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Obi-200 and Google contacts

Started by azalea4va, May 20, 2017, 10:41:39 AM

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azalea4va

I keep getting email promotions trying to get me to upgrade from my Obi-100 to a Obi-200. It seems to me OBI is not listening to its customers and is offering the wrong promotion.  Spending $30 instead of $40 to replace one device with one that does the same thing is not to me a great deal.  But what I (and apparently many other users) am interested in is the ability to have their Google contacts fill in the name of the caller (the OBI-100/200 now just supply the phone number).  Instead of asking us to pay a monthly fee for a whole pakage of services, how about just including the Google Contacts service with the purchase of an Obi-20X?  Now that would be a promotion that would interest me.

SteveInWA

What do you do for a living?  Would you do it for me, for free, because I think you shouldn't charge people for your services?  Obihai isn't a non-profit charity.

If you subscribe to OBiEXTRAs, it will use your Google Contacts list, and it will fetch the callers' names for inbound calls.  It isn't storing your entire contacts list inside the box; it has to look them up.  There is a fee to operate this service.

If you don't like that, then you can instead get a free NY State inbound telephone number from Callcentric, and use it as a forwarding number, provisioned on your OBi.  Callcentric will supply the caller ID and caller ID name.

azalea4va

Steve, perhaps you should lay off the sarcasm. I was not asking Obi to be a non-profit charity.  Instead of offering me $10 off, I suggested offering a service.  That is like paying $10 for the service.

I find their ObiExtras model kind of inconsistent with what I perceive as their basic "customer model".  I have no idea how popular ObiExtras is, but my whole reason for buying an Obi is to avoid a monthly fee (in my case, it would be $10/mo for a landline).  You can add to your list of alternatives instead of paying 5/mo for Obi extras, customers can pay 10/mo for an actual landline and stop doing business with Obi (with the obvious consequences for Obi profitablility).  

I was not suggesting anything they do not already do, they do bundle Google Contacts capability with some of their other products. One thing a profit making company should be very interested in is how it can taylor its products and prices to make them attractive to its customers.  Obi is certainly free to reject my idea because they do not think it benefits their bottom line.  But again, in my experience, encourging ideas, not matter how wacky, is fundamental to
being innovative in what one does.  And that applies to profit making companies as well.  In that sense, any plausable idea has value.  And yes, I provided the service of offering an idea for free.

Jackson

Quote from: azalea4va on May 21, 2017, 08:43:36 AM
but my whole reason for buying an Obi is to avoid a monthly fee (in my case, it would be $10/mo for a landline).

That's interesting, when I bailed out of ATT 4+ years ago my taxes alone were $6.35/mo.

LTN1

Quote from: Jackson on May 21, 2017, 03:33:32 PM
Quote from: azalea4va on May 21, 2017, 08:43:36 AM
but my whole reason for buying an Obi is to avoid a monthly fee (in my case, it would be $10/mo for a landline).

That's interesting, when I bailed out of ATT 4+ years ago my taxes alone were $6.35/mo.

It's probably some type of Lifeline program for low income people.

azalea4va

For those with Direct-TV or internet service, ATT will add phone service for $9.99/mo.

BTW: MagicJack, which to me is OBI's main competition, supports static Google Contacts integration.  So another point of comparison for someone wanting Google Contacts integration, you can get it for $3/mo from Magic jack vs $5/mo from OBI.  But I assume the big draw to OBI over magic jack is that there are no ongoing costs.  OBI loses that advantage (and the price comparison) when Google Contacts capability is desired.

SteveInWA

Quote
But I assume the big draw to OBI over magic jack is that there are no ongoing costs.

If that's your conclusion, then get a magicJack and be happy.

LTN1

I agree with Steve. The OBi is not for everyone. Get whatever is best for the person. No need to belabor any point. This is an OBi forum...so of course, people here, in general, prefer the OBi devices.