phone.

I'll think about all this, there's no rush to get them an Obi... but I can't wait to get mine :) I'm still waiting for more information about the Obi100 and it's availability. Like I said earlier, the line port would be completely useless for me.

jimates

the Obi100 is supposed to be available with the next shipment of Obi110 to Amazon. Next week I think.

QBZappy

ToNIX,

Hi

There are a few calling strategies you may not have considered.

Scenario:

Quote from: ToNIX on March 17, 2011, 06:13:47 PM

I could get my dad to use 10-10-320 at 0.04$/min instead for the rare times he'll use the phone.


Your dad wont need to pay anything if you plan ahead. If I understand you correctly, your parents will cancel the long distance service and still keep the videotron voip line. Consider the following scenario. You could configure your OBi to call back their number using the Call Back feature over the voip.ms account you plan on obtaining. The call back can give them a Auto attendant. Pressing 1 could be setup in the speed dial to ring the phone attached to the OBi in our house.

If you setup a second voip account for yourself. Other possibilities open up for you. I believe you can get a sub account with Voip.ms which could provide you with another channel to dial out.

Consider the same scenario as above with 2 channels (lines). The call back could offer other services to the calling party which could not be possible otherwise. The call will be a voice offering to 1) continue the call to the number just dialed, implies they will pay long distance charges, 2) make a new call, implies that cost of the call will be on your monthly $4.95 plan, 3) make a callback (This is redundant in your case). You can setup a speed dial on the OBi that will ring the attached phone on the OBi unit, or any other number you choose. You could offer your parents the free long distance service to 514 numbers that they are giving up with videotron. (I'm assuming they are outside this area code).


Another scenario:
If both your parents and yourself get an OBi + Voip.ms you can get their all you can eat $4.95/mo . That is about 1/4 of the cost of videotron right there. They could drop the videotron voip telephone service.

If someone in your family has free long distance service, they could install an OBi. They could provide the service for the family.

Yet another scenario:
Get GV. Unlimited North America. Do the math. If you need help for that ask here.

I'll stop here. Good luck.
Owner of the 1st OBi110/100 units in service in Canada & South America. 1st OBi202 on my street. 1st OBi1032 in Montreal.

ToNIX

#8
Yeah this is what I've been thinking.

We're both on the north shore of Montreal. Them to Montreal is free. Myself to everywhere is long distance.

I could simply get a 514 number and setup a callback with their number. They wouldn't need any Obi and everything would be simple for them... they're getting old!

As for the plan, the 4.95$/month is for incoming only. If I make a phone call or if they go through my voip account (by callback or by going through the circle of trust) to make a long distance call, termination rates still apply.

QBZappy

ToNIX,

I have 2 voip services with DID's, Voip.ms and freephoneline. Termination charges for Voip.ms are really cheap. Compare your other choice of $.04 cents/min to 0.00520000/min.

Freephoneline offers for a one time cost of $50 a DID with an area code you can choose. With it you get two channels, VM, Call forwarding, etc... You don't have to worry about termination charges. I can confirm that it works with the OBi.

There is also a PC app which can be used to make and receive call on the DID number you get from them. The DID is actually free if you only use the app. The $50 is for setting it up on an ATA.

Have a look:

http://www.freephoneline.ca/

Owner of the 1st OBi110/100 units in service in Canada & South America. 1st OBi202 on my street. 1st OBi1032 in Montreal.