Obivoice (Intelafone) vs. Forthcoming Obihai Service?

[DrewMan]

I just signed up... so far so good.  They don't have SMS yet.  I think that is in the plan.  Seem to have many of the features that Google Voice (GV) had.  Have not looked through their international rates yet.  They seem to be responsive to user suggestions and implement changes fast.  I took the plunge for 2 years unlimited.  I have my GV number forwarded and they provide spoofing for outgoing caller ID.  So nothing changes for friends, coworkers, and family.  They will accepts GV ports, but don't wish to do this for a while longer... at least until they support SMS.  Oh, and if you want to use their voicemail instead of GV, easiest way is to set up the Obivoice number in GV as a mobile number and not activate GV voicemail.  By tricking GV into thinking it is a mobile, GVmail will not try to grab the call after 25 seconds.  I can explain more if you want.

E911 is included but you must manually keep the address up to date if you move your ATA around.  I have a second home so am used to this from when I had Vonage years ago.

Outgoing faxing is free but incoming requires a dedicated line which they will provide for an additional $2/month.  You can port in your GV (or another) number for this or they will give you a new one, but the charge is still $2/month.

As I say.. so far so good.

  - Drew

[giqcass]

By tricking GV into thinking it is a mobile, GVmail will not try to grab the call after 25 seconds.  I can explain more if you want.

Please elaborate because simply setting it to mobile will not increase ring time.

The only hack I can think of is if you said it was a mobile.
In Google turned on Google Voice Voicemail for that phone.
Set it to ring all phones.
This is where the logic dead ends because I think this would require a forward back to GV for this to work.  If you have another phone with Google Voice set as Voicemail and activated Google Voice voicemail on that phone you may get the extended ring time. 

[ceg3]

Try this for simultaneous ring.

http://www.obitalk.com/forum/index.php?topic=6795.0

I'm trying their mobile app, Cloud Softphone that the developer says does not cause battery drain and when it's running you get a notice on your phone of voice mails left for your Obivoice number.  You can then key the designated button and immediately reach your voice mail.  The app is installed at the Play Store, for Android, and then use your phone to scan the QR code in the Obivoice portal, which completes the setup.  This way there no sms fees for voice mail notifications and apparently using the app does not use cell minutes.

Well, this is cool, but I forgot to consider that this will only work with a network connection, obviously, so it is WiFi or data usage.

[DrewMan]

Setting up Obivoice as a Mobile does not affect the time to pick up.  It does allow you not to set up GV voicemail on that "device".  This eliminates GV voicemail altogether and defaults to the Obivoice vmail.... the way a mobile phone would default to the service provider's vmail.  Hope I am being clear.

[giqcass]

Setting up Obivoice as a Mobile does not affect the time to pick up.  It does allow you not to set up GV voicemail on that "device".  This eliminates GV voicemail altogether and defaults to the Obivoice vmail.... the way a mobile phone would default to the service provider's vmail.  Hope I am being clear.

You are being clear now but that is not how Google Voice works.  No one anywhere has ever reported this behavior. If Google did turn a switch to make Voicemail work that way there would be hundreds or thousands of posts complaining about how Google Voice Voicemail had stopped working.

I have not "Activated Voicemail" on any of my Cell Phones but Google Voicemail still works.  That feature is only meant for calls made directly to a cell phone that were not forwarded by GV first.

[et_phone_home]

Is Obivoice one of the "ITSP" companies I read about on the OBI blog site? Or is there supposed to be some other provider that has the same kind of pricing of $40 per year soon to be revealed by OBI themselves?

Does Obivoice support incoming cnam?  Will cnam still work if somebody calls my Google Voice number that is being forwarded to a Obivoice number?

[TheoGeek]

Obivoice does support incoming CNAM, and I'm pretty sure it would work like my old setup:

outside world -> GV number -> CallCentric Number -> Obi.

That gave me incoming CNAM, and I don't see why it wouldn't work the same way with Obivoice.  If they are still offering a free trial, you could always get a temporary number from them to have your GV number forwarded to and try it out.

They also let you spoof outgoing Caller ID if you own the number (they do a call check and have you enter a code).  So you could get a temp number for the duration of the trial and set it up such that nobody would be any wiser.

[et_phone_home]

Thanks TheoGeek. I suppose I can signup for their trial and see how it goes.

I was just waiting to see what Obi themselves have up their sleeves, but Obivoice sounds like it will be good enough for my purposes.

Obivoice does support incoming CNAM, and I'm pretty sure it would work like my old setup:

outside world -> GV number -> CallCentric Number -> Obi.

That gave me incoming CNAM, and I don't see why it wouldn't work the same way with Obivoice.  If they are still offering a free trial, you could always get a temporary number from them to have your GV number forwarded to and try it out.

They also let you spoof outgoing Caller ID if you own the number (they do a call check and have you enter a code).  So you could get a temp number for the duration of the trial and set it up such that nobody would be any wiser.

[ceg3]

Thanks TheoGeek. I suppose I can signup for their trial and see how it goes.

I was just waiting to see what Obi themselves have up their sleeves, but Obivoice sounds like it will be good enough for my purposes.

Obivoice does support incoming CNAM, and I'm pretty sure it would work like my old setup:

outside world -> GV number -> CallCentric Number -> Obi.

That gave me incoming CNAM, and I don't see why it wouldn't work the same way with Obivoice.  If they are still offering a free trial, you could always get a temporary number from them to have your GV number forwarded to and try it out.

They also let you spoof outgoing Caller ID if you own the number (they do a call check and have you enter a code).  So you could get a temp number for the duration of the trial and set it up such that nobody would be any wiser.

I have subscribed with Obivoice and they are great to work with. One thing I noticed before signing up is that in the OBi blog they referred to a set number of minutes for 40.00, not unlimited.  That doesn't mean Obihai won't link to some unlimited plans, but Obivioce is already offering the option for BYOD OBi users at a great rate.

[TheoGeek]

I have subscribed with Obivoice and they are great to work with. One thing I noticed before signing up is that in the OBi blog they referred to a set number of minutes for 40.00, not unlimited.  That doesn't mean Obihai won't link to some unlimited plans, but Obivioce is already offering the option for BYOD OBi users at a great rate.

I'm all in with them too.  I subscribed with the 2 year unlimited plan for $59.99 after only a few days with their trial - ported my number and everything.  I'm really impressed so far, both with the service and the way they take feedback and do something about it.

[et_phone_home]

So an update:
I signed up for a trial which is a 60 minute/1 month...whatever is shorter.  Pretty painless process...i manually set up my obihai device, deleted the google voice account from the device and set the obivoice forwarding number in the google voice account page.

I also set up outgoing spoofing, this was also a painless process.

Cnam works fine even with number forwarding.


Now I have to figure out how to get that 2 year deal for $60.

Edit: I see it in the billings section of your obivoice account page...but I guess they stopped the unlimited thing. Still $60 for two years with 2000 min/month is a great deal.

[riptcity00]

Setting up Obivoice as a Mobile does not affect the time to pick up.  It does allow you not to set up GV voicemail on that "device".  This eliminates GV voicemail altogether and defaults to the Obivoice vmail.... the way a mobile phone would default to the service provider's vmail.  Hope I am being clear.

You are being clear now but that is not how Google Voice works.  No one anywhere has ever reported this behavior. If Google did turn a switch to make Voicemail work that way there would be hundreds or thousands of posts complaining about how Google Voice Voicemail had stopped working.

I have not "Activated Voicemail" on any of my Cell Phones but Google Voicemail still works.  That feature is only meant for calls made directly to a cell phone that were not forwarded by GV first.

Thanks for the tip DrewMan.  I've been testing Obivoice voicemail this morning with this option and it is performing exactly as I was hoping.  GV is still capturing calls etc, but I am essentially just ignoring GV and using Obivoice voicemail for all the functionality.  Now my call indicator on my wireless handset is working properly again, messages are working between phones, text messages and email noticications etc and I get entire cnam name and number rather than just number in Google Voice. 

Are there any downsides to identifying the number as a mobile vs other as far as other functionality?

[riptcity00]

Is Obivoice one of the "ITSP" companies I read about on the OBI blog site? Or is there supposed to be some other provider that has the same kind of pricing of $40 per year soon to be revealed by OBI themselves?

Does Obivoice support incoming cnam?  Will cnam still work if somebody calls my Google Voice number that is being forwarded to a Obivoice number?

I sent an email to Obihai support asking when they might announce new partner(s) etc related to their blog post.  The response was the configuration would be available next week, so we should see an update soon.

I've been testing CNAM with GoogleVoice forwarding to my Obivoice number and it is working fine so far.  With the addition of new phonebook update features, I've also been able to supplement CNAM with my own list of names and numbers similar to Callcentric phonebook.  Unlike the free DID that was inconsistent with Callcentric, this is working every time.

[TheoGeek]

Now I have to figure out how to get that 2 year deal for $60.

Edit: I see it in the billings section of your obivoice account page...but I guess they stopped the unlimited thing. Still $60 for two years with 2000 min/month is a great deal.

http://www.obivoice.com/pricing/plus.html

They still have the unlimited plans, but the $60/2 year plan is gone (evidently, that was an introductory rate).  It's now $75/2 years which is $3.13/month (e911, unlimited incoming and outgoing)...still a heck of a deal.

[DrewMan]

riptcity00,

Don't think there are any other implications to posing as a mobile to Obivoice.  I am new to this, so could run into something in the future.

I am holding off on porting my GV number in. I like the free SMS Google gives you.  Obivoice says they are working on SMS.

[et_phone_home]

Having issue with call waiting. I'm testing out the auto-configuration of Obitalk via Obivoice account page. I originally thought that there might be some settings missing by manually configuring Obi, but even after doing the automagic thing, I still don't get call waiting.  Do you guys have all the features working?
Edit: found it in Account>Settings on the Obivoice account page. Had to manually enable it.

All is good thus far.


I'm keeping Google voice as a forwarding number because I think their spam filter is pretty amazing.  I have so many junk / telemarketer calls that get directly blocked by Google so I don't have to hear them at all.

[cluckercreek]

My only problem so far is with the MWI. No stuttertone or blinking light. I have checked everything I know and per the instructions on the Obivoice site.   

[ceg3]

My only problem so far is with the MWI. No stuttertone or blinking light. I have checked everything I know and per the instructions on the Obivoice site.   

When I set up the service I self-configured SP1 in OBiTALK and had trouble with my OBi rebooting a lot and like you MWI. I suspected running the Obivoice auto-setup tool might help.  It did and stopped my rebooting. I contacted Ryan about the MWI and he fixed the error in their setup so that I then had stutter tone and flashing indicators. You are advised not to set up SP1 after running the tool, which resets your OBi and installs their configs. In order for the auto-setup to enable proper message waiting I had to first go into Obi expert and click on service providers and then on ITSP Profile A SIP and reset everything to OBitalk settings, which reset the changes I had made manually to enable MWI.  Then I went into Obivoice and ran the setup tool.  After that every thing worked the way it was supposed to. After running the auto-config I think the trick is to leave SP1 in your OBiTALK settings alone.

[TheoGeek]

You can also make sure the X_MWISubscribe box is checked (in the SIP settings of whatever profile you have Obivoice set to)  That's what I had to do...

[cluckercreek]

You can also make sure the X_MWISubscribe box is checked (in the SIP settings of whatever profile you have Obivoice set to)  That's what I had to do...

Thanks for the suggestion. It was checked. Obivoice support told me that they did not provide support for the phone itself That wasn't what I had asked as it was their MWI issue. Oh well.