I found out the reason why there is no OBihai customer service on this board.

[QBZappy]

Well it turns out that the OBihai people are busying replying to OBi issues on another voip forum. And not just customer reps, even the brass can be seen, busy fielding questions there. I'm not sure what to think of that. (Well that gives me an idea). 

ShermanObi
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r27401542-SOLVED-OBI202-keeps-rebooting-every-2-3-minutes

ObiSupport
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r27402501-Alternatives-to-OBI-202-

[GregoryZ]

There ya go again...... Stirin' it Up!!    

[carl]

Hmm, not really comprehensive solutions offered there- it's more like showing " we are here and we care".

[QBZappy]

carl,

I'm not sure what to think of that.

Hmm, not really comprehensive solutions offered there- it's more like showing " we are here and we care".

That's a good observation. I also got that vibe when I was on the other forum. Imagine my surprise when I saw them posting offering help. Do you get the same vibe from OBihai on this board. I'm sure they must be reading these posts on a regular basis, it would be reassuring if they would give us the impression that they cared as much on their own board. They have gone through a dry spell recently barely registering any effort offering help, at least publicly. No doubt that behind the scenes they are quietly handling support tickets.

I can't quite put my finger on when it happened, but I sense that there was a deliberate decision by someone at some point to make this mostly a user to user forum. I've been here long enough to note the difference in their orientation.

[Ostracus]

Might one hazard a guess, the other forum gets a lot more traffic, and has quite the net reputation.

[jjtricket]

THIS is the only forum to come to for Obi related matters!

I could not find a dedicated Obi section on dslreports, has anyone else?

Thanks QBZappy for this info, very strange that they would ignore a dedicated forum like this one.

[carl]

Hi QBZappy,
It is usually difficult to figure out what corporate does and why( sometimes they do not know themselves).
I quite frankly do not expect them to provide a RonR+ level of customer service for a USD 76 retail piece of hardware.
But the are things they could do. Like rewrite the damned manual so the bugs go out and the thing becomes readable and usable for a normal person. This manual also should contain real life programming examples so people can learn how to handle and configure their Obi. This manual should also be offered at cost price as hard copy( I hope that I am not the only one who hates on screen manuals especially if you need to use the same screen to configure with)
The could also enhance their portal and pre configure digitmaps for more VOIP providers- they still do not have Localphone there!- and also provide simple ways to add star codes, rerouting codes etc in a way easily to handle by a layman .
They also should cooperate with a much larger number of VOIP providers in order for them to provide info to Obihai and to help from their side customers with problems.
Apparently, they are flirting with the idea of proprietary devices. It would be the wrong way to go. Also for the VOIP providers the free GV on Obi is not necessarily a bad thing. GV has it's limitations and often people who need more move on- at least for a part- to other VOIP providers. I would not be a Localphone and Callcentric customer if it was not for Obi with free Google Voice.