Obivoice (Intelafone) vs. Forthcoming Obihai Service?

[Arghtastic]

So, gurus--Obivoice is really appealing esp, since I don't need to suffer the delay or cost to port my numbers. . . . however--how safe is this forwarding method they are using? 

Also--Obihai--can you share more details about your service?  Please--I don't want to wait till everyone and their dog is dropping GV---I'd like to switch now and not loose my numbers.  When will your service launch. . . what are the plan details?

[gderf]

I don't see how you could lose your GV numbers other than by deleting them yourself. I have one that has seen no use at all for quite a few months and it is still mine.

[MikeHObi]

you can loose your GV number if you don't use it and ignore the e-mail they send notifying you that they are about to pull it due to disuse.  How long Google waits to send you the e-mail is not known.

[TheoGeek]

So, I'm impetuous.   

I went whole hog, signed up for the 2 year unlimited plan, and ported my number to Obivoice.  The port went smooth except for one hiccup - it seems that due to the way I ended up at GV some information was lost in the shuffle and the initial port request was rejected.  I needed to chat with Ryan and he contacted the company who owned my number and got it sorted out in minutes while I was on the chat with him.

FYI - I started with a landline, then ported it to the local cable company when we got a cable modem, then ported it to another cable modem company when we switched service, then ported it to a go-phone, then ported it to GV, then to Callcentric, and finally to Obivoice - yeah, I really wanted to keep my number.

One reason I wanted to take GV out of the loop entirely is because of the latency I experienced with it.  I had incoming routed through both "dirt cheap" and "free" DIDs at Callcentric (to see if there was a difference) for CID/CNAM and had outgoing straight through GV.  Every call we either made or received frustrated my wife but it was free so she dealt with it.  We always had a crazy lag - like a second or two that constantly ended up causing us to talk over the other person.  Pretty much every time, we ended up just hanging up and calling back on our cell phones.  Your mileage may vary, and I personally know people who love GV and have no issues with it at all, but it was less than ideal for us.

I've been using Obivoice for a little over a week now, but so far, call quality is awesome, support is great, and the price is phenomenal for unlimited minutes/month.  Granted, I'm not gonna tax the system, but an extra $0.08/month for the safety net of "just in case" was worth it.  With Obivoice, just like Callcentric when I took GV out of the loop, there is no lag and the quality is excellent.

I'm not sure how responsive they will be to improving their service, but they have a site to add requests and there are a few there now.  For example, I missed the phone-book capability of CallCentric to show CNAM.  MY phone has a basic one, but it's tedious, so I added a request to Obivoice's "request a feature" page.  We'll see how that goes.

I'm very pleased so far.

[DrewMan]

Thanks for the review of Obivoice!  This does look very interesting.

[giqcass]

What I like about Obivoice right now is they are watching these forums and trying to accommodate us.  Unfortunately this thread is one sided since ObiHai isn't giving us anything to compare yet.  Come on ObiHai give us something!

I went whole hog, signed up for the 2 year unlimited plan, and ported my number to Obivoice. 

Give us an update in a month or so.

[TheoGeek]

Give us an update in a month or so.

Will do!  I just need to remember...

[AlanB]

Sounds like a viable option if you don't make certain international calls.  Some international call prices are quite high.  I'd have to keep my prepaid long distance service I used before GV.

[thunderstruck]

What I like about Obivoice right now is they are watching these forums and trying to accommodate us.

Which ObiHai unfortunately is not doing. They need to provide a complete solution. If all you are going to do is sell an ATA, this opens the door for the other VOIP companies that provide an integrated package when you open the box that UPS delivers.

[sdb-]

Sounds like a viable option if you don't make certain international calls.  Some international call prices are quite high.  I'd have to keep my prepaid long distance service I used before GV.

Or simply add another SIP provider for outgoing calls.  Find one which has good rates to where you need to call (localphone, callwithus, etc).

Or it sounds like you could keep your GV service and use it the way Google intended it to be used.  That is, either call your GV number from some existing service and press <2> to initiate the call, or use the GV website to initiate the call at which point it will call you on your desired number(s) and when you answer it will call your chosen destination.

With an OBi you have flexibility.  Go with Ooma, Magic Jack, or whatever 'canned' provider and you have a very simple solution but you have no flexibility.  You have to add other device.  That flexibility gives you the opportunity to save money but at the cost of some complexity.  Always tradeoffs...

[jazzy]

Are the 500 minutes per month with Obivoice outgoing and incoming minutes?

[Ansextra]

I could be mistaken but I don't believe Obivoice is affiliated with Obihai?  Can someone confirm or deny?

[gderf]

There is no relationship between Obivoice and OBihai.

@jazzy A minute is a minute. It doesn't matter which direction the call is.

[Ansextra]

There is no relationship between Obivoice and OBihai.

@jazzy A minute is a minute. It doesn't matter which direction the call is.

That was my understanding as well.  I'm torn about a company that seems to want to identify with another company (Obihai) without any affiliation.  Seems like a marketing gimmick to me. 

[simpleAnswers]

I'm torn about a company that seems to want to identify with another company (Obihai) without any affiliation.  Seems like a marketing gimmick to me. 

Lol... Crazy as it may seem, the name is way better than intellaphone.
I am checking them out and so far it seems to be easy, but the true test will be if more and more people sign up.
My hesitation is on if they can handle the traffic they will be getting. I have used a betamax voip for years and they have been phenomenal.

Looking at all the other guys, ObiVoice seems to understand what most GV users are losing and are positioning themselves to fill that gap easily. Having looked for solutions on this board, every other offering was half-baked. With Obivoice it appears I can make a seamless transition from XMPP without any issues.

Their website could sure do with some jazzing up, that Fax portal looks like something from the dial-up internet days. Another thing is the sign up appears to be a subscription which auto-renews, didn't know what rate that occurs at?

[gderf]

With Obivoice it appears I can make a seamless transition from XMPP without any issues.

As you could just as easily with any other VoIP provider.

[Arghtastic]

I picked up voipvoip,com as an outgoing only provider as a backup--because the don't charge for tollfree numbers. .. so ten bucks gets me a years worth of service (essentially.)  Callcentric I looked at for incoming. . . . they have free incoming/DID now, but it's not really free because they charge you no option for E911.   I am not sure what to do here. 
I call a ton of tollfree numbers.  I am worried Obivoice will call that business use and want to charge me 300 bucks. 

[gderf]

There are plenty of things you can do.

One is you can get a free Callcentric DID and just tell them you are not using it inside the US - poof! no E911 fee.

Another thing you can do is use a VoIP service who will terminate your toll calls for free. One such provider who does this is CallWithUs. There are others.

[Arghtastic]

So thank you for this--I missed the free tollfree on CallwithUs . . . .I did however check the 888 number I use most often (conference call service) and it shows that it's 1.5 cents per minute. 

So which is it?  888 is free or 1.5 cents per minute---anyone got any feedback?

[ceg3]

I have communicated with Intelafone and they are working with Obihai to become one the re-sellers Obiahi will be linking to when they finish with their plans.  The name Obivoice does not mean there is a direct relationship with Obihai. I think this means early adopters could move their GV setup with confidence they would not be missing out on something if they don't wait.  Also, and good news, the posted rates include e911 fees and taxes, so what you see is what you pay! For 39.99 total you would get unlimited residential talk.