Set up Obi200 with Google Voice & Comcast Phone?

[duile]

Hi. How do I set up an Obi200 to use Google Voice on SP1, and a Comcast Phone number on SP2?

Also, what is the physical hook up configuration if using the Comcast Arris modem-phone combo?

I'm trying out a free trial package from Comcast, that includes their phone, but didn't want to lose calls to and from my home phone, which I ported to Google Voice some time ago.

Thanks in advance to any help you guys can give.

[Taoman]

You'll need to configure Google Voice on the Obitalk web portal.
http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=8560.msg56460#msg56460

You would need to purchase an OBiLINE adapter so you would have an FXO port to connect to the phone port on your Comcast modem. You would connect to Phone port 1 on the Comcast modem.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DP4YOJ6/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00DP4YOJ6&linkCode=as2&tag=obihatechn-20

Personally, I would spend the extra money for an OBi110 with a built in FXO port. If you don't continue with Comcast's phone service after the trial the OBiLINE adapter will be worthless to you whereas the OBi110 would still be a fully functioning ATA supporting 2 service providers.

Edit: And keep in mind that since you won't be porting your number Comcast will be giving you one of their "recycled" numbers that has already likely been used by several people. What this means is you will probably be inundated with telemarketers, robocalls and potentially collection agencies. I would strongly advise you to set up Nomorobo which Comcast fully supports and makes easy to set up. I'm currently on Comcast's "triple play" which includes Comcast Voice. Even using Nomorobo I get so many telemarketer calls on that line (which I don't use anyway) that I just send them all to Lenny or Screaming Monkeys.

[kaniki]

Why would the obi200 be worthless if they did not keep comcast phone service? they still have the GV line that is still going to be hooked up to it, that they can still use. i could see you saying that about the 300 series that does not support GV, but the 200 series does.

Personally, I am not sure why you would bother with comcast phone if you have not had it before. GV phone service is decent by itself, but if you wanted the extra's that you can get from the other services, you could get them for a really cheap price. I went with the unlimited plan though PP (PhonePower), and that only averages $5 a month total.. $60 a year. and that is one of the most expensive plans that support the obi device. and no, I did not go with it because it was expensive, but because i was previously with PP under a regular plan, so i stuck with them when switching over to Obi. i wanted to keep my old phone number and GV did not accept a transfer of the number because it was a POTs line.

[lrosenman]

the ObiLine is the way to go for the Comcast line.  I did a similar thing when I moved to TWC because of a move.

When I did that, I also used NoMoRobo (http://www.nomorobo.com)  to screen the TWC calls.

[Taoman]

Why would the obi200 be worthless if they did not keep comcast phone service? they still have the GV line that is still going to be hooked up to it, that they can still use. i could see you saying that about the 300 series that does not support GV, but the 200 series does.

I assume your post was referring to mine since I was the only one who used the word "worthless."

Could you please point out to me exactly where I even hinted that the OBi200 would be worthless if the OP did not keep the Comcast phone service?

Last time I checked an OBiLINE adapter ≠ an OBi200.

[SteveInWA]

I'll give my <unsolicited> vote for the OBi 200.  I understand the issue with buying a $35 OBiLINE adapter that may become a paperweight, but the newer, more powerful processor in the 200 vs. the 1xx series enables it to support more features and is a bit more "future proof".  If the OP has a spare telephone on hand, just try out the Comcast digitial phone service standalone (plug the spare phone into it), rather than route it into the OBi.  If it turns out to be a valuable service to the OP, then buy a OBiLINE and integrate it with the OBi.

Personal opinion:  I am certainly no fan of the cable companies, but the one advantage that their phone service has over most commodity SIP VoIP providers, is that much more (and often all) of the call path traverses their own, managed, private IP network, which is separated from most of the quality problems caused by inconsistent network performance via the public Internet.  Aside from that, I'm dismayed at their strong-arm tactics to lock in customers with a "triple play" that just makes it less likely that the customers will defect, since they're dependent on one more thing provided by the cable company.

So, a "free trial" will simply demonstrate that it's a very good phone service, for an additional cost.  You decide if it's worth it to you.

[Taoman]

I'll give my <unsolicited> vote for the OBi 200.  I understand the issue with buying a $35 OBiLINE adapter that may become a paperweight, but the newer, more powerful processor in the 200 vs. the 1xx series enables it to support more features and is a bit more "future proof".  If the OP has a spare telephone on hand, just try out the Comcast digitial phone service standalone (plug the spare phone into it), rather than route it into the OBi.  If it turns out to be a valuable service to the OP, then buy a OBiLINE and integrate it with the OBi.

Good advice. If the OP knew he was going to continue with Comcast I'd also recommend going with the OBiLINE adapter.

Just didn't want the OP to buy a $35 potential "paperweight."

[ProfTech]

To lrosenman; This is all an interesting read. If I read your post correctly you said that you either have or had the Obiline adapter connected to a 20x and are using it? If so, what kind of luck are you having with the much maligned echo problem? I sent my 200 to my daughter who doesn't have a POTS line but I also purchased the adapter and have it in a drawer. Wondering if it is worth my money to buy another 200? My 110 has served me very nicely for nearly 3 years now but the extra 2 SP slots in the 200 are enticing.

[lrosenman]

To be quite honest I *DO* have the obiline connected to my TWC line, but that's mostly to have something(TM) attached to it.  We get mostly Robocalls on it, that NoMoRoBo zaps.

So, I don't have an answer.  Supposedly they fixed the echo problem in later firmware.

[azrobert]

My 110 has served me very nicely for nearly 3 years now but the extra 2 SP slots in the 200 are enticing.

I wouldn't worry about the OBiLine working correctly or not. If you have an echo, you could continue to use your OBi110 and access the PSTN line from the OBi200. You would send and receive PSTN calls between the 2 boxes using IP addresses. This also gives you an extra phone port and you would be able to access all trunks on both boxes from the either phone port. This is how I have my OBi200 and OBi110 setup.

[ProfTech]

azrobert; That is a pretty cool idea I hadn't considered [before ordering the adapter!] I'm assuming the phone would plug into the 110 and one of the sp slots in the 110 would show the 200 as a service provider? That would give me a total of 5 slots. I've been using Asterisk running on a BeagleBone Black to do this for a while now but just recently got everything working the way I believe to be correct on a yet un-released version of 13.5. More to come after I test it for a while...

[azrobert]

You can set it up anyway you want. I have my main phone connected to the OBi200. I also defined my main service provider on the OBi200. You need an SP trunk on each device to communicate between the 2 boxes, but these SP trunks can be shared, allowing registration to 6 providers. I have a dedicated trunk for this purpose on the OBi200 only because I don't need it. On the OBi110 I share SP2 with a service. Alternately, you can use the OBiTalk network to communicate between the boxes. This is an easier setup, but not as reliable. If you have an extra phone you can connect it to the OBi110 giving you a 2nd line.

I also have Asterisk (Raspbx), but it's basically a toy for me. This gives you even more connectivity options. 

[duile]

Thanks for all the informative posts in this thread! I decided to not keep the Comcast Voice option, and opted back into Internet only. I also returned the Comcast Arris modem, going back to my Motorola SB6141 modem. The OBiLINE adapter is a good idea for future reference. I didn't know about that product. I am looking up NoMoRobo to see if I can use it with my Google Voice-Obi setup. Thanks again, guys! Much appreciated. 

[Mouse]

My 110 has served me very nicely for nearly 3 years now but the extra 2 SP slots in the 200 are enticing.

I wouldn't worry about the OBiLine working correctly or not. If you have an echo, you could continue to use your OBi110 and access the PSTN line from the OBi200. You would send and receive PSTN calls between the 2 boxes using IP addresses. This also gives you an extra phone port and you would be able to access all trunks on both boxes from the either phone port. This is how I have my OBi200 and OBi110 setup.

Sorry a slightly (!) delayed query.

Would you be kind enought to tell me exactly how you set this up?

I tried an Obi 202/110 combo this year mainly due to an echo problem, but the interaction between the Obi 202 and 110 intrduces a further latency which meant the echo problems were if anything worse than with the Obiline. This appeared to be due to the Obis using a jitter buffer (and hence introducing latency) when passing the call data stream between them. It seemed that while the 202 could be set to zero jitter buffer, the 110 could not. But maybe I misunderstood something.

Here's the start of the discussion about this issue in m topic:
http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=10163.msg67380#msg67380

Here's the end of my topic when I gave up trying:
http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=10163.msg67465#msg67465


Worth noting that I am in the UK and on a fairly long line, so exact impedance matching is probably not possible, I have tried.

If you could help I would be very grateful, as I found the Obiline pretty problematic for PSTN, even with all firware updates and all recommended regional settings correctly applied. It seems to work reasonably in the USA, but creates issues in sme other parts of the globe. The 110 (which I am currently using on its own) seems OK in the UK, echo and reliability-wise, with the correct settings - but I really need the two ph lines of the 202.

Kind regards

Mike

[azrobert]

Would you be kind enough to tell me exactly how you set this up?

I have an OBi200 and an OBi110.
The OBi200 has SP4 setup as a Proxy (a dummy trunk with X_Proxy enabled).
I use a VG definition on the OBi200 pointing to the OBi110's IP address and it uses SP4 to route calls to SP2 on the OBi110.
I didn't make any extra parm changes for this setup.

I normally don't use this connection. PSTN is my primary line and have a phone in every room connected directly to PSTN. I basically use the 110 to block telemarketing calls.

This morning I tested the connection between the 200 and 110.
I made a call from the OBi200 to GV on the OBi110 via PSTN.
OBi200 -> OBi110 -> PSTN -> GV on OBi110 -> OBi110 phone port
Made another call directly from PSTN to GV on the OBI110
PSTN -> GV on OBi110 -> OBi110 phone port

The direct PSTN call had clear audio and almost no latency.
The OBi200 call had a noticeable poorer quality, but perfectly acceptable.
It had a slightly longer latency, but also acceptable.
No echo.