Actual setup for home residential AND Google Voice

[SomeDude]

Does anyone have any experience porting their existing home phone to a provider (eg, voipmyway, etc) AND running a Google Voice # on their Obi? Probably sounds like a redimentary question, but I am cancelling my home phone, but want to port my # - use my Obi for it and continue to use my GV as a backup/business #. Also, I would prefer a provider supporting E911 (wife's peace of mind).

From the rough math I did, seems like I can do this for about $7~ a month or so.

Thanks all

[SteveInWA]

Yes, that is a typical set-up for an OBi device.

I have Google Chat / Google Voice set up as Service Provider 1, and my Callcentric VoIP line set up as SP 2 (you can reverse that order if you like).  The Callcentric number was ported over from Vonage, which was ported over from my original PSTN telco (GTE, which became Verizon).  I have SP 1 set as default, so my outbound calls go over Google, unless I press **2, which sends them over Callcentric.  Inbound calls from either SP 1 or 2 ring the same phones, with a "ring-ring" distinctive ring tone for SP 2.  This is the default behavior, and is very easy to set up.

Callcentric has very low-cost DIDs (inbound phone numbers), no contracts, and your choice of per-minute or unlimited outbound calling.  They also have E911.  Note, that if you set up your VoIP provider as SP 2, you should change your outbound call route to force 911 calls to SP 2; otherwise, set up VoIP as SP 1, and it will work with no modification.

{([1-9]x?*(Mpli)):pp},{911:sp2},{(<#:>):li},{**0:aa},{***:aa2},{(<**1:>(Msp1)):sp1},{(<**2:>(Msp2)):sp2},{(<**8:>(Mli)):li},{(<**9:>(Mpp)):pp},{(Mpli):pli}

[RonR]

They also have E911.  Note, that if you set up your VoIP provider as SP 2, you should change your outbound call route to force 911 calls to SP 2; otherwise, set up VoIP as SP 1, and it will work with no modification.

Just for clarification...

911 calls go out the LINE Port by default.  Having them go out either SP1 or SP2 requires a change.

[SomeDude]

Am I reading this correctly, that outgoing calls for residential on Callcentric is $20 a month!? Why would I do that, when I could just get a landline? Ouch.

Might be voipmyway then for me. That's two way calling, for residential lite, right?

[lhm.]

Look at Voip.ms e911=$1.50 month/$18.00 per annum.

[Johnny]

Am I reading this correctly, that outgoing calls for residential on Callcentric is $20 a month!? Why would I do that, when I could just get a landline? Ouch.

Might be voipmyway then for me. That's two way calling, for residential lite, right?

The $20.00 per month is for unlimited calling to the U.S. and Canada.

There are two other free monthly plans.  IP Freedom and Pay per Call.

I have Pay per Call as I believe it was required to purchase E911 services.

So, I will be paying $1.50 per month at Callcentric for E911 service.

I use GV for most outbound calls on SP1 and have Callcentric set up on SP2 for E911 service.

Anyone can feel free to correct me if I got anything wrong concerning Callcentric.

[jimates]

I have 2 Obi110 devices with 4 google voice numbers on the SP services. I have a netTalk Duo split to the line port on both Obi's.

Calls to SP1 on Obi #1 are also forked to Obi #2's phone port. The caller id on the forked call to Obi #2 is that of Obi #1, not of the actual incoming call.

I only used the netTalk Duo for my PVR modem, so I connected it because it has e911. netTalk is $29.95 a year ($69.95 for the device & first year), which includes

Free U.S. Phone Number
Free calls to US & CA
Call Waiting, 3 Way Calling, and Caller ID
Voicemail to Email
411 Directory Assistance
Enhanced 911 Service
Priority Call Forwarding
Customer Portal
Fax Friendly/Compatible*
Smart Phone app for free 3G or wifi calling

I bought mine during a 50% off promo.

[SomeDude]

Thanks everyone. So yeah, basically I am aiming for a few things here.

1) I want to port my current home phone, so whatever service that is, I need to be able to.
2) I need E911 and ~300 minutes or less is fine. Dial in/out USA only.

I'd love to hear what you're running, the cost and why.

Again, thanks MUCHO to the Obi community.

[SteveInWA]

Am I reading this correctly, that outgoing calls for residential on Callcentric is $20 a month!? Why would I do that, when I could just get a landline? Ouch.

Might be voipmyway then for me. That's two way calling, for residential lite, right?

The $20.00 per month is for unlimited calling to the U.S. and Canada.

There are two other free monthly plans.  IP Freedom and Pay per Call.

I have Pay per Call as I believe it was required to purchase E911 services.

So, I will be paying $1.50 per month at Callcentric for E911 service.

I use GV for most outbound calls on SP1 and have Callcentric set up on SP2 for E911 service.

Anyone can feel free to correct me if I got anything wrong concerning Callcentric.

Yes, that is what I am doing, too.  Now that I can use my OBi to make free USA calls via GV, and I've "integrated" it with my Sprint mobile phone, I am using that line more than my Callcentric line.  Everyone has their own preferences and needs.  I like Callcentric because they have a rich set of features, easily managed via their web dashboard, including selective call treatments, incoming fax, etc, and they've been in business a relatively long time, and have been very reliable (no outages for me in the year I've been a customer).  Keeping my long-time phone number "parked" on Callcentric costs very little per month, with the pay-per-minute plan.

[SomeDude]

Thanks Steve. That was where I was headed, then got myself all confused if I was going to need dial in/out plan. Frankly, I think I only need incoming, since we hardly use the outgoing on the home phone as it is. But, I need to balance the "tech" with the wife

[SteveInWA]

You're welcome.  RE:  confusion, I did find it a little confusing at first to understand Callcentric's prices and options, since I came from Vonage, where I paid one fee for an account that included inbound and outbound calling.  Callcentric separates those services, allowing you to pick and choose, based on the amount of calling you use.

So, you pay one monthly fee for an inbound phone number (DID), plus the 911 fee, and then you pay a small per-minute or unlimited rate when people call that number.  You separately decide on a per-minute or unlimited rate for OUTbound calling.  Odd concept, but bottom line, this is attractive for our scenario:  minimal use of the service, plus E911, fax, and all their included features.  In my case, it's $1.95/month for the DID, plus $1.50 for E911, plus per-minute usage.

[baxtr]

I am not sure I understand the rush to drop a landline in favor of VoIP with the hassle of implementing E911, obtaining a DID and transferring numbers around. For example, Verizon (in the Los Angeles area) has a plan called Sensible Minute with a Monthly Fee of $2.99 and local calls at $.08 per minute (within a 12 mi. radius).There are of course taxes and other fees. Two different Verizon reps were unable to tell me the added cost of these fees. In any event, there is no charge for incoming calls.

The overriding advantage of OBi ond GV is that you do not have to make out outbound calls on your landline. Buy several OBis, place them strategically and you have free calls everywhere (at least for a while). So, my thought is find the cheapest landline plan and only use it for 911 and have the peace of mind associated with its reliability. Or perhaps step down a notch in continuous service and use your cell phone. Do you really want to depend upon your router or broadband provider for 100% reliability? I certainly don't.

[SteveInWA]

@baxtr:  I bet you'll be flamed for your post, so let me instead try to pre-empt that with a friendly reply.  

I agree that there is always a trade-off of reliability vs. cost, and some people are more risk-averse than others.  Some on this forum will argue that land lines are no longer more reliable than VoIP, and I don't want to bait that argument, except to say that people will debate you.

Regarding the cost, I think you are misunderstanding the true cost of your land line.  I am a former Verizon customer (Verizon sold their business here to Frontier, but the rates stayed the same, so it's still a valid comparison).  I kept my PSTN/POTS land line.  The base charge is $18.95/month, just for the local line connection.  Add in a whopping $11.35/month in taxes and fees, and I pay $30.30/month.  This is for flat-rate, unlimited local calling.  I believe they have a metered (per-minute) plan for somewhat less per month, but not much less, and I'd still have to pay all those taxes and fees.  I think you are just looking at the add-on price for the "Sensible Minute" plan, which gives you INTRA-LATA calling (numbers that are technically not local, but don't cross Verizon's tariffed area.  This is sometimes paradoxically called "local long distance").  I actually got rid of that add-on, because I make those calls over VoIP, too.  I won't debate or justify why I am keeping this service for now, except that if I did dump it, my bundled FiOS internet service bill would go up, so the true total cost to me is less.

By contrast, you can easily port that land line to a mature/reliable VoIP company that offers DID porting and E911, and pay just a few dollars a month for keeping that number alive.

Circling back to my original point, ~$30/month may be worth it for some people who have highly-reliable POTS service and value that reliability.  Many of the people attracted to VoIP are looking for lowest cost, or even free calling.  To each his/her own.

[shap]

I always wounder why land line is so important ? We all have a cellphones that provide us a backup in case our regular phone at home is not working. In most families we have 4-5 cell phones.

My internet connection serves me well for:
1. Internet browsing
2. IPTV (I have no cable/satelite)
3. Phone

I do understand the need for reliable line for old people that can not deal with rebooting the device ...

However, it is not applicable for most of us ...

[SomeDude]

To clarify my point and better yet my thread.

1) I have kids, so 911 is imperative. And no, my wife will not "just use her cell phone". So that's out.
2) My relatives are basically all local, with the exception of my parents, so I call them on my GV.
3) I don't need a landline per se, but having said 911 AND being able to keep my custom, rare and everyone-knows-it home number is equally important.
4) I wanted to find a way to have all 3 and be the least amount of cost - because I can, not because I can't afford 1-3.

And, my ISP where I live had about 14 minutes downtime in almost 3 years and everything I run is on UPS's at home.

[MichiganTelephone]

I will just point out that if you have an OBi110 and you are not using the LINE port for anything else, it's usually possible (with the right equipment) to get "free" 911 service.  You may have to watch eBay for a while to find someone selling the right equipment (you need something that allows you to connect a regular wired telephone to a cell phone):

Review of the Obihai OBi110 VoIP device, Part 3: 911 on the cheap?

There are some caveats as mentioned in the article but in most areas of the country I think you'd find that this works without any problem at all. There's also a link there to another article that explains how you can pay a very small monthly charge to have 911 service via SIP, if that's your preference.

By the way, the reason this is such a hot button issue for people is because people have different ways of evaluating security, and there is a difference in the feeling of security vs. the reality of security.  Landline phone service has never been 100% reliable, and is subject to windstorms and tornadoes, trees falling on above-ground lines, and backhoes or flooding taking out underground facilities. For an interesting take on this, you might want to watch this TED Talk:

Bruce Schneier: The security mirage

[ellett]

A couple of things:

1. I ported my old land line number to Google Voice. Cost $30. I'm a T-Mobile customer so I took an old mobile phone from the garage and bought a $10 prepaid SIM from T-Mobile and had them port my land line to the prepaid. Once that was done I ported the "mobile" number to my Google Voice account for $20. Once that was done I set my GV account to my OBi. Works great. If anyone wants to do this and they're T-Mobile there are a couple of things to know. First, your prepaid account number is your phone number with area code including a leading "1". Second you'll set up a 4-digit security code when you open the account and when you start the port from GV, it will fail after a couple of hours and you'll be prompted to enter your security code.

2. I've been a CallCentric customer for a while and I pay $2.99 for a dirt-cheap number and $1.50 for e911. Incoming calls are free and outgoing calls are $.02 per minute. I've been using GV so all CallCentric calls have been incoming, and now with my OBi I've swapped to using GV directly as my SP1, so still no cost. I have CallCentric as SP2 and am configuring OBi to use it as preferred outgoing e911.

I may drop the Dirt Cheap and change to an IP Freedom at no cost or may keep the Dirt Cheap to play with since it's a standard SIP number.