Obivoice (Intelafone) vs. Forthcoming Obihai Service?

[ceg3]

I finished the trial and signed up for obivoice on a month to month basis to begin with.  If I'm happy at the end of the first month I'll extended my subscription at least by the 6 month unlimited plan. It's definitely cheaper to sign up for a year at a time, by a lot.  7.99 a month or 39.99 a year.  I'm now waiting for my number to port from GV. I decided that I can go back to using my cell carrier's voice mail, though I'm not really sure what to expect from GV after my number ports out.  It might be that GV will still handle my cell voice mail, even with no actual GV number.  I decided that my phone service might work better with GV out of the loop entirely, rather than continuing to spoof my outgoing caller ID.

[giqcass]

Google Voice can be used for voicemail only with your cellphone.  If Obivoice would add a forward after XX seconds option then Google Voice could be used for instead of Obivoice Voicemail as well.  They seem very open to suggestions right now.  Have you noticed the Obivoice price increases?

[ceg3]

Google Voice can be used for voicemail only with your cellphone.  If Obivoice would add a forward after XX seconds option then Google Voice could be used for instead of Obivoice Voicemail as well.  They seem very open to suggestions right now.  Have you noticed the Obivoice price increases?

Yep, I'm on that thread. I was at first disappointed about the increase, but at least in my own case my rate will grandfathered. So far response to email and chat have been very good.

[riptcity00]

Just signed up for the free 60 minutes to test out Obivoice.  Set up was easy and my forwarded GV  number rings my ObV within 1 ring or less.  Currently was using a free DID from CC, and the forwarded GV number would ring my Obihai after at least 2 rings. Some calls wouldn't even ring the Obihai and those calls would end up in GV voice mail. Seems like about 20%-40% of my incoming calls would not get sent to the free CC DID. So it seems for now, ObV is more reliable.  Spoofing my GV number, and it shows up fine as the number in caller ID. 

Same experience here.  Everything seems to work fine on Obivoice with one exception - GV voicemail messages no longer create a stutter tone and message on my cordless phone as they did with CC even though the online GV logs show all the calls and messages.  Is there a setting for Obivoice I am missing?

[giqcass]

Same experience here.  Everything seems to work fine on Obivoice with one exception - GV voicemail messages no longer create a stutter tone and message on my cordless phone as they did with CC even though the online GV logs show all the calls and messages.  Is there a setting for Obivoice I am missing?

I imagine that you have changed your primary SP from Google Voice to ObiVoice. You may be able to make the stutter tone work temporarily but if you are using GV for Voicemail the stutter tones won't work after the XMPP cutoff.  To make it work you will need to change your primary SP for your phone port back to Google Voice.  You can change your outgoing dial plan so it uses Obivoice to place calls even though Google Voice is the primary SP.

[ceg3]

Everything seems to work fine on Obivoice with one exception - GV voicemail messages no longer create a stutter tone and message on my cordless phone as they did with CC even though the online GV logs show all the calls and messages.  Is there a setting for Obivoice I am missing?


Go to http://support.obivoice.com/ and search for "MWI on OBi" and you will find the setup for the message waiting and stutter tone.  

[intelafone]

There are definitely pros and cons to either keeping your number with GV and simply forwarding it to the number that we provide you with your account or transferring it over to our service.

If you simply forward it to your Obivoice number you can avoid that $3 fee that Google will charge you to unlock your number, but you will still experience slightly lower call quality with GV as your calls are still going through their service. With the Caller ID spoofing feature we offer your outbound calls can look as if they're coming from that GV number. Also, GV is programmed to take over all Voicemail if calls are passing through it's service.

If you transfer your number to us you can use our Voicemail service which includes SMS and email notifications, voicemail transcription (speech to text, gives you a general idea of what the voicemail is about), and the stuttered dial tone and light blinking hints. Transferring your number to us also allows calls to be sent directly through our service which will result in higher call quality.

[pdx50]

I tried Obivoice after latency problems with localphone.

Obivoice is not viable for me because the "Free US" calling plan does not include some US area codes.  For me the deal breaker was Alaska 907, but I would guess that Hawaii falls in here as well.

There is NO disclosure of this on their site anywhere.

So this is either false advertising or amateur hour, and either way, I'm moving on to the next candidate: anveo or call centric, whichever has the cheaper 911 fee.... honestly, don't give a hoot about 911, wish it was not included in so many consumer options.

[giqcass]

Everything seems to work fine on Obivoice with one exception - GV voicemail messages no longer create a stutter tone and message on my cordless phone as they did with CC even though the online GV logs show all the calls and messages.  Is there a setting for Obivoice I am missing?


Go to http://support.obivoice.com/ and search for "MWI on OBi" and you will find the setup for the message waiting and stutter tone.  

The article to which you refer applies only when you use ObiVoice voicemail.  riptcity00 is using Google Voice voicemail so the solution in that article will not solve the issue.  The solution I posted is a temporary measure. Unfortunately in order to use Obivoice Voicemail while forwarding from Google Voice you must set ObiVoice voicemail to pick up after 20 seconds to beat Google Voices time limit of 25 seconds.

[azrobert]

Has anyone noticed that Obivoice plan prices are promotional?
On their home page under each plan (Lite, Basic and Plus) you will find the following: "Limited Time Promotion"
I assume this means you will be getting a price increase when your plan expires.

[Johnny]

I'm also probably going to be moving on after my 60 day trial period is over.

The reasons:  No local area code for me to choose from.  No way to port my GV number, and the forwarding feature concerns me.  I would like to be able to bypass this forwarding option, but as of now I can't.

The big reason would be their price hikes.  The first hike went into effect almost immediately and it's possible to see hikes at any time apparently, unless your grandfathered in.  I know this is how some businesses operate but for a relatively new start up, this is a little worrisome.

So, hopefully after the trial period, Obihai will have introduced their plan and hopefully it will include numbers in my area code or perhaps some way to port my GV number.

[giqcass]

Has anyone noticed that Obivoice plan prices are promotional?
On their home page under each plan (Lite, Basic and Plus) you will find the following: "Limited Time Promotion"
I assume this means you will be getting a price increase when your plan expires.

They probably added that wording after they saw the other post where I said

There have been some price changes to Obivoice.  It would not have bothered me if the original prices were labeled as introductory and they upped them. The fact that the prices were not "introductory prices" and they upped them so soon into the game makes me question the stability of the company.

If they are doing anything it's paying attention to the forums.  They already Fixed a bug I told them about and added Paypay after I asked for it.  I love how responsive they are.

[lhm.]

Seems as if they need a marketing consultant. 

[KAura]

Seems like this forum is their marketing consultant...

We review what's available, give pricing, etc. and all
they have to do is read in the forum.

It's like B King being able to look into McD's planning
sessions without having to pay for it.

[gannicus]

If they are doing anything it's paying attention to the forums.  They already Fixed a bug I told them about and added Paypay after I asked for it.  I love how responsive they are.

I have also been impressed by their responsiveness. I posted a suggestion on the obivoice feedback forum, suggesting that it would be nice if obivoice could forward messages to google voicemail. Ryan responded the same day, and pointed out that I could achieve that simply by disabling the obivoice voicemail.

[twinclouds]

I just found obivoice a couple of days ago.  Signed for a 30day trial and did lots of testing.  I would say I really like it and will sign for the two years contract.
There's no quality problem except some delay but not too bad.  One feature I like is number spoofing because I would like call out use different method but incoming call come to the same place.  This is one thing I don't like GV in the past.  Auto configure of obi devices works fine, except for one small glitch, which has been fixed.  I tried different devices and programs, e.g., Linksys ATAs, asterisk, csipsimple and etc.  Obivoice just behave as a standard SIP Voip service, which is not the case for MagicJack, Ooma and nettalk duo.  I can even receive calls on my Android phone using csipsimple but haven't tested much yet.
In any case, I feel it is an ideal replacement for GV, at least for me.

[Maxxodd]

Has anyone tried to fax over the line?  No the web portal.  I want to just hook up a fax machine to the line and use it solely as a fax line.

[Johnny]

Just wanted to correct something I wrote in my previous post in this thread.

I posted that I had a 60 day trial period, it is in fact a 30 day trial  period.

I must have been looking at my minutes when I posted that.  It's 30 days or 60 minutes, whichever comes first, I believe.

Sorry......

[ceg3]

Let me toss out this bit of info for new Obivoice subscribers.  In order to have your name display on your outgoing caller ID log into your Obivoice portal and go to numbers and then manage numbers and click on edit.  The blank to enter your name will become active.

[riptcity00]

Let me toss out this bit of info for new Obivoice subscribers.  In order to have your name display on your outgoing caller ID log into your Obivoice portal and go to numbers and then manage numbers and click on edit.  The blank to enter your name will become active.

Thanks for the tip.  Previously I did the spoofing option which worked to show just my number.  I tried this change but can't get the name to show.  I have Obivoice showing as the primary line for outbound calls in Google Voice assuming it would bypass Google Voice if it limited caller id to number only.  Are you using this option for outbound Obivoice calls without google voice involved? i.e. what I'm trying to do won't work.

(on a completely different topic, since I don't see a forum help conversation thread - is there a way to change/correct the name associated with my posts?)