Need a VoIP to bridge GV and ObiHai/cell

[nums]

I have 3 Google Voice numbers I would like to use with one cell phone and a yet to be purchased Obi200 for my POTS handset. I will be keeping the carrier assigned cell number separate. I know how GV works, but am having difficulty understanding where I should find the 2nd required forwarding number for GV. (Google Voice only allows a forwarding phone to be used 2 times.)

I read I can pay monthly for a Skype In/Out account. This number would only be a forwarding phone for a GV account, and would need to send all its calls to the ObiHai handset and cell phone for answering. Is Skype a good choice, or are there better options for what I need to do? Thank you for any help.

[nums]

Do I even need a second VoIP service at all?

Can the Obi200 send GV calls to my cell when I'm not at home, instead of my assigning the cell as a forwarding phone in GV?

And if so, do these GV "Chat" calls immediately ring the ObiHai attached handset, or are they "forwarded" to the handset in some way, creating an additional transfer time-delay for the caller. (I don't think I want to put people thru the pain of a double-transferring call.)

I have 3 Google Voice numbers I would like to use with one cell phone and a yet to be purchased Obi200 for my POTS handset. I will be keeping the carrier assigned cell number separate. I know how GV works, but am having difficulty understanding where I should find the 2nd required forwarding number for GV. (Google Voice only allows a forwarding phone to be used 2 times.)

I read I can pay monthly for a Skype In/Out account. This number would only be a forwarding phone for a GV account, and would need to send all its calls to the ObiHai handset and cell phone for answering. Is Skype a good choice, or are there better options for what I need to do? Thank you for any help.

[Shale]

Alternatively you can have GV forward calls, or you can have GV ring both at the same time-- the first to answer gets the call.

[nums]

Please note the reason for my posts: GV will not allow me to forward to the same cell 3 times.

Alternatively you can have GV forward calls, or you can have GV ring both at the same time-- the first to answer gets the call.

[azrobert]

The OBi202 can simultaneously send the inbound call to your handset and your cell. This is called Forking.

You will need to install a softphone on your cell and register it to an SIP service like the free SIP2SIP.

https://mdns.sipthor.net/register_sip_account.phtml

[azrobert]

There is another way to forward calls to your cell without the OBi202.
Setup your cell with a softphone and SIP2SIP.

Get a free phone number from IPKall.
See:  http://phone.ipkall.com/
Point your IPKall account to your_userid@sip2sip.info

Use the IPKall phone number as a forwarding number in your 3rd GV account.

[nums]

Forking + free SIP service + softphone app! Sounds more direct than GV#--> IP# to softphone app (on wifi/data).

Can I push even further please? Is there a cheaper-than-Skype way to aquire a phone number to receive the GV#3 calls using cell minutes instead of wifi/data? Sorry my telephony knowledge is so limited - I keep getting lost in terminology searching the Internet for this.

There is another way to forward calls to your cell without the OBi202.
Setup your cell with a softphone and SIP2SIP.

Get a free phone number from IPKall.
See:  http://phone.ipkall.com/
Point your IPKall account to your_userid@sip2sip.info

Use the IPKall phone number as a forwarding number in your 3rd GV account.

[azrobert]

You can have the OBi202 fork the call out one of your GV accounts to your cell number.
Using this method you will not see the inbound CallerID on your cell. You will see the GV CallerID.

[LeoKing]

I have an Android smart phone. I installed the Google Voice app on my phone and registered the GV number that I am using as my home phone number with it. When someone calls my home number, both the phone connected to the OBi110 at home and my cell phone will ring and I can answer the calls from either one. This GV app is using the minutes from the cell phone plan. I have an unlimited talk, text & data plan so it's worked very well for me.

I also installed the Mo+ PHONE for Google Voice & GTalk, which uses WiFi or data connection for talk & text via my 2nd GV number. So actually, my cell phone is handling 3 different numbers, the cell number + 2 GV numbers.

[nums]

Thanks so much azrobert! I'll try the last forking method to begin with, since the GV CID is already working well for me. It will be great to pare down to just one cell, one landline. (I assume the Obi200 and Obi202 both fork in this manner.)

Amazing help on this forum!

You can have the OBi202 fork the call out one of your GV accounts to your cell number.
Using this method you will not see the inbound CallerID on your cell. You will see the GV CallerID.

[nums]

GV will handle 2 accounts for any phone, just label the cell Home & Work, instead of Mobile. But I need a total of 4 numbers (3GV + cell#) for one phone. People have been asking Google to change this limit for years, but their intention was to unify our devices with one number instead of the other way around.

Great combo with your apps. I'm curious about Mo+. Will look into it. Thanks!

I have an Android smart phone. I installed the Google Voice app on my phone and registered the GV number that I am using as my home phone number with it. When someone calls my home number, both the phone connected to the OBi110 at home and my cell phone will ring and I can answer the calls from either one. This GV app is using the minutes from the cell phone plan. I have an unlimited talk, text & data plan so it's worked very well for me.

I also installed the Mo+ PHONE for Google Voice & GTalk, which uses WiFi or data connection for talk & text via my 2nd GV number. So actually, my cell phone is handling 3 different numbers, the cell number + 2 GV numbers.

[nums]

Routing vs Forking. What's the difference? Can I assume the terms are interchangeable for my purposes?

Need to verify "OBi200" (not Google Voice or OBi202) can be programmed so GoogleChat calls ring the attached handset PLUS an additional phone number.

A search of "fork" or "forking" on the OBiHai website only lists a feature of the OBiPLUS unit at http://www.obihai.com/docs/OBiPLUSTutorial.pdf

OBiPLUS Features /User Features /Incoming Call Routing /For each rule you may specify:

• A list of one or more entities to ring simultaneously. An entity can be
  an OBiPLUS extension, or an external number. When the list has more
  than one entity, we refer to it as "forking" (routing to more than one
  destination).

Hope I ordered the right OBi. I found in an OBi document stating that neither the OBi100 or OBi110 do forking. Nothing was written about the OBi200 that I could find.

[ianobi]

nums,

All OBi devices are capable of "forking" from their InboundCallRoutes. The usual limit is that a call may be directed (forked) to up to four destinations from any one incoming call.

[nums]

Thanks ianobi for the correction. This adds to all the units an important feature missing from Google Voice.