Hi RFord, thanks for your thoughts and reply.
Quote from: RFord on January 12, 2013, 12:22:43 AMIsn't the OBi302 about $10 cheaper than the OBi202? I doubt the OBi folks are going to make one-off changes to your device to change it from a 302 to 202. Not only that, what would prevent users who got their device through a provider from making the same request so that their 302 can use GV?
Yes, it was a little cheaper than the original one that popped up through Amazon. As I recall, there was a link on the item for getting it through some of Amazon's partners, as well as links for items others bought for accessories and similar items things like blue tooth adapters, wireless connectors, OBi 110 etc.
In the past I have purchased items from Amazon directly and other times through their partners, who sometimes have slightly better prices, or shipping deals etc. I thought that was the case here.
If they physical devices are the same, and the only difference is the software on it, I would certainly be willing to pay for the software upgrade, if that is what the price differential reflects.
It would certainly seem to make more sense to just update the software electronically than to ship the two units back, have them repackage and restock it, and then sell them to someone else; and perhaps buy two new physically identical units with the software upgrade on them and have them shipped back to me again.
Quote from: RFord on January 12, 2013, 12:22:43 AMThe whole point of making a 302 was to make the 202 acceptable to (paid) VOIP Providers.
Although I personally abhor that business model of selling crippled equipment that will only work with one provider's services, I can certainly understand why Obihai would make them to meet a particular customer's (service providers using such a business model) demand.
I personally try and jump through hoops to avoid dealing with companies that use such a service model, but that isn't always doable or practical.
It would be pretty stupid, in my opinion, for people to want to go with a similar business model for most purchases. I wouldn't buy a lawnmower subsidized by Mobil but that could only use Mobil gasoline. But some battery company is trying to set up a business model where they partner with electric car companies such that the customers pay a monthly fee and they will set up recharging stations around the country and people can pull in, have the batteries switched out in a few minutes with fully charged ones.
It sounds pretty handy, and a lot more practical than trying to recharge them for hours at every stop on a long distance trip. The drawback is that they are to be tied to their proprietary system for the life of the vehicle. If things look good now, but prices rise dramatically, you're stuck. If the company goes out of business, who knows? Maybe someone else may buy them out and can make that business model work, or you may be stuck with a vehicle dropping very rapidly in value and utility.
I have two perfectly good scanners that are paperweights because the software can't be transferred to a new computer. I had another software company that fought me tooth and nail when I moved my office to my home. They had locked my old address into it and any documents I printed out had the old address on them. The software wouldn't allow me to change it and they refused to do so, at first, unless I paid a few hundred dollars for their newer version. I wasn't very happy with the utility of the software anyway, and had purchased it at the time specifically because they had promised me that I owned it, rather than leasing it from them, and that I did not have to pay monthly fees to use it like most of their competitors' business models.
They finally relented, but then I had the same issue when I bought a new computer. They wouldn't let me move it to the new computer and refused to budge. That was the 2nd fairly expensive piece of software that I had purchased from them but it is most certainly the last. They still send me marketing pieces for new software, and have even called a couple of times despite my rather vehement requests to leave me alone and promises I will never deal with them again as long as I live.
But I realize my own thoughts on the subject are not everyone's, and companies are free to use whatever business model they like, and customers will vote with their wallets for the best ones, as they say. I'm fine with that.
Quote from: RFord on January 12, 2013, 12:22:43 AMThe fact that you ignore the Amazon listing showing the OBi202 and gravitate to the lower price OBi302 and now expecting the manufacturer to do something special for you is utterly ridiculous.
Yeah, I've admitted a few times, I believe, that I messed up. In my defense, however, I think there are some mitigating circumstances. The original article I read
http://tinyurl.com/67qumzk that brought me to Obhai never mentioned that some of their models were locked and others weren't. But more importantly in my mind, the Obihai products page
http://tinyurl.com/7v4wqa2 doesn't list the OBi 302, nor does it make any mention of any of their devices that are locked, or that will not work with GV or some providers but not others.
As far as I knew from their website, they only had three ATA devices, two that provided 1 PSTN line, and one, the OBi202 that provided 2 lines. Every device listed on their products page, and as far as I can tell, anywhere else on their website said that each device was unlocked and would work with Google Voice and any other service provider that did not specifically require their own proprietary setup, and allowed a "Bring Your Own Device" option.
When I went to Amazon and did the search, I opened probably 10 tabs and read through a few reviews and compared prices, shipping charges etc. My big mistake was in assuming that all of their products were listed on their products page, and not paying attention to model numbers, and reading through the details on the page from the supplier I had eventually settled upon. I didn't notice the difference between the rather similar OBi202 and OBi302. I had looked at multiple other pages of other phone systems etc. and all the model numbers tend to flow by me like water off a duck's back after awhile. I had read through all of the detail on some of the pages, but they all looked like duplicates to me, other than who the seller was. I knew it was a two line OBi, and as far as I knew there was only one of those so I finally settled on one and ordered before I went to bed late that night.
As I had mentioned earlier, it does seem to me that these OBi302 models shouldn't be sold to the general public through Amazon or eBay or whatever. As far as I can tell this model won't work with ANY provider. There are no options whatsover in the dropdown list for providers. The customers for these things wouldn't seem to be the general public, but rather the service providers themselves. If people are getting subsidized, crippled versions they usually receive them directly from their service provider once they've completed a contract. I doubt Vonage or Broadvoice or whomever is going to tell their clients to go buy an OBi on Amazon or eBay and then they'll configure it remotely for them.
Live and learn, I guess. Caveat emptor and all that. Maybe it is "utterly ridiculous" to ask them to try and fix my mistake by allowing me to reload/update the software (for a fee if need be), but it doesn't seem that way to me, biased though I may be.
Worst case scenario is probably that they will tell me "no". I would hope they won't tell me to go away and never come back as they never want me as a customer ever again.
I guess I'll find out soon enough.