Snowbird: 7 months in AZ, 5 months in MI - Obi 202 & Obi 100

[Lateralg]

* Every year we migrate AZ > MI > AZ. 
* Obi 202 in MI;  Obi 100 in AZ
* Two GV numbers, one with AZ area code, one with MI area code
* We're now (April 16) in AZ; Will be in MI starting ~ May 1.

Our priorities:
1) Minimal time and frustration doing phone setup at each move.
2) Friends & family can still reach us on present AZ phone number.
3) Friends & family can also reach us on present MI phone number (Much less important than #2)
4) Minimal time and frustration doing initial setup.
5) Competitive price

This all assumes acceptable voice quality and ease of use.

I'll probably be limited to one Obi device, and move that one with us.  The 202 seems the logical choice.  Since the 202 is now in MI and disconnected, I should wait until we get to MI to sign on with a provider ... correct?

I will value all advice.

[gderf]

How much outgoing calling do you need to do?

[BigJim_McD]

Lateralg, 

I would agree that you should wait until you are back in MI to configure one of the VoIP services discussed in this forum on your OBi202. 

Myself, I have a OBi202 and I use Veatalink for our Home phone service with 1-DID phone number on the SP1 port.  I also have service on voip.ms with a "Main" and with "sub-accounts".  I have two DID phone #s on voip.ms, one for a backup Home phone service on SP2 and the other for my Virtual Office phone on SP4.

I forward the Google Voice Home phone # to the Vestalink DID #.  I "spoof" the Caller ID of the Google Voice Home phone # on the Vestalink service.  Failover Call Forwarding for the Vestalink DID # is to the backup Home DID # on voip.ms.  If needed, I can also Call forward the Google Voice Home DID # to the backup Home DID # on voip.ms. 

I Call Forward my Google Voice Virtual Office phone # to the second DID # at voip.ms that is associated with a "sub-account".  The voip.ms sub-account "spoof's" the Caller-ID of the Google Voice # that I use for Virtual Office phone.

A more simple less costly solution would be:
1)  Forward both Google Voice #'s to one VoIP DID #.  In this case you would only be able to spoof one Caller ID on outgoing calls.  On some of the services you can changed the 'spoofed' CLI number yourself, but on others you can't.

Some of the VoIP Service providers.
Vestalink
CircleNet
PhonePower
Anveo
CallCentric
voip.ms

We have found Vestalink to be a low price solution with good audio quality for our Home phone since it also includes E911 and we have an unlimited plan.  Cloud Softphone for my mobile phone is a nice extra that is included by Vestalink at no additional charge.

For my Virtual Office, I don't use many minutes so voip.ms service is a reasonalble cost solution to me.  I pay $0.99 per month for each of the two DID numbers and 1-Cent per minute for the time I talk.  Using voip.ms as a backup for the Home phone normally only cost me $0.99 per months as I seldom use any minutes on this account for home phone calls.

Please note that as discussed in this formum, almost all VoIP services have issues at times and there may be a noticeable difference in audio quality and ringing connection times from service to service.

[Lateralg]

How much outgoing calling do you need to do?

Outgoing need <= 300 minutes/month.

[azrobert]

You can use a VOIP Pay AS You Go provider like CircleNet for outbound calls.
Their average cost is less the $.005 per minute for domestic calls.
300 X $.005 = $1.50 per month or $18 per year.
You can set he outbound CallerId to the same as one of your GV accounts.
http://www.circlenet.us/drupal7/

I opened an account with a free money offer to check them out.
I have no problem with them with my limited testing.
The negative is they are a new company.
There are other Pay As You Go providers that are as or almost as cheap.
These providers are very easy to setup on an OBi.

You can use your existing 2 GV accounts for inbound calls with a DID.
You can get a free DID at IPComms here:
http://www.ipcomms.net/
You can get other cheap DIDs at other providers if you don't want to use IPComms.
Anything free can be taken away in the future.
I'm going to use them for inbound calls.

Define the DID as a forwarding number on both your GV accounts.
Define the DID account on your OBI.
Again, easy to do.
That's it!.

This setup should work at either location without changes.

Edit:

You can use Vestalink for outbound and inbound.
They have a $30 a year plan for 500 minutes per month.
You would set it up the similar as above.
I have not used them.
There are mixed reviews, but I think most are positive.
http://www.vestalink.com/

[MikeHObi]

How much outgoing calling do you need to do?

Outgoing need <= 300 minutes/month.

That low you can just use a pay per minute account with any of the providers.  The only thing to really decide is if you want 911 on that phone.  If so that will limit your options slightly.

Remember if you do the 911, you need to update your account to change the address where you are when you travel.

[AntonS]

I also have two OBI's in two locations (but spend most of my time at one). I use Circlenet for very cheap outgoing calls and have set-up a free Callcentric DID for incoming calls. My Google Voice calls come on both locations via the free Callcentric DID. Callcentric makes it easy to create a sub account for the second Obi. Circlenet let you set your Google Voice number as your outgoing caller ID. For E911 I did find Callcentric very helpful to set up both addresses. I do need to change the address once I arrive on the new location. They charge $ 1.50  for the E911 per month. I could not find easily whether other providers would let you link more than one address for E911 (for one fee).