Hi, and thanks for the feedback and info, Felix.
Quote from: Felix on January 06, 2013, 12:35:32 PMI will try to simplify things a little. Let's not worry about OBiPLUS for a moment. You may decide you need it; or you may not. You currently have 2 lines with Vonage. You use 1 for phone and 1 for fax, correct? Then you need to decide where to port those numbers to. You can port it to Sprint / Google Voice, or you can port it to some other provider, like Voipo or CallCentric.
Yes, I currently have two lines with Vonage, one of which is a fax line. I used to have another voice line with Vonage, though, but ported it to my Sprint cell phone and then made it also my Google Voice #. It is actually my main voice line. I have GVoice simulring the other Vonage line and usually answer it on that landline. It doesn't use any minutes and I can use my headset with that deskphone.
It looks like the OBi202 might allow me to make my current GVoice/Sprint main line a separate landline in its own right, and perhaps conference calls or be able to see who's calling on the other line if I'm talking to a spammer or getting ready to hang up anyway. I have a 4 line base unit that's currently using just one line.
I also currently have the Vonage landline connected to the house wiring, allowing me to answer calls upstairs, in the basement or kitchen or wherever in case I laid my cell phone down or the battery's low etc. and am away from my desk momentarily.
My wife and kids occasionally use the line to call out on, but that, of course, would then tie up my business line.
I was hoping to also use the OBi202 to set up a new landline for the family and connect it to the house wiring for the kids to use. If I used a Google Voice number it sounds like I could do so without an additional phone bill.
But then I'd need to set up a cordless phone system for my own backup system for around the house, or just be more consistent about carrying a charged cellphone around with me.
Quote from: Felix on January 06, 2013, 12:35:32 PMFor fax, my wife ported her business fax number to ExtremeFax and couldn't be happier. No fax machine, no separate line, and 10 times less paper. I am sure there are similar services - start here.
Thanks. That's certainly an option I'll need to consider. At first glance, however, it looks like I might get by a little cheaper with the OBi202 and a VoIP provider even if Google Voice can't/won't handle it. Call Centric lists $1.95/mo. +$3.95 setup fee for an incoming fax number. Outgoing faxes would run $.0198 / min but I don't send many outgoing faxes anymore as more and more companies and customers use email.
On the other hand, ExtremeFax does offer a toll free number which is a slight bonus, and it would be nice to be able to just read some of the faxes without printing them. But I don't give out my fax number freely and almost never get junk mail faxes anymore. It varies a lot, but I'd guess I probably don't send or receive more than 20 to 30 pages of faxes per month on average.
It does seem more convenient to send some faxes by just lifting the lid and placing it on the platen, or putting it into the feeder, punching in the phone number and letting it go, rather than scanning it, saving it to a hard drive and then faxing it from the software. My current fax machine does allow me to fax directly from my laptop, though, which can also be handy at times.
My wife and kids also like the convenience of using the local fax machine to send occasional faxes. They don't seem to like messing with the scanning of documents yet.
For now I'm leaning towards keeping a dedicated line for my fax machine, but that may change if there are a lot of line charges and taxes and garbage that make those fees go up a lot, or the VoIP providers can't consistently send or receive the faxes.
Quote from: Felix on January 06, 2013, 12:35:32 PMNow that you have service provider(s) for your phone lines, you can set up your OBi202 with four of them - Google Voice and/or SIP providers. OBi202 allows very flexible configuration of two phones and four providers. Until you are sure that it's not good enough, I wouldn't complicate the picture with OBiPLUS
Could I then hook up 2 Google Voice lines to one landline for my office, and for the other phone port pair another Google Voice for the family along with a CallCentric line for the fax all on one OBi202?
If not, or if I would like to separate the family and fax line even if I could pair them on one line, could I hook up the second OBi202 without having to set up OBiPLUS?
Quote from: Felix on January 06, 2013, 12:35:32 PMLast, ringing home phones when cell phone rings. OBi BT adapter is one solution. I have Panasonic cordless phone that has the same functionality. When cell phone rings, all handsets ring as well. Very convenient.
Thanks much for that link. I was looking for something like that earlier today but had started with the 2 & 4 line models which seemed rather pricey, and hadn't found a good 1 line model. If I can combine the two business lines into one, that would be perfect for me, and I could let the family use the hard wired phones for their new line. Or alternatively, I could use the hard wired ones and let them use the cordless lines. That might be even better, especially if it could be set up so that the kids had their own number, and my wife's number could be brought into the picture only when she's home. Then no one would pick up her calls unless she was home and left her cell phone in her purse by the front door. ;-)
Thanks again for the reply. Hopefully I'll be able to sort everything out and be ready to try and set up a decent system by the time the OBi202s arrive.