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OBi Phone Service $39.99/year

Started by azrobert, January 01, 2014, 07:09:39 AM

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giqcass

#20
Quote from: SteveInWA on January 06, 2014, 04:20:12 PM
Quote from: giqcass on January 06, 2014, 06:07:18 AM
Quote from: SteveInWA on January 06, 2014, 02:01:26 AM
CNAM isn't transmitted from the calling party's PSTN, period.  It is always a database look-up by the called party's telco.  I tried the "listyourself" website once in the past.  It's useless/broken/doesn't work for consumers; it's mainly a company selling database services.

Although I can not personally verify it my reading suggests otherwise.  Telephone systems differ from one country to the next.  You really must consider the US and Canada as legacy telephone carriers. Do you have any Idea how far our telecommunication systems are behind other countries?  

I am of course not referring to third world countries.

My original answer was accurate, relevant to the discussion, and was simply expanding on the also-correct answer that sdb posted.

Given that the majority of OBi users are making US-based telephone calls, and there was no mention of international telcos in this thread, I was describing the PSTN Caller ID system as developed and implemented by the Bell System in the United States of America.  That system is still used by USA-based carriers, for calls terminated on USA PSTN DIDs.  Of course it doesn't apply to many other countries' phone systems, which have many other characteristics that differ from the US system.  The service isn't even known as "Caller ID" in most other countries.  I didn't think I needed a disclaimer to avoid a pedantic argument from you, but here you go:  

My posts refer solely to the PSTN and VoIP technology deployed by US-based LECs and ITSPs.  They do not apply to non-US countries, nor to military communications, ham radio, smoke signals, ship-to-shore communications, secret agent gizmos, tin cans and string, or yodeling.   If you have an erection lasting more than four hours, seek medical help immediately.  Warning, objects in mirror are closer than they appear, this bag is not a toy, and the beverage you are about to enjoy is very hot.

I was elaborating on your answer.  The purpose of writing
QuoteI am of the understanding the information SteveInWA wrote above is correct for the US and most other locations.
Was not because I felt you needed my approval or adulation. I wrote that so people would know I was referring to the fact other telcos may send what us Americans call CNAM but our US telcos ignore it.  Many of us use these devices for international calling.  One of the best Obi features is connecting Obi devices in different countries. So I felt it was relevant to the conversation.
Long live our new ObiLords!

Maxxodd

I just hope faxing works.  $40/year is reasonable if the service is quality and they include a fair number of minutes.

Angelc19

Fax would be a must, we only 2-3 times a month, but without faxing we would decline.

carl

 ::) Still surprising how many people apparently care about fax. In that case, I would prefer a hard copy delivered by a horse carriage.
There are web based services quite inexpensive who only need fax occasionally.

MikeHObi

Quote from: carl on January 11, 2014, 06:17:02 PM
::) Still surprising how many people apparently care about fax. In that case, I would prefer a hard copy delivered by a horse carriage.
There are web based services quite inexpensive who only need fax occasionally.

Go ahead and try and find a web one that is reasonably priced and doesn't require monthly commitments.  I haven't found one.  Sure, if you only need to fax a couple pages.  But the folks that need you to fax them stuff these days are doctors and the government, and nothing you fax them is less than 10 pages it seems.  I couldn't find a service that would do it.
Obi202 user & Obi100 using Anveo and Callcentric.

LeoKing

I had forgotten about fax for years (always did email attachments) until one day I filed a  dispute on a charge on my credit card and the bank wanted me to either snail-mail or fax the documents to them but no email attachments.

Ostracus

Some printers w/scanner & ADF already come with a fax modem built-in.

7Priest7

#27
Quote from: MikeHObi on January 11, 2014, 06:19:24 PM
Go ahead and try and find a web one that is reasonably priced and doesn't require monthly commitments.
http://www.gotfreefax.com/
Free for 3 pages, then they have reasonable pay per fax for larger documents.

Concerning the 39.99 a year, worthless.
I would rather obihai focus on updating their systems to work post xmpp removal,
instead they focus on brokering more expensive than GV deals.

thunderstruck

Considering it's been a couple of weeks with no word, I think they've lost focus. I like to plan things out well in advance, and would like to be able to evaluate their offering well before the drop dead date so if it's not up to the task I can choose an alternate.

MikeHObi

Quote from: thunderstruck on January 14, 2014, 05:49:42 AM
Considering it's been a couple of weeks with no word, I think they've lost focus. I like to plan things out well in advance, and would like to be able to evaluate their offering well before the drop dead date so if it's not up to the task I can choose an alternate.

I would go ahead and plan things out.  There are other providers you can sign up with right now.   Then when this thing from Obi shows up you can evaluate switching to that.  For now hold onto your Google DID and use the forwarding there to allow you to audition different providers.
Obi202 user & Obi100 using Anveo and Callcentric.

TheoGeek

Quote from: 7Priest7 on January 13, 2014, 11:09:04 PM
Concerning the 39.99 a year, worthless.
I would rather obihai focus on updating their systems to work post xmpp removal,
instead they focus on brokering more expensive than GV deals.

From what I've read, Google doesn't really have much interest in opening up whatever protocol they'll be using for Hangouts (which replaces Chat).  It will be interesting to see, but Google has been against third party products using Google Voice/Chat the way they've been using it - my guess is that in beefing up the Hangout infrastructure, a nice side effect for them was to stop supporting XMPP.

And I wasn't all that impressed with the call quality of GV.  I had GV -> Callcentric -> Obi for incoming CNAM, and obi -> GV for outgoing calls.  In all my calls, I had a walkie-talkie effect - there was a noticeable 1 or 2 second delay and we'd end up talking over each other all the time.  It got so bad that someone would call and my wife would call them back on her cell phone.

When I took GV out completely and used a pay per minute CallCentric plan, that went away completely.  Likewise with Obivoice (the $60 for two year unlimited/e911 thingy that is evidently not what the topic of this thread is about). 

So, I'd agree.  Unless Obi brokers a free service with better quality than GV, I'm happy paying $2.50/month with a third party provider and leave ObiHai to improve the hardware.  But I think they are kinda roped into this because most of their "advertisement" has not been "The Obi devices are powerful little VoIP adapters" (which they are), it has been "Use the Obi to get free phone service with Google Voice!"  Expectations and impressions trump reality in many cases, and I think this is one of those cases - people think that Obi only works with GV - go and read the Amazon reviews sometime.  I applaud the people who post reviews there who try to set people straight, but I'm afraid that it falls on deaf ears.


gderf

Quote from: TheoGeek on January 14, 2014, 11:04:49 AM

Snip....

Expectations and impressions trump reality in many cases, and I think this is one of those cases - people think that Obi only works with GV - go and read the Amazon reviews sometime.  I applaud the people who post reviews there who try to set people straight, but I'm afraid that it falls on deaf ears.

I would take humor if those folks dumped their OBis on ebay for peanuts and went out and bought some other brand ATA only to find out later their OBi would have worked just fine or even better.
Help me OBiHai PhoneOBi. You're my only hope.

soundview

#32
I am mostly clueless about all this but I have been reading a lot on this forum in order to come up to speed. One thing that seems overlooked are mobile apps. My current GV-Obi202 setup lets me use the Google Voice app on an iPad to listen/read/respond to GV voicemail and SMS. Since my wife uses her iPad to text and retreive voice mail, there is a huge WAF vested in the current setup. Anything that upsets this apple (no pun intended) cart will only bring grief  ;D

My question is this: Will forwarding my GV number to an ITSP DID bypass GV's voicemail and SMS thus rendering those GV features useless or will GV's voicemail and SMS messaging still work? If I lose those GV features, what ITSP's offer similar apps/features to access voicemail and SMS messaging?

I assume that most ITSPs have some sort of web interface but I'm looking specifically for those with apps that can be downloaded onto her iPad for quick and ready access to voicemail and SMS. I am willing to pay to keep the wife happy since it has taken a while for her to be comfortable with our GV setup.

lhm.

One persons perspective,
"What's really happening with Google Voice?"
http://tech.iprock.com/?p=10372

giqcass

Quote from: soundview on January 14, 2014, 11:45:16 AM
My question is this: Will forwarding my GV number to an ITSP DID bypass GV's voicemail and SMS thus rendering those GV features useless or will GV's voicemail and SMS messaging still work? If I lose those GV features, what ITSP's offer similar apps/features to access voicemail and SMS messaging?
I haven't used the Apple versions but I hear the Hangout app for the Ipad is better then the Android version.  I heard the Ipad version can place and receive calls directly on the Ipad and will even after the XMPP shutoff.  The Google Voice app should continue to work as well but does not have that feature to my knowledge unless you do some tweaking.

Forwarding to another ITSP will not mess with any of the Google Voice features as long as you either disable voicemail for those services or make sure they take longer then 30 seconds for voicemail to pick up.
Long live our new ObiLords!

soundview

Quote from: giqcass on January 14, 2014, 04:27:15 PM
I haven't used the Apple versions but I hear the Hangout app for the Ipad is better then the Android version.  I heard the Ipad version can place and receive calls directly on the Ipad and will even after the XMPP shutoff.  The Google Voice app should continue to work as well but does not have that feature to my knowledge unless you do some tweaking.
Thanks giqcass. I don't believe Hangouts in its current form can retreive voicemail so I'll stick with the Google Voice app for now. Your right about disabling the ITSP's voicemail so that should work. Given all the services out there, there must be an ITSP that provides a similar or better app than Google Voice for their clients.

giqcass

Quote from: soundview on January 15, 2014, 12:47:22 PM
Given all the services out there, there must be an ITSP that provides a similar or better app than Google Voice for their clients.

I don't know of anyone that quite matches what Google Voice does.  There are  services with similar features.  I just don't know of any with all of them.   Most of the feature rich ITSPs either lack good software that integrates with their service or they have excellent software without  ATA support.
Long live our new ObiLords!

ceg3

It occurs to me that if we sign up for the upcoming collaboration Obihai is working on we might be supporting them, which seems like a good idea. ;) 

soundview

Quote from: ceg3 on January 16, 2014, 12:07:36 PM
It occurs to me that if we sign up for the upcoming collaboration Obihai is working on we might be supporting them, which seems like a good idea. ;) 

Amen!  I needed E911 and the Obiha/Anveo collaboration made it easy enough for a caveman to set up.  Hopefully Obihai is keeping an on these forums and will come up with a good solutiion. I want to support them and I love my 202.

RBBrittain

Quote from: soundview on January 16, 2014, 02:39:22 PM
Quote from: ceg3 on January 16, 2014, 12:07:36 PM
It occurs to me that if we sign up for the upcoming collaboration Obihai is working on we might be supporting them, which seems like a good idea. ;) 

Amen!  I needed E911 and the Obiha/Anveo collaboration made it easy enough for a caveman to set up.  Hopefully Obihai is keeping an on these forums and will come up with a good solutiion. I want to support them and I love my 202.
I've had Anveo E911 on my OBi100 for a year, but it runs out tomorrow; Anveo sent out *NO* instructions on how to renew it so I finally had to call Anveo sales for details.  (Like you, I'm not much on SIP setup.)  Basically, they said their renewal would still be for a full year as THEY'RE not directly affected by the XMPP shutoff, even though nearly everyone using this particular plan *IS* affected. >:(

Luckily, there's an easy way to let it go:  If you don't put any funds in your Anveo account (I never had any besides my original $15 for E911 a year ago), it won't renew.  Oddly enough, that may also be my simplest option for the end of XMPP:  Just unplug my OBi (and landlines) on May 15 and answer everything on my prepaid cellphone (unlimited voice & text + 2.5GB data), which GV has always rang along with my OBi.  (I ported my old home number to GV via the double-port "T-Mobile" method, but with my old Tracfone, when I got my OBi.)  I might still go for the OBi $39.99/year option (full service with no hidden costs like MJ, etc.), but it's coming a little too late to replace Anveo E911 for me.  :(