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Rant on $10. ransom demanded by Obi to reactivate my Obi 100

Started by PeterLech, June 16, 2016, 03:27:05 PM

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PeterLech

I have had 2 failures of Obi 100s since I bought it in February 2015 - in November and again in January. They magnanimously agreed to extend my warranty for 2 months, until May 31, 2016. They admitted they replaced my failed units with used (they called them "reconditioned") units.

In June, they shut off the Obi and my home phone service without warning or notice.  >:(  When I went onto the site, I determined that I had to pay $10 for "Premium Service" to get it working again. (The forum workarounds did not work for me.)

Now $10 a year is not much, even if it was not disclosed at the time of purchase, but to shut my home phone service down without notice is really bad for customer relations. I changed my Amazon rating to One star for this.


drgeoff

Quote from: PeterLech on June 16, 2016, 03:27:05 PM(The forum workarounds did not work for me.)
Manually updating the firmware is not a workaround.

And the instructions on the forum have worked for everyone who has carried them out correctly.

mo832

Quote from: drgeoff on June 17, 2016, 11:31:35 AM
Quote from: PeterLech on June 16, 2016, 03:27:05 PM(The forum workarounds did not work for me.)
Manually updating the firmware is not a workaround.

And the instructions on the forum have worked for everyone who has carried them out correctly.


I too would like to know which "workaround" he is referring to that didn't work. However, to your point on what the definition of a workaround is, I would submit it depends on what you are working "around". It technically *is* a "workaround" for the issue of "cannot connect to google voice without paying upgrade fee", or "warning message remains on my screen telling me to pay up to continue and remove message". In short, it is a workaround for the paid extended service solution. I guess if you don't like to use the term of art "workaround" you could say "alternative method". :)

drgeoff

Quote from: mo832 on June 17, 2016, 11:54:54 AM
Quote from: drgeoff on June 17, 2016, 11:31:35 AM
Quote from: PeterLech on June 16, 2016, 03:27:05 PM(The forum workarounds did not work for me.)
Manually updating the firmware is not a workaround.

And the instructions on the forum have worked for everyone who has carried them out correctly.


I too would like to know which "workaround" he is referring to that didn't work. However, to your point on what the definition of a workaround is, I would submit it depends on what you are working "around". It technically *is* a "workaround" for the issue of "cannot connect to google voice without paying upgrade fee", or "warning message remains on my screen telling me to pay up to continue and remove message". In short, it is a workaround for the paid extended service solution. I guess if you don't like to use the term of art "workaround" you could say "alternative method". :)
There is no issue of "cannot connect to Google Voice without paying upgrade fee".

The primary issue is that if your OBi is out of warranty, at present* it will not get an automatic firmware update.  You have two choices.  Pay for the support which will re-enable the auto update or download the firmware and manually upload it to the OBi.

A secondary issue is that Obihai informs you only of the first choice.

(*That may or not change in the future.  I have no inside knowledge on the matter.)

mo832

Hehe, then modify my description with the word "ostensibly", as in "ostensibly cannot...".

Anyone would have to admit, the warning message does make the average user/reader think this is a dead end with only one way out.

PeterLech

Quote from: drgeoff on June 17, 2016, 12:17:45 PM
Quote from: mo832 on June 17, 2016, 11:54:54 AM
Quote from: drgeoff on June 17, 2016, 11:31:35 AM
Quote from: PeterLech on June 16, 2016, 03:27:05 PM(The forum workarounds did not work for me.)
Manually updating the firmware is not a workaround.

And the instructions on the forum have worked for everyone who has carried them out correctly.


I too would like to know which "workaround" he is referring to that didn't work. However, to your point on what the definition of a workaround is, I would submit it depends on what you are working "around". It technically *is* a "workaround" for the issue of "cannot connect to google voice without paying upgrade fee", or "warning message remains on my screen telling me to pay up to continue and remove message". In short, it is a workaround for the paid extended service solution. I guess if you don't like to use the term of art "workaround" you could say "alternative method". :)
There is no issue of "cannot connect to Google Voice without paying upgrade fee".

The primary issue is that if your OBi is out of warranty, at present* it will not get an automatic firmware update.  You have two choices.  Pay for the support which will re-enable the auto update or download the firmware and manually upload it to the OBi.

A secondary issue is that Obihai informs you only of the first choice.

(*That may or not change in the future.  I have no inside knowledge on the matter.)

When I went into the forums to find an update, I tried the first one I found, downloaded it, and the Obi said this version already installed. Can't remember the post, but the thread went back to last year, but with recent posts.

I still stick to my rant statement - Obi did not provide any notice or offer a choice of manually updating the software - only to pay the ransom. Courtesy would have required that they state the options (not leave me to search around in the forums for a possible solution). I am technically savvy, but if my wife needed to reactivate our phone service in my absence, she would not have been able to do so - I am certain that she is not unusual in that respect.

drgeoff

Quote from: PeterLech on June 17, 2016, 01:46:55 PM..Obi did not provide any notice or offer a choice of manually updating the software - only to pay the ransom. Courtesy would have required that they state the options (not leave me to search around in the forums for a possible solution). I am technically savvy, but if my wife needed to reactivate our phone service in my absence, she would not have been able to do so - I am certain that she is not unusual in that respect.
I don't disagree with any of that.

zorlac

Quote from: PeterLech on June 17, 2016, 01:46:55 PM
I am technically savvy, but if my wife needed to reactivate our phone service in my absence, she would not have been able to do so.
If you're paranoid, or away often, having some type of remote desktop application like Teamviewer so you could manage it remotely might make sense.

mellaby

First off I would like to thank this forum for all the help and advice I have received over the last few years. My Obi 100 went down last night with a message to "configure your device". The manual setup as suggested by ShermanObi worked perfectly! Please keep up the great work from all our contributors.