News:

On Tuesday September 6th the forum will be down for maintenance from 9:30 PM to 11:59 PM PDT

Main Menu

How does Obi compare to Ooma?

Started by Crow550, April 18, 2013, 03:17:15 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

Crow550

Ooma promises epic audio compression when your connection drops: http://ooma.com/how-ooma-works/voice-quality

Does Obi do this too?

I heard the Obi uses a default uncompressed audio codec? Can you choose other compressed codecs and do they still sound decent?

Just curious....

Crow550


giqcass

#2
Well I can't actually compare quality as I don't have an ooma but no one has ever noticed I was on Voip well using my Obi.

 The Obi does everything the ooma does and more.  With Obi you can switch providers if you want to.  Many of us use multiple providers to get the better rates for international calls.  If ooma were to go out of business your ooma device would be a paperweight.  If Obihai goes out of business your Obi device will continue to function.  You might not even notice it happened. Only Obitalk is actually dependent on Obihai. If you want e911 you will need to pay for it on ooma and on the Obi.  Although you can pick your 911 provider with the Obi. This is an old post but it might be helpful.  The Obi has new feature since the article was written.

http://blog.tmcnet.com/blog/tom-keating/voip/magicjack-vs-nettalk-vs-ooma.asp


Here are some of the codecs Obi has.  I use the default codec and it sounds fine.
    G711u
    G711a
    G729
    G726
    iLBC

I have never had an Obi call sound as bad as the "competitor" call at http://ooma.com/how-ooma-works/voice-quality
Long live our new ObiLords!

Crow550

I was just curious.

I had looked at both and choose Obi 100 over Ooma for numerous reasons.

Most of what you listed. Plus using Google Voice offers what all the Ooma Premier offers too.

DonJ

Quote from: giqcass on April 20, 2013, 11:35:34 PM
 If Obihai goes out of business your Obi device will continue to function.  You might not even notice it happened.

I don't think this is true. Firmware updates will die if Obihai dies. And would others support a dead company anyway? So this is not a plus in Obi's favor as you make it out to be.

But Obi is cheaper than Ooma. Paid $29.95 total for my Obi100. Use GV, as of now zero cost for domestic calls, no monthly tax as with Ooma.


Felix

Quote from: DonJ on April 21, 2013, 09:58:11 PM
Quote from: giqcass on April 20, 2013, 11:35:34 PM
 If Obihai goes out of business your Obi device will continue to function.  You might not even notice it happened.

I don't think this is true. Firmware updates will die if Obihai dies. 
Of course it's true! I haven't had firmware updates for my SPA in some 8 years (since Sipura was bought by Linksys) - but the adapter works fine... as giqcass said, I didn't even notice.

Quote from: DonJ on April 21, 2013, 09:58:11 PM
And would others support a dead company anyway?
Sorry, I have no idea what you mean by this sentence.

Quote from: DonJ on April 21, 2013, 09:58:11 PM
So this is not a plus in Obi's favor as you make it out to be.
Pluses and minuses are, of course, in the eyes of the beholder; but buying an adapter that can be used with many providers (like OBi) seems to be a big plus compared to an adapter that is locked to a specific provider (like, OOMA) when you are pondering a "going out of business" scenario.

DonJ

#6
Quote from: Felix on April 22, 2013, 01:07:40 AM
Of course it's true! I haven't had firmware updates for my SPA in some 8 years (since Sipura was bought by Linksys) - but the adapter works fine... as giqcass said, I didn't even notice.

So this automatically means the Obi boxes will keep functioning properly? Well, we can dream.

Quote
Sorry, I have no idea what you mean by this sentence.

Will GV still support them? Since this is likely the majority of users using Obi it seems an obvious question to consider.


Rick

GV doesn't support OBi calling today.  OBi figured out a way to make it work, and Google hasn't done anything to stop it - although a change last year caused most of a day with no service until OBi reacted.

The reality is that if OBi went away as a company, it's likely that at some point the GV capability would abruptly end with no notice.

DonJ

#8
Quote from: Rick on April 23, 2013, 05:45:44 AM

The reality is that if OBi went away as a company, it's likely that at some point the GV capability would abruptly end with no notice.

This was my original point. It is great that the poster Felix's SPA is still working fine with no firmware updates in 8 years, he says. But that is not the rule I would imagine with any of these things but an exception.

Felix

Quote from: DonJ on April 23, 2013, 09:44:39 PM
Quote from: Rick on April 23, 2013, 05:45:44 AM

The reality is that if OBi went away as a company, it's likely that at some point the GV capability would abruptly end with no notice.

This was my original point. It is great that the poster Felix's SPA is still working fine with no firmware updates in 8 years, he says. But that is not the rule I would imagine with any of these things but an exception.
Sorry, DonJ you are missing Rick's (and my) point. OP is comparing Ooma with Obi. So, the impact of Ooma going out of business renders Ooma devices useless immediately! Obi going out of business will render GV capability inoperable at some point. SIP will continue to work - just like my Sipura or any other 8-year old unlocked ATA (Grandsream, Linksys, whatever else you can think of). It's not an exception - it's SIP standard.

Finally, with all the turmoils in the world of hardware (routers, hard drives, etc.) - I can't think of any manufacturer just going away; they are always bought by other company. I am sure somebody will point an exception - but nothing comes to mind! Service providers, on the other hand, go away much more often. So, if somebody buys OBi, and Google will make incompatible change - I have high hopes that new owner will make updates to firmware just like Obihai did. Obviously, there is no guarantee - but there is no guarantee that Google won't intentionally make a change that will prevent OBi from supporting GV. I am just saying that the chances of that happening are slim to none!

Crow550

#10
I doubt either will go away. Obi does well with word of mouth. As right now it's sorta aimed with the geek crowd.

It's a cool little device. I think it might be one of the best ATA devices I have seen. It is pretty simple too.

As far as audio issues go. It seemed once I replaced the telephone line going between the Obi and phone it works fine with none or very minimal audio hiccups.